Rock Band - Impressions...

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:42 am

How does the leaderboard stuff work, I went through a solo career in vocals last night but none of my scores showed up on the leader boards, in fact it said I needed to play to get a score.

I must be totally missing something.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:28 pm

I'm jealous. This is the type of game that i'd be all over but I have to wait until Christmas to open mine.

On a side note my daughter got home last night and asked me what the Rock Band box was. I told her it was a game like Guitar Hero but it was for the whole band. She looked at me without skipping a beat and said "Cool, I've got drums." She's only 4.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:32 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:I'm jealous. This is the type of game that i'd be all over but I have to wait until Christmas to open mine.

On a side note my daughter got home last night and asked me what the Rock Band box was. I told her it was a game like Guitar Hero but it was for the whole band. She looked at me without skipping a beat and said "Cool, I've got drums." She's only 4.

That's the one thing that may make me spring for this. I can see a Partridge Family spinoff now...

...

'C'mon, get happeeeeeee...

Leadfoot5 · Post by **Leadfoot5** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:53 pm

I'll be surprising my 3 boys (ages 10-15) with this game on Thanksgiving morning. My wife wanted me to wait until Christmas, but I just don't have the willpower. We have a GHIII guitar, so we can all join in. Looking forward to a long 4 day weekend of rocking out with the kids!!

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:10 pm

A few more tidbits from me on this one. I NEED more time on the drums, but I am getting better. Easy is getting to the point I am in the 90% range all the time. Some songs I do OK on Medium and others I fail bad. I have even made it through one or two songs on hard. Man is it fun! The problem is they are loud, I need to search for something to quiet them down ( new sticks or something)

I forgot to post that the first night, my son (6) played the guitar and my niece(13) played the bass, the wife tried the drums and I had the honor to sing. It wasn't pretty but man was it FUN. All of us were laughing and they were getting a kick out of my attempt to sing.

Last night, I got online with a friend of mine from AVS (we play GH3 together) and now this. So we both were on guitars and decided to try the "find player" option and it located us a random drummer. He had no headset (or wouldn't talk) but he could hear us and was moving up for "yes" and down for "no" on the difficulty selection screen if the song that was randomly selected was OK. Anyhow, he played on medium and did well and man was it fun. To hear long sections of the songs go by without error was pretty damn cool! Later we found a singer too but you can't really tell how well he/she does until its over as you hear the track and not the player singing (a good thing I think) but you don't know if they mess up.

So far this is WELL WORTH the price tag!!

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:29 pm

I have to agree this game is just awesome.

Last week if you asked me which game would be sitting on the sidelines i wouldn't have said Mass Effect, but Rock Band is like crack.

Leadfoot5 · Post by **Leadfoot5** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:56 pm

SEMINOLE wrote:The problem is they are loud, I need to search for something to quiet them down ( new sticks or something)

Report back if you find anything, that would be my only complaint so far too. I can't believe it will be very long before someone comes up with some sort of mod.

My kids and I played for 3 hours straight this morning and had a blast. Luckily, by 15 year old son plays drums, so he was able to get at least 90% on medium out of the box. Our band started out in Amsterdam, and we now have a van and are playing gigs in London and Paris.

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 8:15 pm

Has anyone figured out how to use the GH III guitar with Rock Band? (PS 3 specifically). When I try to get it to work the game reads it as the microphone and not another guitar.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:14 pm

RallyMonkey wrote:Has anyone figured out how to use the GH III guitar with Rock Band? (PS 3 specifically). When I try to get it to work the game reads it as the microphone and not another guitar.

This is a widespread issue. You may be out of luck unfortunately.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rock-band/rock ... 325254.php

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 9:52 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9XLiMfBRo

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:25 am

Guys...if I was to buy this for my school how would the drums hold up?

Are they strong enough to last a good while?

Thanks

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 11:54 am

pigpen81 wrote:Guys...if I was to buy this for my school how would the drums hold up?

Are they strong enough to last a good while?

Thanks

Hard to say. I trust my set will hold up for a good long while, but who knows if a bunch of kids really hammer on the things.

I got a chance to try a 3 person set up yesterday with me on guitar, my brother on drums, and my sister singing. It was really cool. We had the TV turned way up, just rocking out. For those that have the game, it is definitely worth putting together a group of friends or family at least once. It felt like a whole different experience playing the guitar there.

I'm also 'getting it' with the drums now, as I started solo tour on medium and am getting 5 stars on everything so far. I'm also surprised how fast my brother picked up the drums in this game. He had a drum set in his room when we were teens, but he never got terribly good at them or was never in a band or anything. I made him start on easy, but after one song he wanted to switch to medium, and by the third song he was hitting 95%. I guess the drums are fairly intuitive after all.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:38 pm

I want to get this game so bad, wife wants me to wait until Christmas as she's told some people to chip in to get it.. only problem is, not sure they'll be around.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 3:38 pm

MizzouRah wrote:I want to get this game so bad, wife wants me to wait until Christmas as she's told some people to chip in to get it.. only problem is, not sure they'll be around.

Just hold out man it will make it all that much more better when Christmas Day comes. I had my nieces and nephews over last night with my unopened copy of Rock Band just sitting there taunting us all. It would have been so easy to rip that bad boy open and start jamming but the turkey carving knife was still out and my wife has pretty good aim.

After watching that Justice video I really can't wait now. Christmas is going to rock this year.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 3:59 pm

vader29 wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9XLiMfBRo

Tape already on the drums...NICE.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:04 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:
MizzouRah wrote:I want to get this game so bad, wife wants me to wait until Christmas as she's told some people to chip in to get it.. only problem is, not sure they'll be around.
Just hold out man it will make it all that much more better when Christmas Day comes. I had my nieces and nephews over last night with my unopened copy of Rock Band just sitting there taunting us all. It would have been so easy to rip that bad boy open and start jamming but the turkey carving knife was still out and my wife has pretty good aim.

After watching that Justice video I really can't wait now. Christmas is going to rock this year.

I just told some family they have about 4 boxes left at Walmart.

In other words, get your arses up there and pick it up for me!

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:23 pm

My lad has tried it at a friends and has been constantky asking for it early since, hes pooring it on thick even as far as tears its killing us seeing him like this hes never wanted anything this bad before we keep telling him how good xmas will be tho.

These kids nowadays and i guess all of us to some extent just want everything now i think he gets it from his father but hes still a rookie at trying to get round his parents i could teach him a few things there but its fun watching him suffer, hes going out of his wat to be nice even to his sister.

Who will crack first

Wilk5280 · Post by **Wilk5280** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:18 pm

So, here's a strange question for you.

I know everyone is enamored with the drums, but how would this game be to pick up by itself and to play it like GH? I'm not going to lie, i don't want all the hassle of pulling out the drums etc.

It'd be just me or my son playing solo probably and neither of us is really interested in the drums. Is the guitar playing an improvement, watered down or on par with GH?

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:28 pm

From a guitar-only solo career perspective, it is very similar to guitar hero. There are minor gameplay tweaks, and you design and outfit your own customizable characters, but guitar solo career basically is guitar hero.

The only difference is that in time Rock Band will be extremely aggressive with constantly adding hundreds of downloadable songs, if that sounds interesting to you.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:53 pm

In terms of gameplay, I think Rock Band utilizes a different technique for difficulty than Guitar Hero. Rather than long and rapid runs of notes, Rock Band emphasizes solid rhythm guitar playing, focused around complex chord progressions etc. Perhaps it's due to songs that highlight a diversity of instruments rather than just rockin' solos.

I am no good at Guitar Hero on Hard, but I've made it halfway through Rock Band with only a few hiccups. I've enjoyed the difficulty, and I know Expert will kick my ass if I opt to step up.

So, it's a good game even without drums. That said, this is truly a game about the whole band; best enjoyed with a group in the room or (a weaker substitute) played with others online. The drums are crazy hard if you ask me; medium kicks my butt. Bass is fun, pretty easy, but fun. Vocals make everyone look like an idiot, and I like to think I can 'kinda' sing.

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:31 pm

Finally got to play this today and enjoyed it very much just playing the guitar. Game is easier for me than guitar hero, I did one song on easy and it was too easy so I moved up to medium and have been getting 4 and 5 stars on most of the songs. Now I'm wishing I would have sprung for the bundle to get the drums but hopefully they will sell them separately soon, also loving the song selection so far.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:31 pm

I sold $140 worth of old games on ebay today so I decided to pick this up on the PS3. I'm glad I did. My wife and I had an absolute blast playing together. We even let the kids play the drums (disconnected, of course..LOL). I never played Guitar Hero so the whole game is fresh. I'm surprised how much I like singing. I knew I would love playing the drums. It's really nice to have a game that the whole family can enjoy.

Blublub · Post by **Blublub** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:28 am

I picked one up for the kids as well (for the PS3 - using an unpopular system does sometimes have its advantages). It's going to be an early Christmas present today since the whole thing has to be packed up in a couple of weeks for an overseas move. I've never even seen Guitar Hero (I live in a cave), so it should be very fresh indeed...

JohnnytheSkin · Post by **JohnnytheSkin** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:32 pm

Are you guys using "Bass Boost" and "Dolby Digital" with your surround sound systems? I'm surprised the latter wasn't selected by default, but maybe it's a mastering issue and the game's "supposed" to be played in stereo.

Haven't tried "Bass Boost" but wonder if it might help with some of the drum parts.

Thanks!

WillHunting · Post by **WillHunting** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:48 am

JohnnytheSkin wrote:Are you guys using "Bass Boost" and "Dolby Digital" with your surround sound systems? I'm surprised the latter wasn't selected by default, but maybe it's a mastering issue and the game's "supposed" to be played in stereo.

Haven't tried "Bass Boost" but wonder if it might help with some of the drum parts.

Thanks!

You are right, I am surprised that those 2 options weren't highlighted by default. Perhaps they only work if you have optical output (at least for the DD). Anyway, they make the sound beefier and I like it alot.

Btw, is there a USB hub that doesn't require a power supply works on Rock Band? I hate the one that comes it.