Rock Band Special Edition Accessory Review
Rock Band is the first game to actually give the Guitar Hero series a run for its money. The developers behind Rock Band took music gaming to the next level by creating a game that involves an entire band instead of just a guitar. I took a look at each aspect of the Rock Band game to see how each one handles in each part of the game. With a solid core and concept it was interesting to see if the instruments would hold up and feel as if I was really playing with a band in a stinky old garage. Well the garage effect never showed up, but the instruments sure came through.
Rock Band Guitar (3 out of 5)
Something that gamers have become accustomed to, is the video game guitar. After three rounds of Guitar Hero, gamers are all to familiar with how each button and power up works. What the Rock Band guitar controller did that is different from Guitar Hero is give it a look a little more like a real guitar. The color of it kind of looks like a wood body of an actual guitar. It is after all, modeled after a Fender guitar. You also have switches that let you change guitar effects from a wah-wah pedal, chorus pedal and so on. This is about as unique as the guitar gets from the Guitar Hero guitars. The only problem is that it doesn’t feel as tight as the Guitar Hero guitars. This is mostly concerning the strumming button. With the Guitar Hero guitar, you definitely feel a click when you strum. When you strum on the Rock Band guitar, you don’t exactly feel that. This can result sometimes in missed notes. This isn’t a real frequent issue as it reacts very well, but there are issues. There have been numerous reports of the guitar having to be sent away due to it losing responses to the strumming motion. Luckily, you can get your guitar replaced for free. This is my only real gripe with the Rock band guitar. I like that there are frets towards the bottom of the guitar so when you play solos, you can play low and it just adds to the “I feel cool” factor. The guitar definitely serves it’s purpose to the game and it’s still a blast to play, though I do prefer the Guitar Hero guitar over the Rock Band guitar.
Rock Band Microphone (4 out of 5)
Everybody wants to be a energetic front man of a band. Well with the addition of vocals in Rock Band, you can now live your dream. The microphone aspect is simple, when you play, the words scroll across the screen showing you what to say and whether it’s high or not. Now if you can’t sing as high as a certain singer, fear not, you can mess around with tones and find the harmony quite easily to match the required pitch. There’s not a whole lot to the microphone aspect of Rock Band. It is what it is, but it does it pretty well. I haven’t noticed any draw backs while playing with it, and it seems to recognize most vocal tones very well. I believe behind the drums, it is my favorite aspect of the game. Now, if only I could actually sing.
Rock Band Drum Kit (4 out of 5)
The drum kit for Rock Band is most definitely the bread and butter of the game. I never thought that a game could actually teach me techniques of drumming, but this is exactly what the drums do. You will learn to improve your timing as well as playing two different beats. What I mean is playing one pattern with your hands, while doing something completely different with the kick drum. There are some slight issues I have with it though. The pads that you hit can be kind of overpowering. When you are playing you sometimes won’t hear the sound effects unless you have your television turned up to a decent level. There are cures to this, you can buy special pads that lay on top of the drum kit to deaden the sound, but you would think that this was something that could be taking care of before it was released. Another issue I have is with the kick drum. It is very light weight, and not the most durable item ever crafted. If you step on the center hard enough, you can easily crack it in half. Keep in mind that it will be replace for free, but it is still a hassle to have to send it away. Of all of the instruments I would have to say the drums are the most fun and the most challenging. Getting a high score on a hard or expert level really feels like an accomplishment, not to mention a workout.
More Great Rock Band Information
Rock Band Special Edition has definitely raised the bar of how music games should be. Most of the credit goes to the bold move of making the game revolve around a band environment and not just a solo career. Rock Band has caused Guitar Hero to step up their game to incorporate drums and singing now as well. If you have yet to give Rock Band a shot, then I highly recommend you do so, and who knows you may gain a thing or two from it.
Of course, there are so many great console platforms that Rock Band comes on. Here are some other great articles here on Bright Hub for different consoles for Rock Band that you can check out:
PSP Reviews - Rock Band Unplugged
Xbox 360 Achievements: Rock Band
Rock Band 2 Achievement Guide for the Xbox 360
Rock Band: Start A Band And Rock The World For The PS2
