Rock band >= Guitar Hero?

[MikeRox]

They're the same game like King of Fighters and Street Fighter are?

[peeveen]

They're the same game like King of Fighters and Street Fighter are?

My opinions are in that last thread.

All I'm saying is that for two series of games which, coming from the same origin, are fundamentally identical gameplay-wise, there is an awful lot of unjustifiable hyperbole bandied around by people. It's like those idiotic Mac vs PC arguments.

[rmoxon]

We did all this a few months back:

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=98761

THEY'RE THE SAME GAME, etc, etc ....

I'd also just like to point out that if the recent "Green Day Rock Band" thread in the Headlines section had been titled "Guitar Hero: Green Day", it would almost certainly contain more dissent and fanboy rage than it currently does.

Thats probabaly true, but only becuase generaly people would prefer Harmonix to do the music charts, becuase they feel more like youre playing the song.

Also just look at the love they put into the Beatles game, now compare that with the shoddiness of the GH:Van Halen game and its hard not to want Harmonix to make the game.

[peeveen]

Thats probabaly true, but only becuase generaly people would prefer Harmonix to do the music charts, becuase they feel more like youre playing the song.

Also just look at the love they put into the Beatles game, now compare that with the shoddiness of the GH:Van Halen game and its hard not to want Harmonix to make the game.

See, that's all very well, and I'm not disputing much of it (apart from that nonsense about feeling "more like you're playing the song"). Obviously a lot of people here prefer Rock Band over Guitar Hero. There's nowt wrong with that, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Personally I think both series have good and bad points ...

But earlier you described GHWT and GH5 as "awful". I've played both those games for many, many hours, at the highest skill levels, same I have with RB, and I've enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) them all, so when I hear someone describe them that way, it just seems silly to me, especially when they are all so similar.

This here is probably "awful" ...

http://www.hotbloodedgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/ripoff1.jpg

[rmoxon]

See, that's all very well, and I'm not disputing much of it (apart from that nonsense about feeling "more like you're playing the song"). Obviously a lot of people here prefer Rock Band over Guitar Hero. There's nowt wrong with that, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Personally I think both series have good and bad points ...

But earlier you described GHWT and GH5 as "awful". I've played both those games for many, many hours, at the highest skill levels, same I have with RB, and I've enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) them all, so when I hear someone describe them that way, it just seems silly to me, especially when they are all so similar.

This here is probably "awful" ...
http://www.hotbloodedgaming.com/wp-c...ds/ripoff1.jpg

Sorry, but I found GH5 awful, I didnt really like that the game lacked any feeling of progression, it was also really easy even on expert. My main grip though was the song list which was utter crap IMO, so i really thought it was awful for personal reasons more than anything to do with its play mechanics.

I still maintain that Rock Band actualy feels more like youre actualy playing the song though, its just how it feels when you play it, you become much more absorbed in the experience becuase the music charts feel bang on the music.

[MikeRox]

Personally it's always been that the note patterns are inaccurate on Guitar Hero 3 onwards. I actually think some of the features implemented into Guitar Hero are better than those on Rock Band, however the main point of the game is wrong and the note window far too generous to make the game anything more than meh for me.

I think it's like how Pro Evo to FIFA used to be. FIFA had the brand name, but the games themselves were much shallower than Pro Evo. That has since changed, and hopefully Guitar Hero could do the same. But for me, Guitar Hero is now selling on brand rather than the actual quality of the game.

This is purely from a music accuracy perspective, nothing to do with preferring Harmonix or anything, I actually shelled out top dollar for Guitar Hero World Tour + Guitar on release. Ended up keeping the guitar and offing the game disc as IMO the Guitar Hero WT guitar > the Rock Band 1 guitar from a great height.

[MikeRox]

I still maintain that Rock Band actualy feels more like youre actualy playing the song though, its just how it feels when you play it, you become much more absorbed in the experience becuase the music charts feel bang on the music.

I agree 100% that Harmonix's efforts are far superior from a music representation perspective. They seem to put a lot more care and attention into making sure the notes are what are in the actual song. Old example now, but the best example I can think of is looking at the Guitar Hero and Rock Band representations of The Killers: When We Were Young. The GH ver makes you play the synthesiser part on the guitar line. The Rock Band ver has the actual guitar part.

[peeveen]

Old example now, but the best example I can think of is looking at the Guitar Hero and Rock Band representations of The Killers: When We Were Young. The GH ver makes you play the synthesiser part on the guitar line. The Rock Band ver has the actual guitar part.

I always knew I was playing a synth part, but it was slightly more entertaining than standing around like an idiot for 20 seconds. GH5 still does some daft things like that (see "Superstition").

Speaking of standing around like an idiot ... see "E-Pro" in Rock Band 2. You could make a cuppa in the gaps between playing.

[ItsThere]

Speaking of standing around like an idiot ... see "E-Pro" in Rock Band 2. You could make a cuppa in the gaps between playing.

That is why you should play the drums!

[peeveen]

That is why you should play the drums!

Hehe. That's one of my main annoyances with everything that came after GH3 tho. Most songs are now a happy medium for all instruments, and as a result, there aren't so many great ones that stand out.

[Stoppy2000]

Rockband is miles better than Guitar Hero - GH3 was an abomination. I bought GH:Metallica cos they are possibly my favourite band. That is ok, but the non-metallica songs are awful and they are stupidly unavoidable in the pretty bland 'career' mode. It just doesnt feel as good as RB.

[MikeRox]

I always knew I was playing a synth part, but it was slightly more entertaining than standing around like an idiot for 20 seconds. GH5 still does some daft things like that (see "Superstition").

Speaking of standing around like an idiot ... see "E-Pro" in Rock Band 2. You could make a cuppa in the gaps between playing.

But thats how the guitar part goes, so that is how I want the guitar part to be on my "pretending to play the guitar part" sim. Might as well play Frequency/Amplitude/Rock Band Unplugged if you want to just have rhythms to tap along to.

Obviously we're looking for different things from our Guitar games. But a feeling of authenticity is IMO what makes Rock Band, and why I find it a far better product than the "identical" Guitar Hero 3 onwards counterparts.

[peeveen]

But thats how the guitar part goes, so that is how I want the guitar part to be on my "pretending to play the guitar part" sim. Might as well play Frequency/Amplitude/Rock Band Unplugged if you want to just have rhythms to tap along to.

Well, that's obviously not what I want, but I think you're exaggerating a bit if you're trying to imply that Guitar Hero is chock full of moments like that. Off the top of my head I can think of four songs that have notes that aren't actual guitar parts (Superstition, When We Were Young, Du Hast, A-Punk). There might be a few more, but that still leaves hundreds of perfectly good note charts.

Obviously we're looking for different things from our Guitar games.

Well, I don't think we are, really. We both play them for FUN, I'm sure. I'm just of the mind that playing these games can't even begin to approach the "authenticity" of playing a real guitar (I do play a bit of guitar in real life), so I don't try and validate any particular series in that way. "Note charting" is often cited as being better in Rock Band, but I don't see how there can be only ONE correct way to compress a real guitar part into five coloured buttons.

[MikeRox]

It's what people want isn't it? For me RB just feels more "right" and as it's the better of the two for me on both that and song lineup (being able to export everything to 1 version is a big plus too) it makes GH just a tad redundant for me.

Did Rock Band not exist, I have no doubt I would love Guitar Hero almost, if not just as much as I currently do Rock Band.