Rock Band (Xbox 360)

The Temple of Rock wasn't built in a day.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 3 of 3

EA is honoring the 60-day warranty on the hardware and is providing a couple of solutions for players with busted peripherals. You can either file a complaint and have them mail you a box in which to send back your guitar or allow them to a place $100 hold on your credit card and have them ship you a replacement outright. They'll remove the hold once they receive your busted guitar. From the looks of it, though, you're out of luck if your instrument fails after the 60 days.

Will these problems dim Rock Band's star in the long term? I doubt it. Rock Band seems poised to become a genuine cultural phenomenon. The 60-odd-strong track list -- which runs the temporal gamut, and is sure to feature at least a couple of songs that appeal to the most persnickety of hipsters and old fogies -- just keeps growing with downloadable content. At the time this review is being written, several have been released, notably (to me, anyway), a couple of threesomes priced at $5.50 featuring some great tracks by The Police and Black Sabbath.

So why the middling rating? I simply can't, in good conscience, recommend Rock Band without reservation given the hardware problems. The package isn't cheap, and neither is it going anywhere. If you're OK with the possibility of your instruments giving out, however, then by all means -- you'll have a great time -- just knock on wood that you don't get a faulty set. Without a doubt, though, the more prudent course of action would be to wait until all the manufacturing kinks are ironed out, because there isn't a force known to man more destructive than a rock star fantasy that goes unfulfilled.

This review is based on a retail copy provided by Electronic Arts.