I first ran into the Guitar Hero game at a small party last summer. Most of us guests played in bands together; one of the host’s neighbors invited us to her house to hear her brothers play Guitar Hero. The way she talked, it was like they were the next Eric Clapton or something.
Well, they did play the game very well. What was disappointing was that the game doesn’t use musical skills; it uses video game skills—it’s about eye-hand coordination. We all had a good laugh as two of the finest guitarists in Kansas City failed at the easy level of some classic rock song—a song they could play in their sleep in a band (and probably have more than once).
I griped that if the two brothers had spent a similar amount of time with an actual guitar, they would be well on their way to being able to play. After all, if you know half a dozen chords on the guitar, there are literally thousands of songs you can play.
But then I read that Guitar Hero has in fact sparked a resurgence in guitar sales and guitar lessons (I guess young people have been intimidated by the effort and expense of learning an instrument, and the cutbacks in arts and music programs in schools over the last generation hasn’t helped). So that’s a good thing. You don’t have to be a real-life guitar hero to have a great time playing guitar, and knowing more about it makes your experience of music much deeper and more satisfying.
Anyway, today I ran into an Ars Technica review of a new game, Rock Band. While I won’t be buying one any time soon, it sounds like a good time. In addition, it warms the cockles of a drummer’s heart to read this:
Everyone who tried the drums had a good time, and seeing people struggle, then get better, and finally start wailing away on the harder sections is as fun as it was when Guitar Hero was first released and we all learned how to play a plastic guitar for the first time. The difference is that, while learning to play a plastic guitar gets you nothing but higher scores on a game, getting good at the drums in Rock Band will actually give you some drumming skills in real life. If nothing else, you'll learn how hard it is to keep time with both your hands and your feet. Expect to spend more time practicing the drums than you did with the guitar, but the payoff is also more satisfying.
One criticism the review makes is that in single player mode, Guitar Hero is more fun than Rock Band, but then that’s not the point, is it?
As we all warmed up to playing together I realized that Rock Band doesn't sound nearly as canned as Guitar Hero does. The drums make a loud "THOCK" sound with each hit, so if your rhythm is off, everyone knows it because you hear the drums both from the speakers and from the pads themselves. The vocals are added to the mix and pumped through the sound system, so it's your voice you hear, not the original in the song. It really does feel like you're playing the song, and it's an amazing rush when everything comes together….
The massive amount of venues and the changing set lists make this a game mode with very long legs, and the fame and fan meters give you a good reason to care about your performance. It's almost like a rhythm game with RPG elements, and it's a very fun time. As everyone in your band gets better, and you start playing larger and larger places, there is a palpable sense of accomplishment. The only thing that kept me from playing all day with my friends was having to write this review. Multiplayer is where this game lives, and it's everything we had hoped it would be.
His conclusion? “Party Game of the Year.”
I’m all for it. I’ve been playing in bands for over 35 years now, and what keeps me doing it is the way it’s just plain more fun than almost anything else you can do. If this game lets people get a taste of that fun for themselves, then rock on!