Post 2010, rhythm games were in heavy decline. Activision had already closed down their entire Guitar Hero division, after a whirlwind of releases culminating in low sales for their final entries; Warriors of Rock and DJ Hero 2. Harmonix, for its part, kept things steady by releasing Rock Band 3, and continuing support after MTV Games was shut down in 2011. Within five years, the entire ecosystem had effectively collapsed, with only Rock Band's DLC keeping things afloat for die hard players.
It was kind of surprising, then, that Harmonix would release a self-published Rock Band game out of nowhere in 2012. This time though they went for a different tactic, releasing a downloadable only game to keep Rock Band afloat while the mainline series was in hibernation. This would be Rock Band Blitz, a game released exclusively for the Xbox 360 Live Arcade and PlayStation 3 Network stores.
Harmonix was sold by MTV Games in late 2010, with the parent company of MTV Games, Viacom, leaving the gaming industry after a loss in market share and major distribution problems. This is why MTV Games, though the publishers of Rock Band, also relied on Electronic Arts with co-publishing rights. The irony is Harmonix was still doing well, but the major downturns in the rhythm game market made a sale difficult. Ultimately, Harmonix was able to go independent again, with an investment firm owned by investor Jason Epstein.
The sale would give Viacom a $115 million in tax benefits, and estimated a cost of about $200 million. Harmonix would see their staff reduced, while the founders of Harmonix, attempted to sue Viacom over lost payments over the success of Rock Band. Ultimately, Viacom was found liable for multiple missed payments to Harmonix, and was awarded $383 million.
This helped fuel Harmonix for a few more years of support with Rock Band DLC, but the goal now was to consider how they can continue the series. Prior to being sold, Harmonix made one more video game with MTV Games, Dance Central, for the Xbox 360 Kinect, which received solid reviews and decent sales. A sequel in 2011 was the main priority after going independent, and the Dance Central series would be a major pillar for Harmonix that helped the studio after they left MTV Games.
At the time in 2010, Harmonix was working on another game, then titled Synchrony, but decided that it could work better as an arcade-styled Rock Band title. Rock Band Blitz is, basically, a more visually impressive version of Rock Band Unplugged. It takes the five-note charts and makes them controller friendly, with Harmonix eschewing the use of instrument peripherals being compatible.
Gameplay wise, Blitz is fairly straightforward. The Rock Band Unplugged style of play had players jumping from chart to chart to hit as many notes as possible for a combo score. Each note hit correctly in a single lane builds up the lanes scoring modifier, so each lane has an individual score counter.Building up each lane to hit high modifiers is worth it for points due to Blitz having checkpoints; sections of the song that double the points cap, such as 4x to 8x score. So for players to do well, they need to build up multiple lanes to score a high enough amount of points.
There is an added mechanic, where players will build up their 'Blitz' meter in Blitz. Each time you consecutively hit a note, the charts begin to move faster, increasing the speed in which players need to switch lanes and strike notes. The 'Blitz' meter is how the game challenges the player without having difficulty settings, and also makes playing through a song more energetic. You can also gain powerups for a song, such as a Bottle Rocker that clears out a track's notes, or a Bandmate who plays a chart automatically for you, allowing you to play a second track for more points.
There are a total of sixteen powerups in Blitz, and each of them is a nice addition that are fairly easily won through the games scoring system. Every song you complete earns you 'cred', which serves as the currency for purchasing powerups. Do better on a song, you earn more cred to spend, making the songs easier to get through
Blitz features a small but decent 25-song soundtrack, and it has some unique titles in there for sure. Iron Maidens' "The Wicker Man", Elton John's "I'm Still Standing", and Kool & the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" are some of the highlights. Since the focus was arcade gameplay over realism of the game's instruments, directly matching certain notes was not a major priority for Harmonix. Some of the songs are definitely oddballs that wouldn't normally be in a Rock Band game, but fit just enough to be included. Inclusions like Kelly Clarkson, fun., Foster the People and Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera are a bit more miss than hit, but work in context to the arcade action. Harmonix was also able to re-liscence two songs, "Spoonman" by Soundgarden and "Give it Away" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, after they were left behind in Rock Band 2.
Of course, the real star is again the DLC scheme Harmonix has in place. After going independent, it was up to Harmonix to oversee all licensing costs and fees for all songs they set up as DLC. The good news is that through this, they were able to export previously downloadable songs for Rock Band 3, the Rock Band Network, and previous Rock Band games into Rock Band Blitz. This means that despite having 25 songs in-game, over 1,000 songs would be made playable in Blitz, offering variety in both music and gameplay charts that is only possible with how Harmonix was able to set up its whole system.
The DLC being playable is what gives Rock Band Blitz some legs, though it would still be a short-lived experience. Since it is a downloadable title, Rock Band Blitz is beholden to the network it's made available on. In 2017, the licenses for some of the songs in-game would expire, and by this point Harmonix, despite still going and releasing songs almost weekly for the mainline games, would be forced to de-list the game completely from the PSN and Xbox Live Arcade marketplace. Rock Band Blitz is now technically lost media; unplayable unless you have a copy of it downloaded on your hard drive somewhere.
I don't blame Harmonix for the expirations, it is just the nature of the beast at this point. Music licensing has always been the biggest bugbear in the room for rhythm games, but it does actively harm the loss of a solid game like Rock Band Blitz in this case. It is doubtful that Harmonix will be able to regain the licenses for some of those bands at a price that is reasonable, so unfortunately, playing Rock Band Blitz today is all but impossible for new players, though the charts are online and preserved through indie freeware like Clone Hero.
Small consolation for sure, but it's a shame as Rock Band Blitz is a solid, if short little experience. If you were looking for something more arcade-like that didn't worry too much about realism or learning to play an instrument, Blitz was a game worth playing. It's decent soundtrack, DLC inclusions, and simple, if effective use of powerups is enough to make it a fun little time waster between long rhythm game sessions. It also proved that Harmonix can still make solid Rock Band games, something they would prove one more time in 2015.