Quick Blog: Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour Dilemma Ends!

So dear readers, a good month of plastic instrument rocking is upon us. We may pull weird faces while we play and we may look like fools as we rock out to some Red Hot Chilli Peppers tune. But we can't deny how much fun it is to play and experience everything the music rhythm genre as to offer. Of course we could all learn real instruments, but I've tried and I personally found it quite dull and it simply didn't suit me. That's not to say others won't find it boring, I have massive respect for instrument players and bravo for having the patience and skill to pull of some great tunes. But like many I love Guitar Hero and Rock Band for being games, games that allow me to rock out to some of my favourite tracks (I can't believe I just said rock out). I love the games for being fun, even if your not the best at them. I couldn't care less if there not perfectly matched to a song's guitar rift or when people get angry because it's not realistic. I watch many a good YouTube Rock Band or Guitar Hero video, with my own personal favourite drummers or guitarist who put up videos weekly showing off the latest songs, I read comments such as 'why don't you learn to play a real instrument' or 'you nerds, play a real instrument for once'. I often find these comments amusing, do the greatest players of Street Fighter get told to 'learn to fight for real' of course they don't, and when you compare the two there not that different. Both have to be mastered and that's where the fun lies. It's about mastering the game, not being a realistic representation of music. Even though it often takes some serious skill to be the best, especially when it comes to the drums. 
The Eurovision Song Contest.

So where am I going with this you might ask? well the month of November (this month) both as and will see the release of two of the big boys in the rhythm genre. Guitar Hero: World Tour as already hit the UK in a Guitar/Game Disc package while the actual band pack hits next week. Now as some of you might know from reading one of my previous blogs, I've been having a hard time deciding which package to spend my pounds on. It's taken me a good long while to decide but my decision is partly thanks to finally getting to experience the drums in person at a family friends house. He had the full band pack from our good friends over the pond in the US of A, thankfully his drums seemed perfect and I was eager to have ago. I had a bash at a good couple of songs and for the most part enjoyed it. But something hit me while playing (not literally of course). I find drumming with the Rock Band set hard enough as it is, even though I love it. So having that extra hit pad would only complicate things for me. Now I know what your thinking, but I will happily admit I suck at drums but that doesn't mean I don't want to play them. There was another problem, when I thought long and hard about it. I knew I would be playing Rock Band 2 more then I would be playing Guitar Hero: World Tour and after having a bash on my mates Rock Band game with the GH:WT drums my decision was made. 

Now I'm sure the experience will be different for some folks, I can see why they are rated better then the RB drums due to being set up much more realistically. But I think that at this moment in time the Rock Band drums will serve me fine. So I have ordered the Guitar/Game Disc Guitar Hero: World Tour package for now and I know it's the right decision. But to make sure I feel better about my drums, I have also picked up some Official Nerf Rock Band Drum silencers for £15 which should help the sound out a bit. So my dilemma as ended and I know I made the right decision, maybe when I've mastered the Rock Band drums I'll see about picking up these more realistic World Tour drums. But for now I'll be perfectly happy with what I have. The World Tour guitar though still is a must for me, I hated the Rock Band guitar with it's mushy terrible strum feel and I think Actvision got it almost perfect with the World Tour guitar. I'm not to sure about the touch pad tech but we will have to wait and see if it adds anything to the game. In my short time playing I haven't really sensed the need for it. 

GH:WT, looking to conquer Europe.So now onto Rock Band 2, which is finally seeing a European release on the 21st of this month in the UK. While I think the game will actually see an eariler release in some other parts of Europe which I found a bit odd, I will admit to you dear readers I have lost a hell of a lot of respect for Harmonix and I had little for EA in the first place. Poor decisions and some seriously below average excuses or lack of more like when it came to getting the original over the pond to Europe. Add to that the oversaturation of mostly US bands as DLC as lead many to turn sides in the rhythm game war.  Now I haven't been as passionate in my anger as some Europeans have, and I still love Rock Band for being Rock Band. But I do believe Harmonix have taken the wrong steps and have done little to try and please it's European audience leaving many to believe they give little damn about us. I to feel that HMX could do more to please this large group of videogame purchasers, but even I lost my temper with the lack of communications that gave their European audience when the original was seeing a release. They offer a couple of ok tunes and have since offered us very little European based music. Very poor of them and even though they have reported to have said that the Music Store will soon be seeing a lot more UK and European based bands I still doubt that. I think they possible find it both easier and cheaper to pick up US Master Tracks. 

Now I have already preordered Rock Band 2, and you might be wondering why I'm moaning about HMX yet still getting the game. Well it's partly down to it being such a great game, if just HMX could learn to face their European crowd and answer our question rather then kissing the backsides of the yanks all the time it would be a better world. Now I'm not hitting out at my fellow gamers in the US when I say that, but even some of you must admit that there treatment towards Europe at times as been poor. But it's coming anyway and hopefully all my concerns and HMX hatred will wash away as I play me some Journey. But whatever your views are when it comes to both games developers, you can't deny that there both a blast to play with friends be it offline or online. So I'm sure there will be a million others who will be strumming their plastic guitars hard when the month of music rhythm games truly begins. Which will win? well let's be all honest for a second here. It's going to be Rock Band 2, due to the games downloadable content and setlist in my opinion, but that's not to say that Guitar Hero: World Tour won't have a fond spot in a lot of gamers home. I have yet to really experience the Music Studio but I'm pretty sure I'll be terrible at it. But the future may tell a different tale, just at the moment Rock Band 2 will always win the race when it comes to both sales and review scores.

Thanks for Reading,
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)