People trash talking Guitar Hero series

[plaer 1]

I've read that a lot of people, be it Rock Band fanboys or non fanboys, complain that Activision should stop the series.

But then the Rock Band games are kinda gaining sequels and spinoffs and they'll end up with several titles on the shelf soon.

People don't really bitch about pokemon series anymore do they? It must be 10 years old right? If year by year there is a demand for a sequel or update, is a game publisher doing wrong by delivering it to their customers?

[Matt]

The Rock Band series seems to be created by a team who love music, who love the instruments, and want to make the best game possible. From what I've played, the later GH titles, possibly excluding new one I have yet to play, don't share that passion.

While RB carries on it's Platform ethos [except Beatles, unfortunately], GH seems to be playing catch up and more interested in copying RB and selling iterations, rather than furthering the genre. Of course, RB now have more than a few titles coming themselves, but I think they are more distinct and "fun" (Lego Rock Band!) compared to the Activision sequel churning machine.

As much as I enjoy GH Metallica for the music, it's not a touch on RB Beatles artistically.

I feel the passion in RB. GH feels, as odd a thing as it is to say, like a calculated exercise in money making.

Plus of course, the RB games have better charts and feel more "natural" to play. Oh, and they don't make up notes to hit....

I'm basing all of this on 6 months guitar-game playing, so my experience is limited to the latter GH series. So maybe I'm wrong

[ItsThere]

The Rock Band DLC support is far greater than Guitar Hero as well.

I regret buying GH: Mettalica whereas I never regret buying songs on the RB music store. I even bought a Spongebob Squarepants song as a (sort of) joke and it is great fun to play.

[Skull Commander]

The bottom line for me is that they are both series are superb and both are worth investment.

I don't understand the Guitar Hero bashing myself, but unfortunatly Harmonix seems to have bred a fanboy on par with those not seen since the early 90's in terms of sheer blind devotion. If you look over at Kotaku it's like a bloody playground with the juvinille nonsense that gets spouted in a rock band/guitar hero story comments section.

[Brats]

For a quick comparison, I feel that Rock Band is the BBC, whereas Guitar Hero is ITV.

Ever watched a film on ITV? You'd thinka film's a film, but ITV are notorious and putting ad breaks in mid-sentence, showing films in the wrong aspect ratio and having the news split the film in two. They don't see the film as art, they just see it as a way to fill up the schedule and get the ratings in.

Guitar Hero feels more like a commodity, devoid of passion and love for the music. Having said that, it still plays fine and there are some very nice inclusions on the GH5 sound track. I also really like the additions they've made to the multiplayer for GH5.

But the recent Cobain saga sums it up. Granted Activision got the rights for Cobain's image, but no-one thought that having Cobain pulling hip-hop throws might seem a bit disrespectful. Compare that to Harmonix's treatment of the Beatles....well, there's no comparison.

Ironically, a lot of people think that rock band is the copycat game, a cheap knock off of the original Guitar hero, which is why GH still sells more (GH5 outsold Beatles last week, despite being available for less time).

[Skull Commander]

How on earth does that comparism work? Sometimes the note charts work better in Rock Band (Jimmy Eat World, The Middle), sometimes they work better in Guitar Hero (Lacuna Coil, Our Truth). Chill out and enjoy the games!

[peeveen]

Personally, I like them both, because, I don't know if anyone has noticed this before, but (get ready for it) THEY ARE BOTH THE SAME GAME. It baffles me how anyone can say that Rock Band "rules", while Guitar Hero "sucks". Anyone who does so is spouting fanboyish nonsense.

If your preference is purely based on marketing, then yes, I grant you that Activision do tend to have their eye on the money a bit more, but I've always found a disc full of songs to be far better value than DLC, especially when you take all the other advantages of physical media into consideration. But again, it's a bit subjective: I can enjoy the "game" of GH/RB whether I like the music I'm playing or not (and most of the time, it's a definite "not"). If you only want to play music you like, then DLC will be your friend.

If you preference is based on "note-charting", then my only observation is that Rock Band is generally FAR easier than GH (so many two-note-chord strummathons in RB, it's not funny), and most complaints about the GH charts are usually just thinly-disguised whines of "wah, it's too haaaard".

And if I hear anyone else say that playing RB is "more like playing a real guitar", then I will get very cross. Neither game comes anywhere close to playing a real guitar.

I repeat: I like both games a lot. They are both a lot of fun, because they are both THE SAME GAME.

[Brats]

How on earth does that comparism work? Sometimes the note charts work better in Rock Band (Jimmy Eat World, The Middle), sometimes they work better in Guitar Hero (Lacuna Coil, Our Truth). Chill out and enjoy the games!

The charting in the Neversoft GH games has improved a lot, but the fact that it was so bad in GH3 underlines my point - that they cared less. Only when people started complaining did they improve things.

The series has shifted focus as well, from hardcore game of GH3 to the game for everyone approach of GH5. I'm not saying games can't change, but Harmonix seem to have had a much better focus on what they are trying to achieve.

It's more than just the marketing, it's the 'feel' of the games. Rock Band makes me feel that I'm in a band up on stage, whereas GH makes me feel like I'm in a video game. I compare it to ITV, because it's almost impossible to get lost in a film watching ITV, such is the lack of respect given to the material.

That said, I agree they are very similar and it would be utterly daft to hate one. I have the Rock Band games and a mate has the GH games and we've had lots of fun on both.

[Skull Commander]

That's where you and I differ. I like the charting in GH3 and find it a good challenge. Still haven't managed hard to this day, but I'm chipping away at it with one more tier to do!

[Brats]

That's fair enough. I bought GH3, but I really disliked it (having loved 1 & 2). It felt like a different game, even the thought the basic mechanics were identical.

[EvilBoris]

I concur, something didn't feel quite right in 3, obviously it was perfectly playable but there was something less/too involving about the note layouts.

Rock Band didn't have this problem for me, I can only put that down to them being Harmonix developed. I've not played any newer ones so I can't comment on those

[rmoxon]

The funny thing is people moaning about Guitar Hero games being milked to death are probably the same people who usualy say the same things about EA games, the irony being of course that Rock Band is an EA game.

As for the qaulity of the games, while both fun, I do have to admit the Rock Band titles do just have the edge for me, I prefer the presentation and usualy find the songs more fun to play on the whole, mainly becuase they perfectly nail the feeling of playing a song (though i did really love Guitar Hero Metallica, number 5 however has quite a few songs I didnt enjoy that much).

Overall though not eveyone can affoard every game, so its porobabaly more about finding an excuse for which series to go for than anything else.

[MrMarbles]

For me it's just a matter of taste:

I prefer Rock Band's presentation.

I prefer Rock Band's focus on DLC support and treating the discs as a platform to house all of the music.

I prefer Rock Band's note-charting from the point of view of Expert difficulty across all instruments (I don't know how they compare on easier difficulties).

I prefer Rock Band's guitar (although I know I'm in the minority with this sentiment).

Taking the previously-mentioned BBC/ITV coverage a little further, I like to think of it as the BBC and ITV's World Cup coverage. Although their content with regard to the actual matches are mostly the same, the BBC bookend it with a little more class whereas ITV's comes across as tackier and slightly passionless.

And I prefer the BBC's commentators, which I'd liken to the note-charts; Guitar Hero's nasty use of the green button in songs like Nothing Else Matters is the equivalent of Andy Townsend - I'm sure some people love it but, for me, it just makes me grimace.

[Flabio]

Overall though not eveyone can affoard every game, so its porobabaly more about finding an excuse for which series to go for than anything else.

Almost every fanboy argument ever since the dawn of time comes down to this.

It's not about which is best. It's about justifying the one you've spent money on.

[smouty]

I was late to the Rock Band party having played GH since its release on PS2 and to me RB feels a bit more grown up and more of a sim but I love both for what they are.