Rock Band Series Review (Xbox, PlayStation & PC)

Arguably some of the best memories I have from the post-Guitar Hero, pre-2010 phase are those that either involve a lava orange Sony Ericsson W880i or a room full of people who couldn’t tell the difference between a snare drum and a hi-hat, a symbol and a melodic sound. If I dig into these memories, I can just about recall two things: the glorious triumphs that would often make us feel like rock icons, and the unshakable lows that would frequently make us feel inadequate and about as “in sync” as a punk rocker and a high school choir performing a tribute to Bob Marley. But I remember the times nonetheless—the joys of collaborating in tandem as one of us would beat the living daylights out of a plastic drum kit, a second would jiggle the frets of a colorful guitar, and a third—the brunt of the joke, usually—would bark into a microphone as if to illuminate their inner Mick Jagger. For the record, nobody sounded great when it came to Rock Band. But then, it wasn’t something that you had to be good at to truly enjoy, either.

Rock Band was a lot of things, but a tool for learning how to become the crème de la crème of vitousos wasn’t one of them. It was a creative output, if anything—an excuse to band together with your friends and mindlessly thrash it out with colorful prompts and rhythmic solos, nonsensical whammy bar inputs and a “sound” that was, in spite of all your best efforts, an absolute headache to the common roadie. But then, Rock Band was never built with the intent to distribute a competitive experience; it was designed with the intent to make people fall in love with music—to light a spark and provide a new perspective on alternative energy from a plethora of different instruments. It wasn’t just a successor for Guitar Hero; it was an invitation written directly for those who yearned to see how far rhythm games could travel.

Rock Band might not have been the first rhythm IP to spearhead the five-button fret board and free-flowing prompt system, though it was the first to broaden the scope and mirror instruments that weren’t bound by strings. It was a tool for the average drummer, and perhaps even an amplifier for the aspiring singer. It was still Guitar Hero — but it was also a great deal more than a shameless ode to its forefather, too. Granted, the core gameplay never really went from good to great with the introduction of Rock Band’s familiar fret board approach. That said, it did highlight the notion that, if it wasn’t broken, then there wasn’t a need to fix it. Guitar Hero had already paved the foundation; Rock Band merely took ahold of it and introduced it to new instruments and modes of play.

Rock Band may have lacked the grand scale and complexity of its Guitar Hero counterpart, but that never meant that it was entirely without a pulse. It didn’t have a globe-trotting career mode that slipped into the underbelly of Hell, nor did it make bold propositions to adopt celebrity musicians and feature nail-biting battles, for that matter. That said, it did provide a solid platform for fledgling creators to mesh their “talents” together and collaborate on a broader spectrum. It wasn’t so much of a lone wolf affair; it was a team effort that put co-op at the forefront of its world. It had a single-player mode, true, but Rock Band was more than a solo endeavor; it was an opportunity to bridge the gaps and create alongside a group of friends. It wasn’t always perfect, but it was enough to make every person in the room feel as if they were contributing to the creative process.

The problem with Rock Band was that, despite being a small part of the same team that incubated Guitar Hero, it always fell victim to the shadow that its primary counterpart cast before it. The gameplay was still just as energetic and bashful, but it often felt that it needed to prove itself as more than “just another cash grab” that would serve only to stoke the signature fires.

To some extent, Rock Band did deliver a fantastic experience with a ton of great DLC, but it also failed to knuckle in on that famous “spark” that Guitar Hero had. The tracks weren’t as universally loved, and the characters weren’t as energetic as they could have been. It had a good stage presence, and not to mention a quality sound with some excellent visual effects. Moreover, it had a briliant character customization suite with troves upon troves of distinctive styles and cosmetics, instrument components and accessories. The problem that it couldn’t shake, however, was the fact that it couldn’t stand on its own two feet without being compared against Guitar Hero. 

In spite of all its minor flaws, Rock Band certainly made a name for itself as  a worthy successor for its closest ally. It didn’t have the same evergreen appeal as Guitar Hero, but boy did it bring the world just that little closer together. I’d count that as an enormous win, anyway.

Verdict

Rock Band might dwell beneath the pulsating storm cloud of its Guitar Hero counterpart, but that doesn’t make it any less of a force of rhythmic power. With a generously crafted catalog of mainline soundtracks and a handful of iconic DLC, and not to mention an in-depth character customization suite with hundreds of moldable synergies and styles, the series swiftly emerges from the back end of a roadie stockpile and into the fray as a full-fledged headliner that deserves to share the stage with its rhythmic kin.

There are two basic schools of thought here: Guitar Hero offers a standalone solo experience that makes you feel like the be all, end all of alternative culture, whereas Rock Band invites you to play a role on a much bigger stage with more moving pieces. The point is, if it’s a co-op experience with an inclusive atmosphere that tickles your overdrive, then you should definitely consider keeping to Rock Band. To wage war with the devil over two fiddles and a parade of hellfire and epic solos, opt for Guitar Hero.