‘Rock Band’Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2Developer: Harmonix Music SystemsHow much: $169.99 (Special Edition complete with instruments); $59.99 (game only) for Xbox 360, $159.99 (Special Edition); $49.99 for PS2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The stairway to heaven now comes in a box.

Whether it’s Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ or ‘Suffragette City’ by David Bowie, covering songs by legendary rock bands has become the latest video game trend.

Harmonix’s newest game ‘Rock Band’ took 12 years to create. It’s the brainchild of two MIT students seeking an avenue for anyone to play musical instruments without the traditional learning curve. Nearly a decade later, playing in a virtual band has been nearly perfected – plastic frets and all.

Complete with drum kit, guitar, karaoke microphone and band camaraderie, Harmonix’s creation takes a page from its previous installments of ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Karaoke Revolution’ to deliver an innovative band experience that calls for mutual communication among friends.

The game is essentially a multiplayer role-playing game, made for group efforts toward rock-‘n’-roll stardom, where band mates rely on one another not only for individual performances but for survival until the end of each song.

With 45 licensed tracks and an additional 13 bonus songs, there’s enough to rock out, but the hefty price tag will leave your wallet around $160 to $170 lighter, depending on your console.

(BOLD)The Stratocaster (Lead Guitar)

For what you pay, the miniature plastic replica of the Fender Stratocaster appears to be worth it, but in the game, the guitar lacks the simplicity that made the original ‘Guitar Hero’ controllers effective.

Stiff and flush, the added ‘solo buttons’ toward the bottom of the neck do not require strumming, but the feel is repetitive and useless as the original frets play the same notes but with greater ease. The strum bar, now without the annoying noises and clicks from ‘Guitar Hero,’ has become unbearable in its stiffness that nearly forces you to strum both up and down.

(BOLD)The Beats (Drums)

Be sure to take the tutorial, as underestimating the difficulty of playing on the drum kit can lead to frustrated band mates. The drums, with responsive pads, a bass foot pedal and Ludwig drumsticks, stand out from the rest as the most realistic plastic instrument in both look and feel.

Able to withstand flurries of poundings, the kit is surprisingly responsive – as is the bass drum foot pedal – although the pedal may require adjustments in positioning so that your legs remain functional.

(BOLD)The Vocals (Microphone)

The position is open for anyone willing to set aside their pride to sing rock songs to pitch and on cue. Arguably the most difficult position, the microphone requires a regular console controller to set difficulty level and song, as the mic itself has no buttons or added features.

Actual singing talent is not required to play the position, but you must be able to follow lyrics and reach high octaves while following a pitch line on the screen. Although breaks between lyrics allows for a chance to glance ahead, memorizing lyrics or having heard the song beforehand makes a difference.

‘Rock Band’ offers various modes and settings from multiplayer World Tour to Solo Tour, online play and quickplay, along with the feature and ability to create your own avatars, which can have your band pursuing virtual fame for hours on end.

But for all its innovative glory, ‘Rock Band’ suffers from graphical characters that seem inferior to its ‘Guitar Hero’ predecessors and awkward moments of silence when specific instruments are left without playable notes while your band mates rock on.

Yet when the virtual spotlight and cheers begin to fade from your television screen, your anticipation to play another song proves that the climbing the ‘stairway’ is well worth the cost.

Published on November 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm