In case you haven’t already figured it out, rhythm games have become remarkably popular on just about every home video game console. In roaming my way through E3 Expo 2009 in Los Angeles, I made it a point to see the newest additions to the famed Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises from the two biggest players in the small plastic instrument genre. And they did not disappoint. Just as we rounded up some new fighting games, let’s see what’s going on with some new rhythm games.
The Beatles: Rock Band
I wouldn’t say that I dislike the Beatles, but I’ve never really considered myself to be a huge fan of the Fab Five either. So, when I first heard about this Beatles-specific version of Rock Band, I wasn’t all that interested. I figured that it would be just another themed song pack, not unlike the versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band that focused on groups like Metallica and Van Halen. As it turns out, Harmonix and MTV Games actually implemented several new features for The Beatles: Rock Band.
In previous versions of Rock Band, you would have to back completely out of the menu and go into the options section to activate No Fail Mode. This can be a real pain when you’re at a party and the newbie just wants to try one song. Addressing this, The Beatles: Rock Band lets you toggle No Fail Mode right from within the band creation screen. Also, players who choose the Easy difficulty setting will always be on No Fail.
The developers also received feedback indicating that gamers wanted all the songs to be unlocked right out of the box. It can be very time-consuming to go through the entirety of the Beatles’ career just to get your favorite song. So, all the tracks are immediately unlocked in Quickplay.
It’s also interesting that you can have six players enjoying The Beatles: Rock Band at the same time. There are still the same three instruments, but you can have three people on vocals in harmony. They’ll actually have semi-separated streams for vocals, making for a Barber Shop Quartet (Trio?) like experience.
Look for The Beatles: Rock Band to launch on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii on September 9, 2009.
Lego Rock Band
Maybe you don’t like the Beatles. Maybe you spent your childhood with a bucket of plastic bricks, putting together epic castles and interstellar ships. We’ve already seen several games make the jump into the Lego world, like Lego Batman and Lego Star Wars, and now they’ve done the same with Rock Band with the appropriately named Lego Rock Band.
You don’t get to control the little yellow-headed mini-figs, per se, but they take over the place of the regular Rock Band participants. This makes for quite a funny appearance for Rock Band, but that’s not where the Legofication ends. The notes coming down the highway, if you look very closely, are not solid bars; they’re little Lego pieces themselves.
The track list is meant to be “suitable for younger audiences,” fitting in with the overall Lego theme. Rock Band songs have always been censored for language, but I guess they tackle the messages in the songs too. Among the songs announced thus far are The Final Countdown by Europe, Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas, and So what by Pink.
Here’s a quick HD video demo of the game in action:
Lego Rock Band is slated for release this holiday season for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS.
DJ Hero
Just as Konami did with its Bemani series of rhythm games back in the day, Activision is expanding its rhythm game family beyond the now iconic Guitar Hero franchise. We already saw the introduction of the microphone and drums for Guitar Hero: World Tour, but we’re also getting a whole new game altogether called DJ Hero.
Developed by FreeStyleGames, DJ Hero offers a brand new plastic instrument for you to enjoy: a simulated DJ-style turntable. The “notes” still stream down a highway, but the highway is not linear; it has a curve, simulating the circular shape of a turntable.
On this turntable are three buttons. The green one (left) represents one song, the blue one (right) represents a second song, and the red one (center) represents sound effects. There’s also a crossfader, an effects dial, and a “Euphoria” button. Every track that you play is actually a special mix of two songs. For example, you’ll see a crazy mashup of Eminem’s “My Name Is” and Jay-Z’s “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” in the clip below.
For me, the gameplay looks very daunting. You have to tap the colored keys in time with the highway, but you also have to “scratch” when you encounter the equivalent of a sustain. And then the note highway will also pan to the left or right at times, getting you to push the crossfader in one direction or the other. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Euphoria is basically the same as Star Power.
It may be daunting, but DJ Hero looks positively awesome. You can also expect a special Eminem and Jay-Z edition turntable controller too. DJ Hero launches October 27, 2009 on the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3.
Guitar Hero 5
Although the number was never really in its official name, Guitar Hero World Tour was really just Guitar Hero 4. As such, the next major installment in the franchise is Guitar Hero 5.
Gameplay, as you’d expect, remains largely unchanged from World Tour. You still have a couple of plastic guitars, a microphone, and the five-pad drum set. The notes still stream down the highway and you still get some characters playing instruments behind the notes. That said, Neversoft and Activision did bring a few new features to this game.
As you may recall in my review, I said that Guitar Hero’s multiplayer screen was not very user-friendly. I didn’t like how it was so hard to see your individual Rock Meter rating and it was unfortunate that you could not save your bandmates. That’s all changed. The individual Rock Meter has been placed next to your highway and when one band member fails out, a Revival meter appears allowing bandmates to resurrect him or her.
Neversoft also introduced the new “Party Play” mode. The idea here is that you can set up a playlist (with up to 100+ songs) and have them play through, whether or not someone is actually playing the game. Players can jump in and drop out on the fly, both in between and during the songs. Furthermore, you are not restricted to the forced configuration of a lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals. You can actually have any combination of the four.
If you and your friends feel so inclined, you can all play on the drums… if you have four drum sets. You can also drop out and jump back in with a different difficulty setting too.
Guitar Hero 5 is coming to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360 on September 1, 2009.
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