Beatles Rock Band Impressions

It arrived around lunchtime today. Once I got around to putting it in (I did have some work to do, after all) I did so with the intention of playing just a venue or two. A few hours later and I’d played the story mode from beginning to end without stopping. I just couldn’t help myself; it’s that good.

Historically, I’m not nearly the Beatles fan Bill is, but the lead-up to this game put me on the road and the game has finished the job. There is just so much love in the design of this game and it shines through at every possible opportunity. What a great way to be indoctrinated into Beatles music and lore. Over the next couple weeks I expect to dive head first into every nook and cranny this game has to offer.

In terms of gameplay, yes, you could boil it down to being generic Rock Band with a Beatles skin. The actual gameplay is pretty standard Rock Band fair, but the presentation, the direction, the mise en scene (if you will allow) is just so utterly wonderful. Seriously, it is. It’s wonderful. Even forgetting about the bands involved this puts Activision’s “efforts” with GH Aerosmith and GH Metallica to shame. Speaking of which, if you’re one of those that can’t see the difference between how Lennon and Harrison are treated in this game compared to Activision’s handling of Cobain, all I can I can say is there aren’t words to describe how out of whack that notion is. I submit into evidence Beatles Rock Band’s final venue, a concert atop the Abbey Road studio (see the pic above). If I ever track down a video of it, I’ll embed it here. It’s just amazing.

Anyway, some early picks for favorite tracks in the game:

5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

4. Revolution

3. Octopus’s Garden

2. Here Comes the Sun

1. Paperback Writer

That’ll probably change quite a bit as I expose myself to this some more, but off the cuff that’s the list. (It’s also influenced by the fact that the one Beatles album I have listened to quite a bit –all this summer- is Abbey Road.)

A couple notes about the special edition hardware before I wrap this up. My old stuff consisted of wired RB1 drums and guitar and a GH3 guitar. The Beatles SE offers a mic (and stand), wireless bass and drums. The mic stand seems nice enough. I mean it’s a mic stand, right? The mic appears to be a standard wired Rock Band mic. The drums are clearly nicer than the RB1 drums. I haven’t played with them yet, but I can tell they’re quieter and they seem better made in general. They’re probably really no different in construction from the RB2 drums. The Hofner Bass is just lovely. It’s just an attractive piece. It’s got a longer neck than my RB1 axe, but that didn’t both me at all. The strummer is much stiffer, which I like a lot. I have a much better time hitting repetitive sequences with this strummer than with my old one. The fret buttons are still mushy crap; they’re my only complaint. You’d think they could do better after all this time.

Is the set worth a cool $250? No. It’s really not. Fortunately, my Amazon credits knocked a $100 off the price and my Gameshark freelancing the past two months covered the rest. Given that and the fact that I needed a hardware refresh, I’m still glad I got the special edition. I would love to get one of those $100 lead guitars, but even if I had the cash it would be hard to justify any more expense at this point.

To sum up, my initial verdict: A+++. This is how you do a band themed music/rhythm game right!

A Terrific Rock Band Interview

I spotted this via Dubious Quality, which -surely- you're smart enough to read already so you've probably already seen this. But just in case you're not (i.e. you are dumb and don't read DQ), do check out this interview that The Onion's AV Club did with various people from Harmonix (makers of GH1 and 2 and Rock Band). It's marvelous stuff. Here's the money quote regarding what separates the work Harmonix does from their competition:

AVC: How have your experiences in bands informed your work on the game?

RL: Oh my God, massively. Again, starting with Guitar Hero I all the way up to now, it's like everything informs it. I've been in bands, I've toured America, made records—all that stuff bleeds into the game, from just my very core. And I know it's not just me, it's lots of us. Just because we are those people, the game turns out the way it does. And I think if you look at some of our competitors' games, that weird nugget is missing. And I think that's why sometimes people look at our games and they can just tell, they can just feel it. Some people at Harmonix just started their bands. And some people at Harmonix tried forever and didn't leave town. Some people became big and were on Conan. We have all different levels, and everyone there has something to contribute, because even at its worst, rock and roll has some really awesome stories to tell, right? And so we feed that into the game. And whether it's a little thing that pops up, or something that's in the venue that's a little joke that only two percent of people will pick up on, it's there. And it matters.

This isn't anything I haven't said before, but Guitar Hero 1 and 2 and Rock Band feel like a bunch of music people got together and made a kick ass game. Guitar Hero 3 (as well as Aerosmith) feel like a bunch of game designers were handed a concept for a game and were asked to copy or trace it.

I'm not trying to belittle Neversoft (GH3's developers) with that statement. In a lot of ways I feel bad for the designers at Neversoft. They're being handed a dream project and there's just no way they could possibly live up to what Harmonix does. They do a workmanlike job of trying, but they're not Harmonix and, short of hiring away a bunch of Harmonix people, they're never gonna be. (Note: Okay, I don't feel that bad for the Neversoft people. It's not like GH3 didn't sell like a billion copies.)

Where Rock Band Went Wrong

First, sorry for my absence (again) this past week. I've been distracted by the usual February schtick of one kid with the flu, followed immediately by one with pink eye. Good times. Fortunately, they're both doing better. Unfortunately, my cat of ten years has been sick for a month now and I think the end game is fast approaching for her. (We find out more later today, I hope.) Trying not to get too broken up about it, but she's been a wonderful cat, especially these last few years of having kids with the lack of attention she's gotten because of it. We'll see what results this latest trip to the vet bring.

Moving on.

Last night, I picked up Rock Band. If you read my Gameshark.com review, you know I absolutely frigg'n adore the game. The local multiplayer World Tour Mode is just about as fun as gaming can get. But as I haven't had much opportunity to utilize it lately (just once, since the New Year), I've been stuck with the Solo Tour and the more I go on with it (I still haven't been able to finish Green Grass and High Tides on Expert w/the guitar), the less I understand the lack of attention Harmonix seems to have given it.

The Band World Tour mode has everything. You can create a band member for every player in the band. You can design band logos and associated stuff to put it on. You can actually "tour", choosing different geographic regions, different locales (and locale sizes) and generally grow from a small, local band to a band that has a huge "fan" following and travels the world. Plus, you can take on set list challenges and create your own concert set lists. As I've said many a time before, it's liquid awesome.

So why the hell is none of that in the Solo Tour mode?

This is, after all, not just a game about doing the whole Simon Says thing with a bunch of colored blobs and a fake plastic axe. It's about atmosphere. And, on stage, the entire game oozes it, as does every last pixel in the Band World Tour Mode. But the Solo Tour? It's just Guitar Hero all over again. Actually, it's even more limited, since you can't choose the song you want to play independently of the location you play it in. Nirvana's In Bloom will always be played to the backdrop of the same shithole it appeared in from day one. You'll never get to take it to a bigger concert hall or stadium. There's no fan following or building of your band. There's no set lists or associated challenges to accomplish. You just play the songs without any customization of the backdrop whatsoever. And there's absolutely no reason I can fathom for it.

Okay, so the point of Rock Band is the band. I get that. But Harmonix still has to recognize that a lot of players are limited to the Solo Tour. Not only that, the social aspects of this game in multiplayer sort of take care of themselves. I mean as fun as the World Tour is, you get the band feeling just by playing the game with your buds. So, if you want the entire game to be about the band, then let the solo players actually create a band, and do everything an actual multiplayer band would get to do. Let the solo player actually choose what every member of the band looks like (rather than just their lone rocker) and have it remain consistent from song to song (vocalists excepted) instead of the random and rather bizarre switching of band members as you play the game. Let the solo player do the challenges, create the set lists and let them do it in whatever concert location that's currently open to them. The whole darn nine. There is no way that allowing the solo player this freedom does anything but enhance the gameplay.

Rock Band is a great, great game and I think the people at Harmonix are utterly brilliant. Also, the post-release support its getting from weekly downloads of new tracks is phenomenal. (And it stands in stark contrast to the lack of such tracks from Activision for Guitar Hero III.) But they really dropped the ball on the Solo Tour in a big, big way. I've grown so incredibly tired of knowing that I'm missing out every time I load up the game and make that lonely trek through the menus to the Solo Tour. Sure, adding these features to the solo game won't make it as good an experience as the local multiplayer, but it sure as hell wouldn't have hurt.

More Friday Airing of Grievances: Rock Band/GH3 Guitars

Activision, I Have a Big Problem With You!

If you're in that sad group of folks who not only love Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but also want to play them on a PS3 (that's what? five people?) you no doubt know by now that your Guitar Hero 3 guitar doesn't work in Rock Band, despite the fact that GH3 guitars do work with Rock Band on the Xbox 360. Meanwhile, the Rock Band guitar doesn't work in any of the Guitar Hero games, regardless of platform.

Let's be clear on one thing, this compatibility issue lies squarely at the feet of GH publisher, Activision. The saga really started heating up earlier this week when Harmonix (the makers of Rock Band and GH1 and 2) announced that they'd come up with a patch for Rock Band that would allow PS3 GH3 guitars to work with their game, but Sony, at the behest of Activision, would not release it to the public.

That speaks badly enough of Activision as it is. The only thing that could make PR matters worse for them is if they decided to shoot back. This is the quote that Opposable Thumbs (see previous link) is running with:

"In fact, Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band," the statement continues. "We have been and remain open to discussions with Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom about the use of our technology in Rock Band. Unfortunately for Rock Band users, in this case Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom are unwilling to discuss an agreement with Activision."

Okay. Seriously. That quote's got holes in it so big you could fly the space shuttle through it. "Activision's offer to reach an agreement"? It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure that Activision's "offer" included copious amounts of cash, a couple of Harmonix employee's first borns, a signed first edition of The Catcher in the Rye and probably a lifetime subscription to Tiger Beat magazine.

Who does Activision think they're kidding with this? One developer (Harmonix) is on record as wanting an open hardware platform for music peripherals in these games and backs it up by allowing GH controllers to work with Rock Band. (Yes, they do have a vested interest in going this route. Rock Band may be superior, but GH is the franchise with name recognition.) One publisher (Activision/Red Octane) says they won't support the other's peripherals in their game because the quality sucks. As if it matters how good the guitar is if the game itself blows (the GH3 Les Paul, does indeed rock). And GH3 does blow. It's the Hurricane Andrew of the Guitar Hero series. (And the Rock Band fender is having problems, but reports are that the EA replacement policy has been triple-A good in terms of fast turnaround time for a fixed axe.)

Here's a peso's worth of free advice to Activision: just shut up. Anything you say in this debate other than, "we're opening things up so all current guitar peripherals will work in our GH games," is to scream from the top of a building, "Hi there! We're a bunch of flaming assholes!" If you don't want Rock Band fans to be able to use their peripherals in your game, that's your call. But don't pretend it has anything to do with guitar quality or Harmonix not being willing to bend over for you. It has to do with you wanting to have a closed platform such that only your hardware works with your software. Congrats, you're the iPod/iTunes of the guitar game community you bunch of gluttonous wankers.

As Homer Would Say...

No! NO! Don't stop a ROCK'n!!!

Yes, this is my way of telling you that I have finally landed a copy of Rock Band and it is, much like Ron Burgundy, the balls.



Some initial thoughts upon beating the solo guitar career on medium, and the first three sets of vocals and drums on easy.

- The new guitar is very, very different. It's more attractive, but not as well made as Guitar Hero 3's Les Paul. Despite some chincy production value on the neck, it is more fun to hold and play. The non-clicky strummer takes some getting used to, and I'm positive that it's not as precise as the Les Paul, yet I still find it preferable. It's just the overall (larger) size of the thing, heft, and extra set of buttons on the neck (for solos) that give it the edge.

- The drums are, even on easy, crazy fun... they're also crazy LOUD. The Mrs. went to bed Friday night and I only got through a song and a half before she came tromping back out to tell me I was driving her nuts. I've seen references to attaching mouse pads to the drum pads to mute the banging a bit, so that's my next move.

- The vocals. How much fun you can have with these depends entirely on how secure you are with your singing voice. I was having a ton of fun belting out Orange Crush this afternoon until my wife got home and caught me. Then I was too ashamed to continue. I will say, even if you are completely tone deaf -on the easy level- it's very simple to sing through each tune.

- The set list is probably better than any of the Guitar Hero games (and I love GH1's set list to death). Playing Don't Fear the Reaper is like drinking mana from heaven.

I haven't gotten a chance to take the multiplayer World Tour for a spin yet, but I hope to get a couple friends over this weekend to put it through its paces. Even without playing it yet, it's obvious that World Tour is where this game will live and breath. Just the though of getting four people together to rock out makes me giggle like a schoolgirl.

In comparison to GH3, it's obvious who the winner is. And it's not because of the drums or the vocals. Harmonix just flat out gets what makes these games fun. Neversoft's GH3 is like Memorex. It's a remarkable simulation, but it's an obvious, and lesser, facsimile. In Rock Band in particular, Harmonix has really nailed the feeling of making you feel like part of a band on stage when you play. The presentation, the visuals, while you're playing the song, combined with the superior note charting, just make this game so much more fun to play than GH3.