Will Game for Food

Okay- if you’re like me your first thought is… do we really need another rhythm game this year? Let’s take a quick recap of the rhythm games that have released in 2009 alone…

• Guitar Hero: Metallica
• Guitar Hero: Smash Hits
• Guitar Hero: 5
• Rock Band: The Beatles
• DJ Hero
• Band Hero
• Lego Rock Band
• Guitar Hero: Van Halen

This doesn’t even include the track packs or the ones released on portable platforms like the DS, PSP or Mobile Apps!

Regardless of the incessant onslaught from developers Neversoft and Harmonix, who wouldn’t want to rock out to some new tunes in a game that we already love and that has taken over living rooms everywhere with piles of plastic instruments?

…onto the game…

THE GOOD ~ Lego Rock Band is obviously aimed at the family market, but the song list is enjoyable by all ages. Don’t let the little colored bricks fool you. There won’t be any Wiggles’ or Barney covers in this game. I began with the story mode and like other games in these series you need to play songs to unlock vehicles and new gigs. At the end of each stop on your tour you have to play a challenge. This brought something a little fresh to the Rock Band line-up. Even though you’re still using the instrument of your choice to play the assigned song you’re fighting a battle of sorts in the background. Whether it’s defending the Lego Castle from attacking trolls or trying to outrun a giant t-rex with your band mates it adds an interesting twist to the story play of the game. Another cool aspect is the ability to customize your Lego band characters much like the popular Lego adventure games. Let’s face it, EVERYONE loves to play with Legos.

THE BAD ~ While the set list was surprisingly good considering the game’s intended market there were just way too few to pick from! After about the 4th venue you start replaying the same songs. With about 40% fewer songs than other releases in this genre it gets a sub-par score on replayability. You do have the option of importing SOME of your Rock Band dlc songs into the game but note: SOME. Considering how far game development has come I have to attribute this to a fear of game publishers losing money on the idea.

THE UGLY ~ Unlike other RB and GH titles there is NO live-enabled multiplayer. I can try to live with the fact that Harmonix simply shipped a game that is barely different from it’s predecessors,  created some cute Lego characters, a new setlist and put a $50 price tag on it but why should it lose it’s online multiplayer features? The easy answer would be the aforementioned target market: FAMILY. FAMILY. FAMILY. Well, I think it’s a lame one. In order to warrant the price of this game it really needs a FULL setlist and FULL live capabilities otherwise it should sell for $40 or less cause you’re not really getting a FULL game.

OTHER THOUGHTS ~ If you’re someone who love these games yet struggles with the difficulty give Lego RB a try. Even on Expert settings this is still the easiest RB game I’ve ever played.

DETAILS ~

• Available Platforms: 360, PS3, Wii, DS
• Launch Date: 11/3/2009
• Players: 1-4
• Online Play: No

Setlist:

1. All American Rejects–”Swing, Swing”
2. The Automatic–”Monster”
3. Blink-182–”Aliens Exist”
4. Blur–”Song 2″
5. Bon Jovi–”You Give Love a Bad Name”
6. Boys like Girls–”Thunder”
7. Bryan Adams–”Summer of 69″
8. Carl Douglas–”Kung Fu Fighting”
9. The Coral–”Dreaming of You”
10. Counting Crows–”Accidentally in Love”
11. David Bowie–”Let’s Dance”
12. Elton John–”Crocodile Rock”
13. Europe–”The Final Countdown”
14. Everlife–”Real Wild Child”
15. Foo Fighters–”Breakout”
16. Good Charlotte–”Girls & Boys”
17. The Hives–”Tick Tick Boom!”
18. Iggy Pop–”The Passenger”
19. Incubus–”Dig”
20. Jackson 5–”I Want You Back”
21. Jimi Hendrix–”Fire”
22. Kaiser Chiefs–”Ruby”
23. Katrina & The Waves–”Walking on Sunshine”
24. The Kooks–”Naïve”
25. Korn–”Word Up!”
26. KT Tunstall–”Suddenly I See”
27. Lostprophets–”Rooftops”
28. Pink–”So What”
29. The Police–”Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
30. The Primitives–”Crash”
31. Queen–”We Are the Champions”
32. Queen–”We Will Rock You”
33. Rascal Flatts–”Life Is a Highway”
34. Ray Parker Jr.–”Ghostbusters”
35. Razorlight–”Stumble and Fall”
36. Spin Doctors–”Two Princes”
37. Spinal Tap–”Short & Sweet”
38. Steve Harly–”Make Me Smile”
39. Sum 41–”In Too Deep”
40. Supergrass–”Grace”
41. Tom Petty–”Free Fallin’”
42. T-Rex–”Ride a White Swan”
43. Vampire Weekend–”A-Punk”
44. We the Kings–”Check Yes Juliet”
45. The Zutons–”Valerie”

Tags: 360, band, lego, roch, xbox

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 7:40 am and is filed under Xbox 360 Games - Music / Rhythm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.