Guitar Hero World Tour vs. Rock Band 2

I am a self-confessed guitar-game junkie.  So of course when Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour was announced, I was drooling with anticipation. Apparently so were many other people, because many stores opened at 12:01 on October 26th to sell the new Guitar Hero World Tour.

Of course, Rock Band 2 came for the Xbox 360 several weeks ago, but there really wasn’t much reason to buy it immediately.  The new “Rock Band 2” instruments were not available and would only be released once the game hit the PS3 and Wii.  So, in effect, Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour pretty much opened at relatively the same time.  It was obvious that Band games are played more on the Xbox 360 than on any other console (at least in Seattle).  The complete Guitar Hero Band Kit (which includes the game, microphone, guitar and drums) were completely sold out for the 360, but there were stacks of PS3 and Wii Band Kits available at several Best Buys even the day after launch.

The original Rock Band game was plagued with poor quality instruments that broke down frequently.  The original drum kit was notorious for destroyed foot pedals and wonky tom-tom pads.  The updated RB instruments are supposed to have many quality improvements.

Improved Rock Band instruments is great, but they don’t really seem to hold a candle to the new Guitar Hero gear.  For one, not only is the new Guitar Hero controller better made, but it is now “full sized”.  It is much bigger than the toy-like wireless Gibson, which looks like a ukelele when slapped against my immense torso.  The new GH guitar also has innovative solo buttons, but unlike the Rock Band buttons, these are touch sensitive and have a much different feel.  It almost feels like you’re finger-tapping a real guitar (without all the pain), but it is very easy to lose your finger placement (and your fingers need to be spread out slightly farther than when holding the fret buttons).  Switching back and forth between the touch slider and the fret buttons will undoubtedly make you miss a few notes while getting your bearings.

The GH Drums are also improved over Rock Band.  Instead of four Toms and a foot pedal, these drums have three toms, two cymbals and a foot pedal (that’s SIX controls!).  Playing drums feels a lot more like the real thing than playing guitar or bass, but these new drums somehow feel more authentic.  The cymbals spring back a little better, and all of the pads are touch sensitive.

The microphone  is… well… a mic.  But now they have all the buttons you’d expect to find on a controller, so vocalists don’t have to have a seperate controller to navigate menus.

As far as the games themselves, it appears that both sets of developers have gotten my angry letters.  The gist of these complaints is that Guitar Hero is generally too hard, and Rock Band is generally too easy.

With the exception of two songs, the entire set of the original Rock Band can be played on Expert by a monkey.  Many of the songs are straightforward 4-beat songs with power chords.  Most of the chords in 98% of the songs are only two-notes, and very predictable.  Hammer-ons and pull-offs seemed to be harder to accomplish than Guitar Hero, so it was difficult to really nail the more complicated solos using a “legacy” guitar controller..  Rock Band 2’s song list now dips more into the 70s and 80s, and the songs are more challenging to play, and feels as satisfying as Guitar Hero 3’s songs.

On the flip side, Guitar Hero 3’s song list had a lot more technical pieces that really had your fingers moving.  Many of the songs featured had complicated solos with tons of hammer-ons and pull-offs (which were very forgiving, and alot easier to hit).

Guitar Hero’s developers have toned down the difficulty quite a bit. Two new difficulty levels have been added, which adds more granularity to the learning curve, but favors the n00b.  There is now a level below Easy called “Beginner” in which you don’t even have to hold down any fret buttons… just strum to the beat.  This is so easy that my ADD-inflicted son had plenty of brain cycles left over so he could yap away while I’m trying to thrash on Expert.

Guitar Hero has taken another cue from Rock Band. Power Notes don’t disappear when you’re in Star Power mode… meaning that you can finally prolong your Star Power by landing a difficult lick.  Using Star Power doesn’t save you from failing a song (in solo mode) as it does in Rock Band, however.

In Guitar Hero 3, Hard difficulty was quite an accomplishment, and really prepared you for Expert Level (honestly, if you could conquer GH3’s Hard level, then Rock Band would not be a problem for you).  Hard level had plenty of satisfying 3-note chords, and Expert pretty much just added more notes between the same chords.  Now in GHWT you don’t get the same experience until you are in Expert mode.  In the beginning of the game, Hard only has two-note chords, which feels a lot like the original Rock Band.  Expert introduces the complicated chords.  I feel that there is a very large learning curve between Hard and Expert now, whereas GH3 has a more linear skill progression.  Now you are either a total shredder or a wuss.

Guitar Hero World Tour does add another difficulty element. In all previous games, chord notes start and end at the same time.  Now, some chords are “built up”.  You can hold down a single note, and you’ll have to strum in a new note that adds itself to the one you’re already playing.  This took me off guard at first, but it adds another element of air guitar that actually lets you feel like you’re playing along with the song.

Boss Battles have changed a bit, too. In Guitar Hero 3 you pretty much had to foil your opponent by grabbing “screw ups” and unleashing them on your foe.  Now your opponent just wants to see if you’re “worthy to hang with him”.  Now there is a “crowd” scale with a needle that moves between both of you.  The better you play, the more of the crowd will be on your side.  If your celebrity compatriart wins the crowd completely over to his side, then you lose the Battle.

Progressing through Guitar Hero World Tour is now more flexible.  Before you pretty much had to beat a 5-song tier before you could even move on to the next one.  Now once you beat a gig (which can have between 2 to 5 songs), you unlock several more, so after a few successes you can choose the gigs you want to accept, which in turn unlocks more gigs.  This method of progression is much more satisfying, as each of us will eventually encounter one song that we just can’t seem to beat.  So, take a breather, try another gig, and come back later.

Instrument compatibility is a mixed bag. Nobody wants to have two sets of instruments cluttering the living room just to play both games.  For the most part, guitars are very compatible, with the exception of the new features.  The solo and slider buttons are not compatible with the other games… meaning you can’t use GH’s solo buttons in Rock Band and vice versa.  In GHWT, when the solo notes come up (connected by a purple string), you don’t have to use the special slider; you can just tap the corresponding fret button without strumming.

The drums between Rock Band and GHWT are for the most part cross-compatible… on the 360 at least.  It is still up in the air if the PS3 version of the drums work.  Guitar Hero’s version of the drums have more features: namely 1 extra drum and pressure sensitivity.  When using this drum kit, Guitar Hero presents you with 5 lanes (the bass drum is represented as a bar across all lanes), and you are presented with “armor” notes that you must smash by hitting the drum extra hard.  If you use a “legacy” drum kit then no armor notes are sent your way, and you only have 4 lanes (to compensate for the drum you’re missing).

Those are my general impressions of the playability of the latest Band Games.  Rock Band was a natural evolution of what Guitar Hero could be, but now Guitar Hero has taken the throne back with better instruments, more satisfying game play and modes, customizable avatars, and the ability to make and distribute your own music.  Not to mention that you can make Ozzy your bitch… it’s just freakishly unnatural to see the Prince of Darkness sing “La Bomba”.

Both games are fun, and I play each every day.   There’s just something I like about the Guitar Hero franchise that’s just more satisfying.  Guitar Hero 3 has some amazing longevity for a video game, and now GHWT has so many features and downloadable user content that will keep players satisfied for years.