Preview: Rock Band
Forget Guitar Hero. Rock Band takes virtual music to a whole new level.
While the music and rhythm genre of video games has been around for a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time now, the musical instrument subgenre has only recently started to catch fire with the mainstream. Sure, Konami may have started the trend of guitar-based games with GuitarFreaks, but everybody knows nowadays that the game that actually got people to go out and buy all those bulky peripherals was none other than Guitar Hero. After all, if even your church pastor knows about Guitar Hero (which mine does, in fact), then nobody can ever possibly deny that the game is big, really big.
You can almost taste the rock sweat.
And now, through a collaboration between Harmonix, MTV, and Electronic Arts, a game known as Rock Band will soon be jumping into the rhythm action fray. While some may contend that the game is merely cashing in on the currently unbeatable fad of guitar peripheral games, the game's developers would most certainly deny that assessment with utmost defiance.
Dude, let's start a rock band
At the very heart of this game's appeal is its multiplayer game modes, which can support up to four players -- twice the amount that the Guitar Hero series currently supports. However, in order to fully rock out the way the game intended, you and your friends are going to need at least four different instrument peripherals: a microphone (for vocals), two guitars (one for lead, one for bass), and a kickin' set of drums.
Of course, these peripherals won't be generic, plasticky-looking doohickeys. Instead, Harmonix has shelled out the big bucks to secure that the legendary Fender Stratocaster will be the basis for each Rock Band guitar. Furthermore, the company has also secured deals with the Roland Corporation and BOSS to create even more guitar equipment with a certain air of realism.
But, for those not wanting to pay money for even more peripherals when they have perfectly good Guitar Hero guitars that are nearly brand new, fret not. Reports from the developers themselves indicate that Guitar Hero-compatible controllers will work with Rock Band as well.
It has the foundation of Guitar Hero, but it does so much more.
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