![]() The strumbar is "clickier" than Rock Band's and the 5 guitar buttons themselves have more tactile feedback. I could let that slide if the presentation itself wasn't so cringe-worthy, as if the developers were trying their hardest to pin down "what's cool with the kids these days." And what happens when you're up on stage playing an Eminem or Skrillex song on guitar? A complete disconnect.Ĭredit where credit is due: The guitar controller itself is awesome, with an outstanding build quality, and thoughtfully designed placement of dedicated Hero Power and Pause buttons. You’re just this faceless, nameless, shapeless guitar player drifting between 10 different bands with different styles and different lives and different fans. The recipient of the developer’s intended fantasy. Unfortunately, it spends all its attention on these elements and forgets to create an identity for you, the player. Lavish attention was paid to the stage dressing, the lighting, the audience reactions, the attitudes and choreography of your live bandmates, the instruments, the authenticity of the live experience. Tons of work went into creating an authentic live concert experience. But the game’s most disappointing downfall is that it fails to achieve its own primary goal: to give the player a never-before-seen level of immersion and “sell the fantasy” of being a rock star up on stage. It's a huge departure from past entries in both presentation and monetization. They took that criticism to heart with Guitar Hero Live. People are constantly criticizing Activision for their annualized release schedule, accusing them of simply rehashing games to milk a franchise dry. I give the developers of Guitar Hero Live heaps of respect for their ambition and the risks they took redesigning the iconic plastic guitar. Rock Band 4 is one of the most accessible games out there, appealing to a wide array of people, and Harmonix has shown a great deal of respect to their hardcore fans by preserving the Rock Band legacy and respecting their previous investments. Music from Green Day Rock Band is already available, with exports from Rock Band 1 and Rock Band 2 coming soon. This week also sees the ability to export your Rock Band 3 on-disc tracks forward into Rock Band 4. Seriously, even some PlayStation 2 instruments work! Best of all, the majority of your old drums and guitars are compatible with the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 game. ![]() That's literally something that's never been done until now. They had the unenviable task of ensuring that over 1700 pieces of previously released song DLC, spanning multiple games and console generations using different hardware and software architecture, could carry over and still be played in Rock Band 4. Harmonix respects the legacy, and most importantly they respect your prior investments. It goes beyond the core gameplay, though. See more: Gift This, Not That: The Tech And Science Gifts You Should (And Shouldn’t) Give This Holiday Season It's thoughtful additions like this that make Rock Band 4 a fantastic experience. If you're a beginner, simply switch on "No Fail Mode" and enjoy yourself free of any pressure. A new feature called "Auto-Kick" lets you just concentrate on the pads while the game handles the kick drum pedal. Maybe you're intimidated by drums, and the bass pedal in particular? Or maybe you have a child who can't get all their limbs on the same page just yet. Think you can do a better job than the original singer? Stray outside the lines and belt out your own melody - as long as it's in the same key, it counts. Do you love playing rhythm guitar but fall apart during difficult, technical solos? Switch to Freestyle Guitar Mode and unleash your own solos, which magically sound great and put the emphasis more on creative expression than technical mastery. You could apply some of these things to Guitar Hero Live as well, but where Rock Band 4 pulls away is player choice and its abundance of expressive gameplay options. It’s an endless buffet of personal challenges to overcome and scores to conquer on a variety of instruments. It’s social glue a fantastic excuse to have a party. A platform for escapism and expression and rocking out with careless abandon. For some it’s a portal into music discovery, and a path to gaining new appreciation for songs that don’t register a blip on their everyday radar. The brilliance of Rock Band is that it represents many things to many different people, and can be experienced in a variety of ways from ultra casual to hardcore. Labeling it as a “video game” simply doesn't do it justice.
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