Rock Band

DLC Review from Matt - Tuesday, 03 November 2009 @ 9:17am

I can't really describe in words how busy I am at the moment. What I can do is a list of things I need to be doing right now.

The job I started a month and a half ago has been mostly working on one project. Deadline for that is in two days, and there is a list of 1000 little things needing to be done. I'll be working every night on that.

You may have noticed the changes to the avatars and the logo for AustralianGamer.com? This is just step one in a massive overhaul of the site design and layout, adding new functionality and a large redesign. There's a lot of work involved in that for me.

I have had a brainwave recently, and came up with an idea for a website that could potentially make money for me. It's a nice software as a service product that could be lucrative if I can do it well, and won't actually take all that much time to do. The idea of stepping into ecommerce as a viable business opportunity appeals to me greatly, and I feel really driven to work on this project.

I've just gotten a new computer (thanks, Pras!) and reinstalled most of the software I need. The best thing about that is that I can now play Aion, which wasn't working properly on my laptop due to some graphics driver issues. Additionally I got World of Warcraft installed, and also re-enabled my account for that. I miss playing and wouldn't mind jumping back online and just sorting out my guild, etc. Maybe a quick instance run. I haven't played since 3.2 came out.

I just bought Star Trek on Bluray. I really enjoyed that movie, and want to watch it again.

I've been playing a lot of Uncharted 2 lately, and started playing through it a second time. I've also been playing a bit of the multiplayer, especially co-op multiplayer, and found it's a remarkable amount of fun. Really want to play more of that.

Right now, Yug is waiting for me to go over there and take some photos for the new avatars. I told him I'd be 10 minutes.

And instead of all of these important things, what am I doing?

I'm playing Rock Band on the iPhone.

This is the beginning of my demise.

Rock Band shouldn't need any introduction, and neither should the iPhone. I can't say I'm a real devotee of Rock Band. The brand's thorough shafting of Australia wins no points with me, but regardless this is an excellent addition to the iPhone.

There's a lot I could say, and a lot I should say. This is a review. Graphics are fantastic, especially where they're 2d (like the actual play screens), though the 3d stuff like the menu is solid as well.

As with any of this type of game it will live or die by its track list, and it's here that the iPhone title really stands out. It's not all great, of course.

30 Seconds To Mars - "Attack"

AFI - "Girls Not Grey"

All American Rejects - "Move Along"

Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"

Blink-182 - "All The Small Things"

Blondie - "Hanging on the Telephone"

Foo Fighters - "Learn To Fly"

Foo Fighters - "Everlong"

George Thorogood & the Destroyers - "Bad to The Bone"

Jethro Tull - "Hymn 43"

Joan Jett - "Bad Reputation"

Lynard Skynard - "Simple Man"

Motorhead - "Ace of Spades '08"

Pixies - "Debaser"

Presidents of The United States of America - "Ladybug"

Rise Against - "Give It All"

Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"

Smashing Pumpkins - "Cherub Rock"

Steve Miller Band - "Take The Money and Run"

The Go Go's - "We Got The Beat"

Guitar - always the best. Interestingly nowhere on the interface says what song you're playing!

Frankly I hate the Pixies so much that I think the track list would be improved by replacing them with something by James Blunt, but most of the rest are either enjoyable or awesome. Two Foo Fighters is probably a bit much, but they're both great songs, so forgiven.

I would like to, however, give a silent and sincere bow to the inclusion of Jethro Tull, a personal favourite band of mine. Aqualung might have been a better inclusion, but Hymn 43 is still good.

It's worth hoping that many of the other Rock Band tracks might be becoming available as DLC, which Rock Band iPhone supports. There already is some available, though nothing particularly interested me personally. The price and system was certainly interesting, with tracks coming as pairs, mostly a bit mixed. The tracks duos are selling for $1.19, interestingly the price of many full games on the iPhone. I'm pretty sure EA see these DLC tracks as a good potential revenue market, and I can't resent them for that. Hopefully we see good releases as reasonable pairs, rather than hobbling awesome tracks with some nonsense filler they want to get rid of.

Multiplayer is supported over bluetooth, or even over the net. I'm really keen to have a go at that, but I haven't been able to yet. One thing I particularly want to know is whether multi-player will require each iphone to have purchased the song. If so, that's a dick move on the part of EA, but I can't confirm it either way at this point.

Rock Band iPhone isn't perfect. If there's one major flaw I'd want to point out it's balance. There are three difficulty levels, Easy, Medium and Hard. There's no Expert. I don't really think this is enough, and the difference between the tracks in terms of difficulty is too great. Medium is almost boringly easy. 5 starring it at around 98% is trivial for anyone who has played these games a little. But Hard, by contrast, is extremely difficult. Hard feels like Expert would be. Medium feels like Medium. That puts a giant difficulty gap between these two levels. Hard is as hard as Oracle in a tranny bar. Medium is as easy as Oracle in a tranny bar. Even playing through it entirely on Medium you find that Hard is still tediously difficult.

Vocals are another issue. Sure they're an option to play, but you don't actually sing. Instead you tap where the "song" goes. Much like the guitars and drums. It's a bit lame, and it makes you wonder if it would have been possible to do more with that, using the microphone. Then again, maybe the iPod Touch doesn't actually HAVE a microphone. Hmmm.

Singing in RB iPhone is kind of weird. Yep, this is what you get.

As a game, Rock Band iPhone is a killer, and at $13 represents pretty good value for money.

So here's the point of this entire review: If you have an iPhone 3GS (does the iPhone 3G have bluetooth?) and you're coming to the Melbourne Gamers Meetup on the weekend, purchasing this thing isn't optional - it's mandatory.

We're going to get some multiplayer going in some bar in Melbourne, headphones blazing with rock and roll goodness.

DO IT! Do it now!

Pros

Rock Band goodness in iPhone form. Fun to play, with controls that work very well. Pretty solid track list, with prices reasonable on new additions. Great graphics. Will be a popular multi-player choice in social situations, with the increasing ubiquity of the iPhone.

Cons

Difficulty curve too steep from Medium to Hard. Not exactly a cheap iPhone game.