Rock Band (360/PS3)

[Nisa]

After reading all the positive comments about this game I RELLY need to get my hands on it! Im guessing you can get it on PS2 aswell? See thing is I already own 2 GH guitars so all I'd really need is the game, drum kit and mic. Is it possible to get such a package? Or does it all just come with everything as standard?

Harmonix plans to sell instruments individually sometime next year, to be honest I would suggest picking this up for the 360 or PS3 rather than PS2 as there will be no DLC for the PS2 version and the song packs thus far have been excellent.

I picked up the Sabbath pack last night and the covers are really well done, the War Pigs chart on guitar is a bit easier than the Guitar Hero 2 version but still good fun, Sweet Leaf and NIB are ace although NIB doesn't have Geezer Butler's little bass doodle at the start.

[Nisa]

I just got the number 1 rank on Sabotage

[museumsteve]

Does anyone know if I download any music packs for Rock Band (using a US account) will I be able to use them when I'm signed in with my main UK account?

[Dazzyman]

Yep any account on machine works Steve whether its USA/JPN/UK profile and it finds all the songs no matter what account you bought them on (its not like Singstar as thats tied even though you can play on a USA account the downloads you cant use the online bit).

[powkisser]

whats the situation with gh2 & gh3 guitars since the patch. Are they working now.. ps2 or ps3 guitars.. ??

[Commander Marklar]

No patch yet for the GHIII guitars, at least there wasn't as of yesterday. There's rumblings that Activision are threatening legal action or something.

[Number45]

No patch yet for the GHIII guitars, at least there wasn't as of yesterday. There's rumblings that Activision are threatening legal action or something.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=89278

Confirmed, just posted it in the headlines thread.

[powkisser]

o right, so what was the update mine did the other day ??

[Commander Marklar]

Strum bar patch I reckon.

Shame about the patch, I was going to grab GHIII for the PS3 but I'm not going to until it is released and confirmed as fixed. I shall continue to rock in protest, nonetheless

[museumsteve]

Yep any account on machine works Steve whether its USA/JPN/UK profile and it finds all the songs no matter what account you bought them on (its not like Singstar as thats tied even though you can play on a USA account the downloads you cant use the online bit).

cheers mate, grabbed the metalica pack

[Jebus]

This is, quite frankly, the best game in the entire world (for me)...seriously.

Unboxed it at about half one and have just stopped because my eldest son is exhausted, won't sleep and therefore is having tantrums.

The drums are just incredible and feel so amazing, like you really are playing it. The "note charts" are so spot on, it's all very impressive. I couldn't stop playing the drums it's just so damn enjoyable but I forced myself to play the other instruments.

The guitar. I'd read that it's a lot easier than GH3 (something like hard on GH3 = expert on RB) and whilst that is partially true, it's only true in as much as the note charts are perhaps easier. However, the timing is a LOT more exact and because of this I really don't think the reports are fair or correct.

The guitar itself is bigger than the GH3 and GH2 guitars and takes some getting used to. The solo buttons are just and the effects are very very welcome too. I was kicking out the solo to Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" with full wah wah at high volume and it was just incredible. There is literally no noise on the strummer which makes you make mistakes at first because your ears are almost trained to the clacking meaning you've hit the note. Once you get used to it though it's spot on.

Vocals. Singstar gets it right, but Rock Band perfects it in my opinion. The problem with singstar (imho) is that you can't "sing" the song properly. If you are actually a good singer it forces you to sing phonetically rather than as the artist actually sings it. Rock Band gets this right, it gets the volume right and to be honest I think the mic itself is better with less distortion when it's close to your mouth.

I guess the final part I'd mention is the songs themselves. It's down to personal preference but so far the song choice is just a million times better than GH3. GH3 has its moments but so far on the first play of Rock Band I've been treated to:

Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi)
In Bloom (Nivana)
I Think I'm Paranoid (Garbage)
Say It Ain't So (Weezer)
Creep (Radiohead)
Celebrity Skin (Hole)

Every one has been an original and the levels (whether playing guitar, vocals or drums) has just been spot on.

Seriously cannot reccommend this enough. Just did Celebrity Skin and I Think I'm Paranoid with my wife on vocals and myself on guitar and I just fell head over heels in love with how fun this game can be.

The "ad lib" sections are amazingly fun, guitar or drums (probably drums) being my favourites. So long as you hit the one note at the end that they ask you to, major pointage.

Honestly cannot find a fault yet except my ankle being in agony from the bass drum!! There IS a lot to get used to (rectangular notes even takes some getting used to) but it's SO worth it.

EDIT: I will say, at first if you've been playing GH3 or 2 you might feel that the strum bar is a bit "broken" but it really isn't, it just takes some getting used to. It's not as springy as the other guitars available at the moment, but as I say, it's not broken, you just need to get used to it.

[Jebus]

Just a quick update, just played an online match (this is the PS3 version by the way). Spot on, no lag, no probs whatsoever getting a game. We were a three piece and all of us played on hard (me guitar, them vocals and drums) and it was excellent!

I don't recall another game on the PS3 that lets you invite friends either, just like the 360 version. Go to multiplayer, create band etc and just "invite friends".

I don't think you can hear your friends singing though, that's the only thing. It's not a major issue as to be honest it might be offputting if they aren't too good.

[Nisa]

In most cases you wouldn't want to hear other folk singing, my mate would intentionally sing out of key and make his own lyrics to make me piss myself while playing drums, I'm pretty sure Sabotage doesn't contain the lyrics "have some breath freshner, you've melted my hamster" for example.

As far as guitar difficulty goes I still haven't passed Green Grass and High Tides or Ride the Lightning, yet I've done all the GH3 songs on Expert bar TTFAF so Rock Band definitely has it's share of hard songs and will continue to do so with some upcoming dlc I'm sure.

[Jebus]

The more I play of the guitar parts the more I think that this could actually be considered harder at times.

For example, I'm playing on expert and hard intermittently and on hard I'm not too troubled on the easier songs (same as GH3) but on expert, songs like Creep...easy as pie until the rapid sections and then because this game requires you to be SO much more accurate (seriously, GH3 compared to this lets you hit notes when you've finished the song there's such a gap between the accuracy levels required) I really struggle on those sections!

Just been playing the tour mode with my wife (I'm on drums, she's on guitar) and it's actually quite a deep game in that mode, lots to do! She just spent 10-20 minutes getting a tattoo and customising her wardrobe etc.

Still can't find a fault with this game, not a single one.

[powkisser]

well this is my first time rhythm action kinda game, and loving it. though im having to work my way through Easy and Medium at the moment to get myself upto speed.. Drums are my fav, i just want to be able to play them on expert.. but that will take me sometime. thumbs up from me