Final Verdict: 5/5 Stars
The Good: Great port while staying true to the Rock Band experience. Good song list. Fun, hectic, gameplay.
The Bad: Poor load times. Some minor frame rate issues.
I have logged about
15-20 hours and just completed the world tour. Let me get this out
of the way: This game is freaking awesome. Granted I was a huge fan of
frequency and have fond memories of that game, but I remember one
thing... that game was really hard. I guess RBU takes a page out that
book. The learning curve is steep! I have played tons of rhythm/music
games so I assumed it would be safe to jump into the world tour on
expert and I was quickly humbled by the warm up songs. I was forced to
play through the majority of the world tour on hard until I finally had
some confidence on my ability to play. So lets get onto the gameplay.
This game doesn't play like Rock Band... well, you still have the
world tour mode, similar to the 360/PS3 version of RB1 and 2, but the
actual gameplay is just like Frequency/Amplitude. For those of you who
didn't play those games, it works like this: You control all four
instruments by switching back and forth. You have to clear small
sections (you must get 100%) to lock the instrument in something like
an auto play mode. This way you can switch to another instrument and
not worry. Now do this for all four instruments at once and you can
appreciate the difficulty and sheer insanity that actually makes this
game totally awesome. You still are playing note charts that look
exactly like what you find in RB, and in fact the game is skinned and
looks exactly like RB. You play with up, left, triangle, square
(default controls that is) which correspond to the green, red, yellow,
and blue notes. You switch tracks with the shoulder buttons and deploy
overdrive with the x or down arrow. Learning how to switch and manage
your instruments is all the fun of this game, it is a total rush. Now
for the technical side.
The load times suck, it's a PSP game,
get used to it. It isn't something that completely breaks up the game
play, but it takes a while to load up the set. The frame rate is fine
most of the time, but I have noticed a few laggy moments when overdrive
is first engaged and there are tons of notes flying by. Another problem
is that it can be very hard to hit chords (actually what is hard is
hitting both buttons without accidently hitting one a split second
ahead). Also, it can be a bit hard to put up with the fast parts, (most
notably, the drum sections in "Less Talk More Rock") and sometimes it
can be hard to tell if it is a chord or just fast notes. Luckily there
are orange lines to let you know the notes are chords (for all
instruments, not just drums). You can customize your controls all you
want, I haven't messed with it personally, though I am sure it might be
helpful. My major complaint is that there isn't a breakneck speed mode
like in RB2, I guess I am spoiled.
The verdict? This game is
totally awesome. The shortcomings are easily forgotten when you five
star your first song and get that good feeling of mastering four
instruments simultaneously. The song list is a bit short (compared to
RB2 that is) but it is still a solid set, not to mention DLC is
forthcoming. If you have a PSP, like music, like puzzles, or just like
good games, you need to check this out. It is a refreshing take on a
classic formula and it is a great way to port the Rock Band experience
to a portable system. Guitar Hero take note, this is how to port a
music game to a portable system.
