All I can say, is: it’s about time. Why did it take so long to get Rock Band on PSP? Nintendo DS has had Guitar Hero On Tour for a couple of years now, and while everyone else was playing FPS and old rips of Playstation One games, we got the pleasure of watching other people rock out on the go. What gives? There are PSP users out there that want to play rock n’ roll games every now and then, instead of trying to blow away monsters with a machine gun. I wasn’t one of them…. at first.
So Harmonix, MTV Games, EA, and Backbone got together to create a game for those who didn’t want to flick their screen with a stylus and finger an attachable keypad. I have a few things to say about the lack of attachments on PSPs, but I’ll come back to that later. So out comes what could be the coolest PSP port since God Of War. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you RockBand Unplugged. And let me tell you, they had a few tricks up their sleeves when it came to making this as addictive as the original.
You have several options, similar to the other consoles:
- Quickplay
- Tour
- Training
- Options
- Extras
- Music Store
These menu items should be pretty self-explanatory. The Options let you adjust the controls to your liking, adjust the Background music, crowd, and sound effects. The other gameplay options are: Track Wrapping, Quick Switch, and Saving Enabled.
The Extras menu has “Band Survival Mode”, Warmup Mode, and Modify Game. The Game Modifier lets you set “No Failure”, “No Solos” and “Unlock All Songs”. Modifying the game in this way disables saving, and you must reboot your PSP to re-enable saves. It is good that this option is available, just so you can get some practice!
There are several glaring differences between Unplugged and its big console bretheren. For one, you don’t have any “real” instrument peripherals, and you must press buttons to hit the notes. Holding a button down automatically vibrates (or whammies) a note. Vocals are not handled through the microphone, and play almost exactly like the other tracks (you hit press the right button combinations at the right time). Star Power is triggered by either pressing “X” or “down” on the D-pad. When you release Star Power, it is effective for all of your band mates. Each track only has four possible notes, and there are no such thing as three-note chords, “open notes” or “foot pedal” notes.
The major difference in how this game plays is “track management” and “phrases”. You are constantly having to switch between tracks (by using the left and right shoulder buttons) to keep them playing. There is a “phrase box” around a certain number of notes, and if you hit all of the notes in the phrase, then that particular track is “safe” and will continue playing on its own for a short while. This gives you a chance to switch to another track that is in need of attention.
All of the other game dynamics are in place. You accumulate Star Power by playing all of the white glowing notes correctly, and you can keep Star Power going if you hit more white notes. If a band member fails (you neglect a particular track or just plain suck), then you can revive that band member by unleashing Energy.
Not only can you see the other tracks with your peripheral vision, but the audio of the game plays a critical part. When another track stops playing automatically, then you can hear it fade out. The track you are currently playing is slightly louder than the other parts of the song. If a track is neglected for too long then its audio completely drops out, and its fretboard starts to turn red.
I started out by customizing my band. Any chance I get to make a game feel more “mine” I do it. I named my band Nefarious, and got set to try out the training sessions. I strongly suggest you do the same, as the gameplay in this is strikingly different from Xbox’s version of the game. First off, you don’t have a guitar. No attachments of any kind, in fact. Which is one of the things that irritates me about PSPs in general. How hard would it be to create some new gadgets to plug into that USB port? We get a GPS device and a camera. Whoop-dee-doo. How does that help me defeat the beast in the lower dungeon?
Once I got through the training sessions, I decided it was time to tour the world. I started out in Amsterdam, trying everything out on Easy to begin with. I like Easy… it makes me feel like a game master. I am the lord of Rock Band. So after playing some Social Distortion, Bon Jovi, and Lit, I decided to try playing on Medium. It’s like instant pain after playing so well on Easy. The thing is, you don’t stay on one instrument for more than a few seconds in this version. At the end of each section, another starts on a different instrument. You have to use the L and R buttons to switch back and forth between tracks to keep up with the game.
The setlist is very strong with over 40 songs, but there aren’t very many exclusive tracks to this edtion. Players familiar with other Rock Band and Guitar Hero games will know many of the tunes. I am glad to see that Freezepop (interviews part 1 and part 2) has been included in this edition since they were neglected in Rock Band 2. Another warm fuzzy is an exclusive track from Tenacious D. There are currently 10 downloadable songs, and I’m sure more will be available soon on the Playstation Network. You can click on the tracks to hear them.
It’s easy to pick up on this when in Easy, because you basically only use two buttons to hit the chords as they come down the track. Once you get into Medium, you get all four, which consist of your Left, Up, Triangle, and Circle buttons. Trying to switch back and forth between tracks and keeping up with this is pretty close to difficult. Once you get into Hard, it’s extremely difficult to keep up with the chords, let alone trying to switch back and forth without missing a beat. Expert? Forget about it. I couldn’t get through a single section without missing at least four chords or more. Believe me, I tried.
One of the main problems I find with this game is that you don’t have the option to stick with one single instrument. That should have crossed the creators’ minds when making this game. But while it doesn’t have that function, the ability to use external devices, nor any form of multiplayer, It does have a great track list. 41 different songs, each of them a crystal clear Master recording that sounds as good with a decent set of headphones as the console version. The look of the game is almost perfect as well. The game simply pops with visuals.
Any fan of the console version is going to enjoy this one, although the obvious drawbacks may make some of them think twice. Big time decision maker in this one is the lack of multiplayer gameplay, which is one of the big things about the original. Why wouldn’t they include that? A plus is that even though the included songs are relatively common tracks from the original version of the game, there will soon be songs in the Playstation Store to download and add. My only hope is that in the next version (assuming there is a next one) that they bring in some multiplayer so we can play online. I say again, why wouldn’t they?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||