Geek in Review: For those about to Rock

For this week’s Geek in Review, I played a whole lot of Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, so I could review and compare them both. For you, dear readers, I made this terrible sacrifice. Indeed, I did it for those about to rock:

With the holidays fast approaching, the question facing wannabe rockers
and those who would buy gifts for them is clear: Rock Band, or Guitar
Hero III?

It’s not as simple as it may seem. Both games have strong and weak
points, and while they both have The Rock in common, they are
distinctly different games, and choosing which one is right for you or
your favorite lil’rocker can be a difficult proposition. Since we’re
talking about a substantial amount of money here – though the GH 3 360
bundle has an MSRP of $89 and the Rock Band Special Edition has an MSRP
of $160, both are in limited supply and are going for Tickle Me Elmo
prices online – I thought I’d use this week’s Geek in Review to review
both games, highlight their differences, and justify to my wife why
I’ve played both of them so much in the last two weeks, I have a
serious RSI in my right forearm and wrist.

I encourage you to read the entire review, but if you can’t, here’s the comparative bottom line:

These are very different games, and I like them both for very different
reasons. If you have friends who can consistently get together with you
to play, Rock Band destroys Guitar Hero. If you’re going to be playing
alone, or if you’re buying for a teenager who thinks the greatest
achievement in life is getting 5 stars on Buckethead in Expert mode,
mashing guitar buttons like we used to mash Street Fighter buttons,
then Guitar Hero III is a clear winner.

My personal bottom line? Guitar Hero III is awesome, but Rock Band pwns, and I have the RSI to prove it.

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19 thoughts on “Geek in Review: For those about to Rock”

  1. Personally, I think that I would rather spend $1500.00 or so for a Fender Strat and a samll cube amp and actually teach whoever I’m buying it for how to play for real.
    Me and my friends had great times jamming out tunes in basements and garages.
    Ohh yeah, I watched Toy Soldiers for the first time yesterday. It was on Showcase Action. I tuned out after you were shot to death on the steps. The look on your face as you fired that machine gun is priceless.
    ARRRGGGHHHH, die you terrorist scumbags!
    Be cool bro,
    Mark.
    P.S. my left arm feels like it’s going to fall off after taking about 400 shots on my goalies on Sat. morn. But it’s still nice to know I can put one up under the crossbar form the high slot.

  3. Well, I put this at the bottom end of your Ender’s Game post but I’ll copy it again in it’s appropriate thread:
    I just read your GIR and I’m not a member of SG so I can’t comment there but let me say: Um, how do I submit an application to be a Zombitis: Dawn of the Shred groupie? Srsly. Because I hear they’re a pretty rad rock band. \m/ (Personally, I’m going to treat myself to a used PS2 and GHIII for Christmas. I’d play Rock Band but I don’t have friends who’ll rock out with me. (They don’t rock out and prefer quiet games.) Sad. 🙁 )
    Great review! I enjoyed the contrast even though I don’t have the option of picking RB.
    Cheers!
    P.S. I think some tour shirts need to be made up. 🙂

  4. You are dead on with your thoughts on Rock Band. We picked it up on day one and have been playing constant. My Son and I play with me on drums and him at the guitar. The Girlfriend even jumps in on vocals.
    Please feel free to add my gamertag to your, no doubt, never ending list: Wizzer2801.
    It would be awesome to join up in band mode online and rock it old school with ya!

  5. I so wanted to see the “reasonable recreation of you in real life.”
    Good info to have.. since I have no friends, or an advanced console for that matter, I’ll just stick with Guitar Hero games for PS2.

  6. Unfortunately I only have a Wii so my choice is easy. Guitar Hero III certainly does rock. I’m still highly anticipating Rock Band if it migrates over to the Wii though.

  8. Yeah. Being in the wilds of Canuckistan, I can’t buy the game locally for another couple of weeks, so I paid a premium to buy Rock Band via EBay. Took about a week to get here from East Asscrack, Iowa and much of my off time over the last week has been spent rocking out.
    Just beat the guitar solo tour on Hard, which is something I was never able to do on any of the GH games, so I think that says something about the difficulty level.
    Sure, I’ve had the gang over to ‘jam’, but I’ve also been playing the World Tour solo: vocals and guitar, simultaneously. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. And I’ve been able to rack up the fans by playing a lot of ‘Maps’ and ‘In Bloom’ on Expert whenever I get to pick my own set. Can’t get much easier than those songs.
    Can’t wait for the DLC songs to be available in Canada.

  9. I gotta wait til XMas to play GH3 🙁 GF got it for me, and couldn’t wait to give it to me, so of course she flat out told me, but all the same, it’s gonna be an awesome gift.
    Great review, Wil!

  10. I was playing Rock Band with my sister, her husband and my boyfriend over Thanksgiving. My sister was on vocals and she started screwing around making up words, and singing La la la to the tune of some of the songs and that DID actually work. Although I wonder if it woked cuz she actually sings well, unlike me. I’m cool though, I play bass.

  11. I am also Wii only, so will have to wait for it to be ported over.
    GHIII works great for me as the wife does not play that much. She may play RB if it does come to Wii, or if I can afford a 360.

  12. I loooove RB! I work close Friday nights, open Saturday mornings. There’s only about 5 hours between shifts, so my assistant manager and I make her son come up to work with his 360 and RB, and we play for that 5 hours every week. Who needs sleep when you can do that?!
    I love that there’s a game that you can sing for… and I’m getting awesome at playing bass too! We had 5 or so people hanging out at work after hours to play last week, and I sang… for the first time in front of other actual human beings. Apparently I really can sing, by the comments made after. Maybe one day I’ll work up to karaoke. LOL
    I do enjoy the whole line of GH’s as well, but RB has taken it to a whole new level and it’s great for me and my guy too.
    Great reviews!

  14. Man, waiting for Rock Band over here is as bad as the delay for GH1 was. On this side of the atlantic all we have is some nebulous ‘Q1 2008’ estimate. Gah! why do you mock me Lord? Till then I’ve got GH3 on the 360 to tide me over.
    Can the repetition in World Tour be eased with DLC tracks? Hopefully when RB arrives there’ll be a nice bank of DLC ready for us.

  15. Oh yeah, GH3 really needs a lobby system, it’s a right pain in the arse to keep setting up games & sending game invites after only couple of songs.

  17. As for the Repetition issue with the BWT. Playing through the game on Solo of any difficulty will help AS WELL AS DLC. There is a problem with this though. Sure it opens up alot of tracks for you to choose from when starting a new band but it will incorporate any DLC you have into the setlists. This includes the Mystery setlists.
    We downloaded the Metalica pack, the Bowie pack, Jukebox Hero and My Sharona. It was great to be able to play them with the band but when I was working on Hard Bass and “And justice for all” popped up and killed my Son on Med Drums and me on Hard bass. More songs are a blessing and a curse.
    Big hint though, scream through at least one solo run on Med or easy to just unlock the songs before doing the Band thing.

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