YOUR opinions on Rock Band, Guitar Hero, etc?

Grumpypants

The only bad thing i found was that no matter how cool you feel when playing that wicked solo.

You do not look as cool as you think you do.

Dont be at yourself

Their fun hinges on your affinity for music and the track list of the game in particular. I dip in and out every now and again, though I was hooked on DJ Hero and just picked up the sequel.

RobertFoster

I've only played the original Guitar Hero on the PS2. I found it enjoyable, but I didn't play it for long. The highway messed with my eyes after extended plays. Enjoyed the music too, even the songs I didn't know at the time.

RB3 is probably a big step up from GH1, but I can't justify the cost and space required for the peripherals. I wouldn't mind giving the drums a go.

o1s1n

RobertFoster wrote: »

but I didn't play it for long. The highway messed with my eyes after extended plays.

Do you mean the walls scrolling/melting upward effect? It's really weird isn't it?

I really like the Guitar Hero games. Have about five of them. Haven't played them for ages though as it's a lot of effort to set up. But whenever we do we have great fun.

I don't understand all the hate. People bashing over and over again on a controller annoying you? - Welcome to the world of videogames.

If you think that's bad, you'd want to see/hear me playing Metal Slug.

Twilightning

I think people are taking the 10/10 a bit too literally. While I know a music game wouldn't be put into the same category as games praised for their storylines or graphics, the score RB3 was given was well deserved. Because it is pretty much the best rhythm game of all time, no question. Why wouldn't it deserve 10/10?

RobertFoster

o1s1n wrote: »

Do you mean the walls scrolling/melting upward effect? It's really weird isn't it?

Really weird and really cool at the same time Standing up at the same time probably didn't help me much either, I think I could feel tunnel vision coming on.

Kinetic^

Fun games but each one has a limited shelf life.

GTR63

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Fun games but each one has a limited shelf life.

Completely agree with that point.I think the Genre is sinking fast looking at the Sales of RB3 & the new Guitar Hero.I'd also like to argue about the reviews,whoever reviews these games gets Free Bundles to play with whereas someone hear would have to pay up to €200 to get the band experience.You could get 5 Brand New games for that Price if you went to the right places.

jaykhunter

I first got into Guitar Hero when I played GH2 in the states, thought it was great. By GH3 i played it a crap ton, and really enjoyed getting proficient on the guitar. Played RB a few times at my mates house, but bought RB2 and drumset when that came out (carried the wireless drumkit home from the states) and really got maybe 100 hours out of the game playing with friends and family. I got GH Metallica, and that was fun, although i didn't spend much time with it. Was playing it a lot until about a year ago.

Discovering new bands and music was the best part, the soundtracks to the games (except GH4 -- it's awful) were brilliant and I still have them on my iPod. Learning a new instrument was fun but as i got better i got more resentful that i was spending all this time but not actually productively learning an instrument. So for about a year now the plastic peripherals have been gathering dust.

I'm not interested in RB3 or any GH games over the last year or so, I was a huge fan but the fad has run it's course in my opinion. Not really bothered to learn the keyboard. I'd consider the super-pro guitar with GH3 (the one that isn't out yet, that actually doubles as a real electric guitar) because I'd actually be learning the songs and putting my time to good use. I'll have to see what it actually looks like learning the songs. But for now I'm tired of rhythm games.

D4RK ONION

Biased opinion incoming!

They are, and probably always will be my favourite genre of games. Fighting games are nibbling at it's toes, but it will never surpass it. In a way, I think there's a similar aspect in both genres which just hook me.

They are of course, ENTIRELY different, but there's that addictive nature to them which is just like crack to my brain. Muisc games are engrossing, challenging and a lot of fun for pretty much any skill level.

I always find it perplexing how people can have so much hate for the genre without having fully given it a chance. People will pick it up, play it for about an hour, find that they can't do it straight away and move on to the next brown and grey, third person, sandbox adventure. Another thing which it and fighting games have in common: I'm constantly having to tell people that both these genres are more than just "button mashing for sad gamers who have no lives" etc.

As an aside, Sisko mentions that some people must get a buzz from just hitting the same thing over and over. Yeah, there's a reason that the games themselves often have repeated paths. MUSIC has repeated paths. Hell, that's what drummers make a living out of! Doesn't mean it doesn't require a high level of skill and dexterity.

marco_polo

Not replying to anybody in particular, GH and RB are not really the sort of games I would usually ever play bar at a party for an hour or so, but if a title is amongst the best example of its genre and does what it is supposed to do as well as it can possibly can, then why not give a 10/10? Do game rankings really have to represent an absolute scale covering every single video game ever made?

It is about as pointless as getting upset over IMDB film ratings.

jaykhunter

A small point i should mention is that these rhythm games need a bridging difficulty between medium and hard. Like something with the added notes of Hard, but not using the 5th (orange) button. It seems to be a much bigger jump from easy to medium.

Banging drums is very therapeutic. Reduces stress levels Unless it's Panic Attack :pac:

johnny_ultimate

While the genre was founded on pressing five coloured buttons, and while standard RB guitar is still my lead instrument of choice, Harmonix are successfully advancing the tech to become something far more. The "10/10" score isn't just for being the best 'pressing five buttons game' (although it most certainly is). It's for actually developing stuff like this that actually works:





Five buttons was the prototype, but the rythym game isn't stagnant, that's for sure.

The price is a viable concern. I've spent hundreds on the RB series. But I've gotten my moneys worth many times over. It's expensive tech, but you don't have to buy everything. It's expensive if you want it to be, and yeah for the 'perfect' experience you'll be spending hundreds. But there is hundreds of hours playtime if you want. Sure, you need at least one instrument which will set you back a bit, but if you don't want every single piece of kit or hundreds of DLC, you don't have to buy them!

marco_polo

Some of those peripherals are very cool actually. One of the reasons I wasn't all that keen on the original Guitar hero, at least not without a few beers on board was that it was so unlike playing the guitar (and in fairness I haven't even played any of these games in a few years since then)

johnny_ultimate

marco_polo wrote: »

Some of those peripherals are very cool actually. One of the reasons I wasn't all that keen on the original Guitar hero, at least not without a few beers on board was that it was so unlike playing the guitar (and in fairness I haven't even played any of these games in a few years since then)

Yeah, I don't have the time or money for the guitar at the moment, but the keyboard is a fantastic piece of kit. Obviously it isn't quite a full on keyboard, but it's very close, and on pro mode you're playing very similar notes to the song. There's an indepth tutorial, although the learning curve is obviously quite steep. But it just serves to illustrate that they're getting ever closer to becoming something that closely resembles a real instrument. Hell, the uber expensive pro guitar pretty much is a full on electric guitar at this point (not the one above).

RolandIRL

Only ever played GH2 cos i got it cheap up north, but have to say that i enjoyed it. not particularly good at it, could only get halfway through medium difficulty.
couldn't really play it multiplayer as i didn't have a second guitar so one of us would have to use the controller. that made things interesting and we had a bet going on how far each of us could get into the song before getting thrown off stage

not a story driven or action game, but it's fun and enjoyable. isn't that what games are supposed to be about? i still play TRI and TRII, even though the graphics are outdated but i have fun playing them. don't understand the high and mighty attitude of some posters who look down on GH and RB.

calex71

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I've spent hundreds on the RB series. But I've gotten my moneys worth many times over. It's expensive tech, but you don't have to buy everything. It's expensive if you want it to be, and yeah for the 'perfect' experience you'll be spending hundreds. But there is hundreds of hours playtime if you want. Sure, you need at least one instrument which will set you back a bit, but if you don't want every single piece of kit or hundreds of DLC, you don't have to buy them!

There you have it in a nutshell, if I worked out the cost of rock band 2 on per hour basis even with the cost of controllers amd extra songs, it'd be in the .xx cent per hour region unlike 99% of games I play that I get 10 hours out of and sell on or trade in that cost me €5 an hour to play.

End of the day some people like Call of Duty multiplayer or what ever others like GH or RB , and some others pay hundreds for a gym membership and never go

Sisko

D4RK ONION wrote: »

As an aside, Sisko mentions that some people must get a buzz from just hitting the same thing over and over. Yeah, there's a reason that the games themselves often have repeated paths. MUSIC has repeated paths. Hell, that's what drummers make a living out of! Doesn't mean it doesn't require a high level of skill and dexterity.

Just so I'm clear I'm really only talking about the GH1 guitar and that game the guy is that video I posted where he's tapping a keyboard (computer keyboard)

I'm a big music fan but the idea of spending hours tapping my space bar to the tune of certain songs etc is lost on me.

But the rock band drum kit obviously makes loads more sense to me since its very much the same as drumming and pretty much a fun way to practice drumming.

Its really the fake toy guitar with the big buttons and those pc rhythm games I'm talking about with that point.

jaykhunter

Holding out for that black guitar; it also works as a real electric guitar! Bet it's expensive though.....probably at least $150

NotorietyH

jaykhunter wrote: »

Holding out for that black guitar; it also works as a real electric guitar! Bet it's expensive though.....probably at least $150

It'll be closer to 300 I'd say. The Madcatz 120 button controller is $150 alone in the US, and that guitar is an Fender Squier stratocaster so it'll run around 250-300 I'd guess.

humanji

I was never mad into these games, but decided on a whim to get the Beatles Rock Band set for my mates and me, and I really enjoyed it. Much more than I thought I would. I picked up one of the other games (not sure which) anddefinitely got my money's worth from it.

The base game is grand, but you get a lot more out of it because of the DLC. For example, I got Pearl Jam's Ten, and being a big Pearl Jam fan it's a hell of a lot more fun to play than the standard track lists.

I'm not sure if I'll pick up the new game. Probably will (I'm a sucker for impulse buys ).

As for the 10/10, to be honest I always saw that score as meaning "Everyone must play this game", where as 9/10 means "Everyone who likes this genre must play this game". Now I could be wrong as I haven't played the game, but I'm struggling to see how it could be a 10/10 game. These days I generally start to assume that any game that gets full marks did so because of hype regardless of the actual game.

That's not to say the game didn't earn it, but there aren't many games that got full marks that I'd see as having earned them.

Grumpypants

Sisko wrote: »

Just so I'm clear I'm really only talking about the GH1 guitar and that game the guy is that video I posted where he's tapping a keyboard (computer keyboard)

I'm a big music fan but the idea of spending hours tapping my space bar to the tune of certain songs etc is lost on me.

But the rock band drum kit obviously makes loads more sense to me since its very much the same as drumming and pretty much a fun way to practice drumming.

Its really the fake toy guitar with the big buttons and those pc rhythm games I'm talking about with that point.

Thats sounds a bt like when my ma is giving out about football and she'll say something like its just a bunch of men chasing a silly ball around. No its not ma dont be daft.


Games are just a bit of fun your arent meant to over think it, the idea of hitting a load of colouredy buttons to make a cartoon man shoot a fire ball at another cartoon man is lost on me but i guess some people enjoy it.

indough

id rather spend the money on some decent real midi gear and make my own music but each to their own i guess, so i wouldnt begrudge it a high score if people like playing these games

Twilightning

indough wrote: »

id rather spend the money on some decent real midi gear and make my own music but each to their own i guess, so i wouldnt begrudge it a high score if people like playing these games

And I do. I have a Yamaha DTXplorer drumkit that I practice real drumming on, and since it's a MIDI instrument I'll be able to use it with Rock Band 3 when this magic little box is released later this month. People can also connect their real keyboards too if they don't want to buy the two octave peripheral.

Penn

Grumpypants wrote: »

Games are just a bit of fun your arent meant to over think it, the idea of hitting a load of colouredy buttons to make a cartoon man shoot a fire ball at another cartoon man is lost on me but i guess some people enjoy it.

But at least there's a strategy to that. Modifying the way you play with changing opponents. Risking trying to pull off a combo. Attacking or defending.

Rhythm games, even though I know they require a lot of skill, fast reactions and great timing, but there is no strategy really. It's pressing buttons in the order they're shown to you at the right time. Always.

senordingdong

I used to get some sort of motion sickness from playing GH3 on PS2.
That put me off any other such games.

I've been told to give DJ Hero a try though...I'm skeptical.

Kiith

It's all about the music. I love Rock Band/Guitar Hero, but think DJ Hero is a pile of ****.

Twilightning

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

But at least there's a strategy to that. Modifying the way you play with changing opponents. Risking trying to pull off a combo. Attacking or defending.

Rhythm games, even though I know they require a lot of skill, fast reactions and great timing, but there is no strategy really. It's pressing buttons in the order they're shown to you at the right time. Always.

Strategy =/= A Good Game

indough

Twilightning wrote: »

And I do. I have a Yamaha DTXplorer drumkit that I practice real drumming on, and since it's a MIDI instrument I'll be able to use it with Rock Band 3 when this magic little box is released later this month. People can also connect their real keyboards too if they don't want to buy the two octave peripheral.

thats pretty cool. if these games get people into making music too then all the better. id hate to think it might lead to people who might otherwise have started making music just play the games instead though. i wasnt really aware that all these peripherals were compatible till i read this thread and i doubt a lot of people are so its no onder people think these games are a bit silly, they actually look much better to me now but i still wouldnt bother just out of personal preference really.

Twilightning

indough wrote: »

thats pretty cool. if these games get people into making music too then all the better. id hate to think it might lead to people who might otherwise have started making music just play the games instead though. i wasnt really aware that all these peripherals were compatible till i read this thread and i doubt a lot of people are so its no onder people think these games are a bit silly, they actually look much better to me now but i still wouldnt bother just out of personal preference really.

I think the Rock Band series is responsible for a lot of people, myself included, picking up real instruments and learning how to play them. I learned to play recorder in school for 5 years and played a bit of guitar and piano, but when I picked up the drums for this game a couple of years ago it just opened up a whole other dimension of music for me, and now I'm a real drummer. While Rock Band can't exactly teach you playing technique on the drums, it does teach you a variety of things, like how to do proper fills, improving your timing and other things you pick up over time like alternating strokes between your hands and basic bass drum technique.

I'll be there to sing the game's praises and I'll always be supporting the Rock Band franchise because Harmonix have a passion for what they're doing and want to appeal to everyone out there who's any kind of music fan at all to do things like live out our rock-star fantasy in our own living rooms for an hour with our mates, to inspiring the more hardcore among us to learn how to play the music ourselves.