Why Rock Band Rocks (And Guitar Hero 3 Sucks)
by K1
Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007
(disclaimer: when I say Guitar Hero 3 sucks I say this in relation to Guitar Hero 1 and 2 and Rock Band. The core Guitar Hero gameplay is there, but Neversoft dropped the ball in regards to what makes a must-own guitar hero game, making GH3 just an okay one.)Things I like about Rock Band:
Note charts that don't destroy your hands with CONSTANT 3-button chords
Seriously, GH3 has this strange idea that lots of 3-button chords are a good thing. Fuck that shit. Once in a while is fine, but that shit will destroy your hands way more than crazy solos.
Strict (but fair) note timing and a HO/PO system like GH2
For those of you that don't know this, the hammer-on/pull-off timing in Guitar Hero 3 is way more forgiving than GH2 and Rock Band. I don't quite understand the point of making the timing less strict then adding incredibly complicated note charts. Maybe it's some kind of high end difficulty inflation going on, but it sure makes it hard to go back to GH2 or Rock Band where the timing is more strict.
Extensive character customization and band customization
Once you fully explore the depths of the Rock Band character editor do you see how much you can do. I'm sure people have messed with the tattoo/face paint maker and the band logo maker, but did you know you can edit instruments and clothing the same way? Plus the fact that you can layer, move, rotate, stretch, and change the colors of the extensive library of stickers means there's some crazy customizing that you can do.
All that little touches that make playing with a group fun
Harmonix put a lot of love into this title, and you can tell. The loading screen faux band covers that are generated for your band? Awesome. The myriad of animations and camera effects that play in the background are awesome. The freeze-frame "Yay!" look each band member gets when you save someone who failed? hilarious. They way the lead singer crowd surfs and the way the audience sings along with the lyrics when the band is doing particularly well just adds to the flavor that you are playing as a band. Animations that actually match what you are doing (the singer's lip syncing in particular)? this shouldn't be amazing, but compared to how other games do it, it is.
That little meter that shows you how many stars you have and how close you are to the next one
It really encourages teamwork and putting that effort in to reach that next star.
The guitar solo system
It's just the right touch to add a new wrinkle to how the guitar is played, and adds flavor to the instrument that people might be tired of playing since it's been around more than the others. Plus, it lets people know when to pay attention to the guitar instead of the vocals :V
Drums are fucking hard
All the more satisfying it will make it when I finish Expert Drums Solo Career.
Being able to buy and download new songs one at a time
It would be really nice to be able to preview songs before you download, but I guess that's what Youtube is for. At least they don't force you to download song packs with songs you don't want, and when they do have a pack it's optional and at a discount compared to just getting the individual songs. Approximately $1.50 a song is fair price and since I've played the stock songs extensively already, so it's great how fresh it keeps the game.
Things I hate about Guitar Hero 3:
3-button chords can go to hell
See above.
All the extra crap they added for singleplayer
The ONE thing everyone hates about Guitar Hero is having to play the singleplayer game to unlock all the songs, and AGAIN at each difficulty to unlock the secret guitars. Aside from practice mode to get to hard parts down, the real appeal of Guitar Hero is the social experience of two player versus/co-op or playing with others to show of your skills (tournaments, parties, whatever).
Boss battles are stupid and pointless
Again, it's more pointless single player crap that gets played once, then the rest of the game's life is spent in quickplay or multiplayer. There isn't even much strategy to it: save up a bunch of powers then unleash them all in a row to make the other person fail during a part with a lot of notes. At least they released the songs as a free download pack, I guess if you want to play a song that's all solos there you go.
They replaced Pandora with Midori
Midori is a stupid character that has no place in a Guitar Hero game. In addition, they removed a character I actually liked. Why? They also made Judy Nails look like she's been taking steroids (or was previously a man). Admittedly, the quirky art style of the Guitar Hero games was one of its weak points, but at least it didn't detract from the game. They've somehow made it worse, which amazes me, really.
I could easily go into detail about the song choices and such, but there are plenty of reviews out there, and this is more of a hands-on report of details reviews might not emphasize. In conclusion, I feel that Guitar Hero 3 is an okay purchase for Guitar Hero fans, and Rock Band is a must-buy for anyone who likes music games and likes having/making friends. Article Permalink
PS3 Progress Report
by alzabo
Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007This letter is regarding the progress of your youngest progeny the Playstation 3. While little “triple” is doing well, he not showing the progress that is expected of him to meet our 7th grade's graduation requirements.
Triple started out slowly last fall, the work he was producing was not up to par. While his work looked as good as his classmates upon initial inspection we found problems within. Triple would often submit reports with elaborate title pages, binding and color photos; however the writing quality was quite poor and consisted of the same typo filled paragraph repeated six to ten times. We were concerned that he should have been held back for a year.
Maybe a Parent/Teacher Conference is the wrong metaphor, perhaps I should frame it as a drug/alcohol intervention. “Your actions are hurting the ones you love.” Everyone sits in a circle around bad lil’ Triple and tells him that his actions are alienating those who love him. His father Double ashamed of what he’s become and his mother Single is sad that he’s not respecting his elders.
Moving on. . . Recently there have been some games on the PS3 that made it quite popular in my house. Everyday Shooter is amazing, it’s a blend of Geometry Wars and Rez. The game’s control and look bear more than a passing resemblance to Geometry Wars. The synesthesia of the music being paired with the on screen visuals is very similar to Rez, The background music and visual track/enemy pattern can be accentuated with player actions to create a visual and sound experience that is different every time. I hope that the game eventually has a release on physical media, it costs $10 to download on the PS3 but I’d be willing to part with far more money if I could have a disc.
The other games that are getting a lot of play are Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. While Assassin’s Creed has some warts and a HORRIBLE ending, I think the game’s control (especially the parkour elements) are excellent, context sensitive actions are a breeze and the fluidity of game play is rarely broken. I anticipated that the controls would be like Metal Gear Solid and that I would become frustrated by them after several hours and write Assassin’s Creed off. Thankfully I’ve been proven wrong. My main complaint is the ending, I’m tired of developers creating a New IP and explicitly creating a ending that will lead into a sequel. Developing a new IP is expensive, and cranking out another game with a revised engine makes sense. However, more effort needs to be put into crafting their endings, cliffhangers suck.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is better than I anticipated. After complaining to my brother about the controls, he played the demo and showed me that the gunplay mechanics are built around the player aiming mainly with the Y-axis and controlling his X-axis aiming by strafing. Too bad the game never explains this to you in the tutorial. Uncharted is a love letter to all the Indiana Jones fans out there, the sometimes cheesy dialogue is refreshing compared to action games with hardcore asshole heroes who’s dialogue is about as much fun to listen to as a drunk talking about how he scored 4 touchdowns in one game during high school.
Don’t buy a PS3, keep waiting. Buy a 60gb for the full Backwards Compatibility used when they get cheaper and pick up Uncharted next Christmas when it’s $20. Go play Assassin’s Creed on 360, it looks slightly better and has achievement points or something. Article Permalink
Dear Naughty Dog,
by alzabo
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007I just finished playing the “Uncharted: Drakes Fortune” demo on my PS3, and I’d like to give you some feedback.
I love the art direction, music and tongue-in-cheek voice acting. The game has the look and feel of a Indiana Jones film or Phantom comic without pandering to the fans of these works too much. The control and player animation are wonderful, I was surprised that I could use the L3 button to change which hand I held my firearm in!
I have one major complaint, the firearm control is very poor. There is no auto aim and I felt that it really took me out of the experience. I understand that the combat is structured around using cover and taking aimed shots, but I found aiming so tedious that I will not be buying this game. I am not interested in running from point to point trying to maneuver a tiny set of crosshairs over a target 10 pixels on a side that blends into the surrounding environment.. I had to strain my eyes to see my targets even with a 36 inch HDtv w/ HDMI.
However, I’d be sure to give this game another look if at some point you released a patch that added auto-aiming.
Good luck with your future games,
J. Durfy
This is the first time I've been compelled to send a developer any feedback about their game. I suppose it's because I feel that a little push could make the game playable and very enjoyable.
It's always painful when something you've been looking forward to turns out badly. While this 3d platforming experience may have turned out poorly, Super Mario Galaxy tomorrow will surely deliver all the platforming fun I've been craving since Shadow of the Colossus ended.
Article Permalink