YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

That's from 'Wont Get Fooled Again', by the way. Sorry. Ive just been watching CSI.

Aaaaaaanyway....Rock Band....I suppose this is an appropriately late review for an incredibly late game.

Us Europeasants were treated to Rock Band a faintly ridiculous 6 months after the US launch. That's only the 360 version. PS3 owners will have to wait almost a full year for their version. Both versions, however, are twice the price of the US release, so at least there is parity there.

But I digress. Enough about how badly EA and MTV have treated the EU and more about the game itself.

Firstly a confession. I didnt really fancy being bummed by EA and had enough plastic crap lying around the house so I plumped for a second hand version of the 'solus' version, which is just the game. I play with two Guitar Hero guitars and use an XBox Live headset for the 'singing'. I would also have been murdered if I had brought a big plastic drumkit into the house along with all the rest of the crap I have lying around.

The Guitar Hero guitars work perfectly which, apparently, is more than can be said for the Rock Band guitars.

So....the game...

The first thing you notice about Rock Band is how disgustingly ugly it is. Its like an upscaled PS2 game filtered through a pair of tights. Everything has this weird grain on it and the characters look hideous. That said, you don't really notice that when you are mid ROCK, so it can be forgiven looking like a 10 year old game on some level.

Along with graphical problems, the sound mix is badly off (or at least it was on my system). While playing through a DD 5.1 system, the instrument sounds were all over the place. Some were too loud, some drowned out others and some were very weak. it got to the point where I ended up just going for two channel stereo, which is pretty poor.

Thankfully the game itself is a joy to play.

While Guitar Hero 3 pandered to the hardcore, becoming a fit inducing 'Simon Says' simulator, Rock Bands note charts are actually fun to play and make you actually feel like you are playing along with the song, rather than passing a fiendish memory test.

On the guitar mode the Expert note charts are comparable with GH3 on Hard, Hard on Rock Band being Medium difficulty with all the frets playable (which GH players have been demanding for some time). The mechanics are familiar to any GH veterans, with the added inclusion of Solo bonuses and Big Rock Finishes.

Singing also seems very good. I have only played Singstar a few times, but its a reasonable facsimile, with percussion sections, where you tap the mic like a tambourine, to keep you occupied through the instrument solos. It gives you a great opportunity to wail like a tone deaf pub drunk, waking your neighbours at all hours of the morning to the strains of 'Dead or Alive'.

As I say, I cant comment on the drums, because I'm tight.

Finally and, arguably, most importantly there is the song selection. Thankfully it is pretty much note perfect. There is no hard rockin' guitar w***ery, just a really nice selection of old and new classics that are really fun to play. Some are better than others as the were chosen for a specific instrument, but they all stand up.

There are also bonus points for the staggering amount of content MTV have managed to license in their online store. Unlike (sorry to keep drawing the comparison) Guitar Heros insulting DLC support, Rock Band has a massive tune library covering most popular genres and even including a few full albums, so it is the game that keeps on giving, as long as you have a registered credit card.


Rock Band is a funny one to rate and summarise. On the one hand, it isnt technically very good, it is massively late and is insultingly overpriced. But on the other hand, it is fun to play, even if you just use it as another Guitar Hero and the online support for it is fantastic.

So, yes, while I wanted to hate the game, I didn't and it is certainly worth picking up even if you don't use any of the official instruments.