Rock Band (Xbox 360)

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

Rock Band is being called the "ultimate party game." I would take it one step further -- the game is a party in a box. It's the ultimate concession to your non-gaming friends and the apotheosis of social play. It lets adults live out the equivalent of their superhero fantasies and will invariably further Guitar Hero's good work of introducing the kids to "real music." In the future, we may just reminisce about how Rock Band and games like it radically changed the ways that music is sold, marketed, appreciated and experienced. But in the nearer term, we'll likely be soothing our wallets; all these big ideas aren't coming cheap, at $170 dollars for the kit itself plus a periodic sprinkling of bucks as the library of downloadable tracks continues to grow. But it would be churlish to put a price on a musical revolution, wouldn't it?

Before the good vibrations reach roller-coaster velocity, however, one thing bears mention: Rock Band's had something of a rough debut. Simply put, there's a decent chance you'll pull some broken toys out of the large, expensive box. EA appears to be adequately responding with replacement hardware for the afflicted, but it's a downer nonetheless.

In any case, Rock Band is much more than the next logical step from Guitar Hero, Harmonix's (as of yet) most enduring contribution to the annals of interactive rock. Indeed, when the most imaginative of pretend-rockers got their hands on their first plastic guitar controllers, a game like Rock Band was at best a distant, whimsical fantasy. But lo and behold, here we are; by invoking the powers of MTV and Electronic Arts, Harmonix has done the unthinkable: They've skipped the Drum Hero stop altogether, collared SingStar on the way, and spawned by crossbreeding the highest expression of your rock 'n roll fantasies.

Included in the box are a Fender Stratocaster guitar controller (which you'll use for both guitar and bass parts), a drum kit with four plastic heads and a kick pedal for the imaginary bass drum, and a USB microphone. The guitar connects to your Xbox 360 via USB, and the package comes with a hub so that everything can fit into place.

If you've played Guitar Hero, then you'll be in familiar territory here. The guitar and bass parts of songs have notes scrolling down a vertical chart that's divided into sections that correspond with each colored fret button on the Strat controller. As notes reach the bottom of the chart, you have to hit the strum bar and hold down the corresponding fret buttons to play them. If you hit the successions of special, glowing notes, your Overdrive meter will fill, and once it's half full, you can tilt your guitar upwards to increase the number of points you get for hitting each note.

Drums work the same way. Each note corresponds to one of the kit's heads, which, depending on the song, could serve as a snare, tom, hi-hat or cymbal, with horizontal orange lines in the chart representing bass drum kicks. Overdrive elements are more or less automatic in the drum parts. You hit the glowing notes to build the meter up, and activate it by nailing sectioned-off drum fills scattered throughout the charts. Would-be drummers will need a decent measure of rhythm and coordination if they want to tackle the higher difficulties, however, as the level of abstraction here is notably lower than in the guitar parts. To paraphrase Harmonix, you may as well pick up a real drum set if you're killing the tracks on expert difficulty. In contrast, seasoned guitar heroes will likely find the guitar and bass parts pretty easy; for everyone else, they'll curve just right.