I first played Rock Band this Christmas, when a friend brought it over for his PS3. I was immediately
hooked (even though I was always stuck on vocals... grrr!). Fast forward a couple of weeks, and we
decided to take the plunge and pick up a PS3 and the Rock Band bundle.
First impressions: Out of the box, the guitar and drum set were very easily assembled. Included were
instructions on returning instruments to EA (more on that later). I had never played Guitar Hero before,
so I can't compare the guitars, although there are no shortage of opinions online. The drumset was
surprisingly sturdy. The microphone was... uhhh.. a microphone.
Before playing, I would highly recommend calibrating your TV and instruments. Some TV's, particularly
rear-projection, will have noticeable lag between what you play on the instruments and what you hear
from the speakers. Also, surround sound systems are quite susceptible to lag time. Harmonix has
provided an extremely easy tool to accomplish this. Go to Settings, then Calibrate System, and follow
the instructions.
After this, you'll want to create your character. This is way more fun than it should be, and the level of
customization is enough to enjoy but not enough to get bogged down in. You can customize clothing,
instruments, jewelry, hairstyle, and even tattoos. Tattoo creation is where the true Rock Band dorks will
be found, as you can create multiple layers of tattoos a la Forza Motorsport.
Once you've taken care of this, you have the option of either playing solo, or getting a band together.
When you play solo, you have two options: Quickplay, or Solo Tour. On Quickplay, you can choose a
song, play it, and be done with it. Unfortunately, not all of Rock Band's songs are immediately available
to you. They have to be unlocked through Solo Tour.
Solo tour, as well as Quickplay, has four levels of difficulty; Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert. In Solo
Tour, you will go through each song in Rock Band arranged in order of difficulty. Harmonix has really
done a good job providing a nice steady learning curve, as each song prepares you for the next. Rarely
will there be such a jump in skill required that you get frustrated. Finish any difficulty level, and the
complete song list will be unlocked for you. You don't have to unlock DLC. It's always available on the
set list.
The real attraction of Rock Band, however, is the multiplayer aspect. Harmonix has created what is, to
me, the ultimate party game. When Harmonix finally sells individual guitars, 4 people can be playing at
the same time (vocals, guitar, bass, drums). This is known as local multiplayer. Just like solo, Quickplay
is an option, although songs will have to be unlocked in Tour Mode. Band World Tour, however, is the
crown jewel of the game. You and your bandmates start out playing local clubs, driving from gig to gig in
a crappy old van. As your fame increases, you can earn roadies, a tour bus, even a private jet in the
later stages of the game. These accomplishments unlock new cities, which unlocks new gigs, which
unlocks new songs. Also, you earn money for each successful gig, with which you can purchase
additional customizations for your character. Finally, each gig earns you fans, which increases your
standing on the online leaderboards.
Online multiplayer is an option as well, and it runs remarkably smoothly, at least from what I've
experienced on the PS3 side of things. Unfortunately, Quickplay is the only option available to online
players. Hopefully Harmonix will address the lack of an Online Band World Tour in future updates.
Finally, Harmonix offers weekly downloads of new songs, which gives the game infinite replayability.
Sony sells its songs via the PlayStation Store for around $1.99 a song. Sometimes songs will be
packaged in groups of three, and you can save a few cents that way. Microsoft apparently has some
arcane system of "Microsoft Points", where pi times the radius squared equals a dollar, or some
goofiness like that. Just joking, Xbox folks. I'm sure it all works fine.
All in all, you'll plunk down a serious chunk of change if you decide to invest in Rock Band, especially if
you don't already have one of the next-generation systems. However, its mass appeal, multiplayer
goodness, and long term replayability combine to make it, in my mind, the must have game for either
system.