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IGN Review of Rock Band Unplugged
If it has happened to me once, it has happened to me a hundred times -- I am getting ready for some industry trip, I'm packing my bag, and I can't fit my Rock Band drums in my suitcase for the life of me. I leave my plastic instruments at home, head to the airport, and cry for the entire flight because I have nothing to strum and nowhere to store Overdrive power.
Well, friend, those days are behind you and I because Rock Band Unplugged is headed for the PSP.
Ready for a video review in concert?!
Yes, Unplugged brings all the red, green, yellow and blue notes you know and love from the home versions of the Rock Band franchise and crams them onto a tiny UMD. Instead of playing with mini-bass guitars and tiny drumsticks, you'll control the onscreen action with the Left, Up, Triangle, and Circle buttons on your PSP. Yes, the bass, drums, microphone and guitar are all here, but you'll play them one at a time. Notes fall on a specific instrument's track, you tap them out as they cross the indicator line, and you score massive points. When you're done with one instrument, you'll use the shoulder buttons to scroll to the next one.
Now, as you're tapping out the tunes, you'll notice a white box around the track you're on. This is the phrase indicator. When you hit every note in the phrase indicator, your multiplier increases by one and the track you were on plays by itself for a while so that you can jump to the next track that has notes falling on it. If you flub a note in a given phrase, the indicator moves further up the track so you can start again in a second. Of course, flubbing means that one of the other tracks is about to get notes on it and you're going to be missing them. So you flub and get closer to failing on the instrument you botched, and then you start getting closer to failing on the instrument that now has notes that you're ignoring because you're trying to nail the one you just botched.
Whew.
Just like every other version of Rock Band, you can save an instrument that has failed out by deploying Overdrive (white energy you've amassed by hitting a series of glowing white notes) and you're allowed to fail three times in a song before the music is cut short and you're deemed a loser. Unlike the other Rock Bands, if the drums are too hard for you at one point, you can jump to another track and try to wait out the insane beat on the skins or whatever instrument has you stumped. If no one's failed out, you can deploy your Overdrive energy (via X or Down) and get your multiplier doubled. This is key to getting a five-star performance.
Making the transitions between tracks and their different note configurations a bit easier is the fact that whatever instrument you're playing at a given moment is a bit louder than the rest. For tone deaf people like myself, it's incredibly helpful to hear the guitar booming in my ears rather than getting lost in the vocals. Now, this isolation is a double-edged sword at times. When you start to suck and miss notes, the track you're screwing up (or the track you're ignoring) drops out. It can be a bitch to try and play one of your favorite songs correctly when you're only hearing two-fourths of it. I'll get back to more gameplay stuff in a second, so bear with me.
The game looks great -- there are bright colors, different venues to play in, and plenty of action on screen -- and the customization options for your band is here in haircut, logos, and more. However, fans of the previous Rock Bands might be a bit disappointed to find that the dynamic animations of the band members don't exist here. Instead, the guitarist will strum along and the drummer will pound at random no matter what buttons you are or aren't hitting.
On top of that, the saves and loads are bit of a nuisance in Unplugged. The game has an autosave function that I'm usually all about, but it gets pretty obsessive about saving your progress -- even when you haven't made any. Here's a typical example from World Tour, the game's main mode where you create a band and take them to gigs around the world while earning fans, stars, and perks. From the main space, I popped in to see my band's outfits, I left without changing anything, and the game still launched into a 10-second save. When that was done, I chose to continue my tour and had to load for more than 8 seconds. I picked my venue, choose my song, and then it loaded for another 8 seconds. When I finished the song, it saved for 9 seconds and then loaded for another 7. By themselves, these loads and saves wouldn't be that newsworthy, but when they team up in rapid succession, it can be a bit grating.
Break out your lighters for this vid.
Still, this isn't something that breaks the game; these problems are just part of the Rock Band conundrum. To dissect this title, there are two things I'll focus on -- gameplay and content.
See, Rock Band Unplugged is Rock Band 2, but then in the same breath, it isn't. Confusing, right? This is why they pay me the big bucks to tell you about games. Anyway, what I mean is that obviously there's this brand new control scheme that's never been seen in a Rock Band game, but beyond that, this a portable form of the tried and true Rock Band format -- there are the colored notes, the band creator, and so on. Now, those are generalities, but there are plenty of specifics to present. The cities are the same as the console version (San Francisco, New York, etc.), you can hire the exact same management staff (your mom, those Goth kids, the blonde in the bikini, etc.), and you're progressing through the same reward tree (van to tour bus, tour bus to merch girl, etc.).
Now, can I condemn this title for pretty much taking the PS3 format and putting it on the PSP? Not really. It's impressive that you're getting an experience that's so similar to the other consoles, but it is somewhat disappointing to Rock Band aficionados like myself. I've played Rock Band 2 and I thought it was a bit too much like the original Rock Band. Now, I'm getting that same experience again? Gah.
That wasn't the case with Rock Band Unplugged.
This portable game's control scheme is no-doubt impressive, but I also found it super-empowering. When I play the plastic-peripheral versions of this game, I find myself sticking to the bass and the mic -- I'm not coordinated enough for the drums and the guitar stuff moves too quickly for my fat fingers. There's a learning curve to Unplugged, but once you get the four-button controls down, you'll find yourself pulling off frantic taps you never thought you'd be able to do. My newfound ability to play Rock Band like a big boy had me grinding through each city so that I could get the little circle next to each town signifying I had completed all of its gigs.
In this same vein, I felt more of a connection to my band than ever before. When I created The Assistants to the Regional Managers in the old Rock Band, I made them all look like characters from The Office and was done with. I didn't care about all of the shirts I unlocked and I was pretty annoyed that the bandmates that weren't controlled by humans were randomly generated. In Unplugged, you'll create your entire squad and have the ability to customize each and every one of them as you see fit. Now that I had a band of femme fatales -- lovingly dubbed the Trophy Whores and named after the kinds of PSN awards -- I found myself wanting to change and coordinate their outfits when I had time. I cared about the number of fans we had, I wanted to five-star everything, and I pretty much made a home in World Tour Mode. That didn't happen in the other versions of the game.
Before I launched into that previous diatribe, I said we'd be talking about gameplay and content. We've covered gameplay (it's great), and now we need to talk content. As much as I dig World Tour Mode, that's pretty much all Rock Band Unplugged brings to the table. Yes, there's Band Survival Mode (where all the tracks are playing at the same time and you have to jump around like a mad person to keep them all going) and Warmup Mode (where you can pick a track and just play that instrument for the entire song), but both of these garnishes exist outside of World Tour. So, I've created this band I care about and want to succeed, but neither of these modes affect the Trophy Whores' progress.
Rock all night.
Keeping with content, we need to talk about the music of Unplugged. Sure, there are 41 songs on the UMD and that's a healthy number, but only nine of them haven't appeared in a Rock Band game before. I love "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Chop Suey!" as much of the next guy, but I would've loved to have seen a lot more new stuff on here. I mean, most videogame fans have played Rock Band, so I would think giving them some new tunes would be a good idea.
Helping with this track list problem is the fact that Unplugged is packing an in-game music store -- a PSP first. Yup, just like on the consoles, you'll be able to connect your handheld to the Internet and download the latest songs. At launch, there are going to be 10 songs, but even some of these have been in Rock Band games already. On top of that, the songs cost as much as the DLC on the home consoles (.99 cents to $1.99). I could see the cost being the same if the PSP songs carried over to Rock Band on the PS3, but as a stand alone, that seems a bit high -- especially when I'm only going to want to play in World Tour and I'll probably have bested those gigs by the time more tracks show up.
©2009-05-22, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Well, friend, those days are behind you and I because Rock Band Unplugged is headed for the PSP.
Ready for a video review in concert?!
Yes, Unplugged brings all the red, green, yellow and blue notes you know and love from the home versions of the Rock Band franchise and crams them onto a tiny UMD. Instead of playing with mini-bass guitars and tiny drumsticks, you'll control the onscreen action with the Left, Up, Triangle, and Circle buttons on your PSP. Yes, the bass, drums, microphone and guitar are all here, but you'll play them one at a time. Notes fall on a specific instrument's track, you tap them out as they cross the indicator line, and you score massive points. When you're done with one instrument, you'll use the shoulder buttons to scroll to the next one.
Now, as you're tapping out the tunes, you'll notice a white box around the track you're on. This is the phrase indicator. When you hit every note in the phrase indicator, your multiplier increases by one and the track you were on plays by itself for a while so that you can jump to the next track that has notes falling on it. If you flub a note in a given phrase, the indicator moves further up the track so you can start again in a second. Of course, flubbing means that one of the other tracks is about to get notes on it and you're going to be missing them. So you flub and get closer to failing on the instrument you botched, and then you start getting closer to failing on the instrument that now has notes that you're ignoring because you're trying to nail the one you just botched.
Whew.
Just like every other version of Rock Band, you can save an instrument that has failed out by deploying Overdrive (white energy you've amassed by hitting a series of glowing white notes) and you're allowed to fail three times in a song before the music is cut short and you're deemed a loser. Unlike the other Rock Bands, if the drums are too hard for you at one point, you can jump to another track and try to wait out the insane beat on the skins or whatever instrument has you stumped. If no one's failed out, you can deploy your Overdrive energy (via X or Down) and get your multiplier doubled. This is key to getting a five-star performance.
Making the transitions between tracks and their different note configurations a bit easier is the fact that whatever instrument you're playing at a given moment is a bit louder than the rest. For tone deaf people like myself, it's incredibly helpful to hear the guitar booming in my ears rather than getting lost in the vocals. Now, this isolation is a double-edged sword at times. When you start to suck and miss notes, the track you're screwing up (or the track you're ignoring) drops out. It can be a bitch to try and play one of your favorite songs correctly when you're only hearing two-fourths of it. I'll get back to more gameplay stuff in a second, so bear with me.
The game looks great -- there are bright colors, different venues to play in, and plenty of action on screen -- and the customization options for your band is here in haircut, logos, and more. However, fans of the previous Rock Bands might be a bit disappointed to find that the dynamic animations of the band members don't exist here. Instead, the guitarist will strum along and the drummer will pound at random no matter what buttons you are or aren't hitting.
On top of that, the saves and loads are bit of a nuisance in Unplugged. The game has an autosave function that I'm usually all about, but it gets pretty obsessive about saving your progress -- even when you haven't made any. Here's a typical example from World Tour, the game's main mode where you create a band and take them to gigs around the world while earning fans, stars, and perks. From the main space, I popped in to see my band's outfits, I left without changing anything, and the game still launched into a 10-second save. When that was done, I chose to continue my tour and had to load for more than 8 seconds. I picked my venue, choose my song, and then it loaded for another 8 seconds. When I finished the song, it saved for 9 seconds and then loaded for another 7. By themselves, these loads and saves wouldn't be that newsworthy, but when they team up in rapid succession, it can be a bit grating.
Break out your lighters for this vid.
Still, this isn't something that breaks the game; these problems are just part of the Rock Band conundrum. To dissect this title, there are two things I'll focus on -- gameplay and content.
See, Rock Band Unplugged is Rock Band 2, but then in the same breath, it isn't. Confusing, right? This is why they pay me the big bucks to tell you about games. Anyway, what I mean is that obviously there's this brand new control scheme that's never been seen in a Rock Band game, but beyond that, this a portable form of the tried and true Rock Band format -- there are the colored notes, the band creator, and so on. Now, those are generalities, but there are plenty of specifics to present. The cities are the same as the console version (San Francisco, New York, etc.), you can hire the exact same management staff (your mom, those Goth kids, the blonde in the bikini, etc.), and you're progressing through the same reward tree (van to tour bus, tour bus to merch girl, etc.).
Now, can I condemn this title for pretty much taking the PS3 format and putting it on the PSP? Not really. It's impressive that you're getting an experience that's so similar to the other consoles, but it is somewhat disappointing to Rock Band aficionados like myself. I've played Rock Band 2 and I thought it was a bit too much like the original Rock Band. Now, I'm getting that same experience again? Gah.
That wasn't the case with Rock Band Unplugged.
This portable game's control scheme is no-doubt impressive, but I also found it super-empowering. When I play the plastic-peripheral versions of this game, I find myself sticking to the bass and the mic -- I'm not coordinated enough for the drums and the guitar stuff moves too quickly for my fat fingers. There's a learning curve to Unplugged, but once you get the four-button controls down, you'll find yourself pulling off frantic taps you never thought you'd be able to do. My newfound ability to play Rock Band like a big boy had me grinding through each city so that I could get the little circle next to each town signifying I had completed all of its gigs.
In this same vein, I felt more of a connection to my band than ever before. When I created The Assistants to the Regional Managers in the old Rock Band, I made them all look like characters from The Office and was done with. I didn't care about all of the shirts I unlocked and I was pretty annoyed that the bandmates that weren't controlled by humans were randomly generated. In Unplugged, you'll create your entire squad and have the ability to customize each and every one of them as you see fit. Now that I had a band of femme fatales -- lovingly dubbed the Trophy Whores and named after the kinds of PSN awards -- I found myself wanting to change and coordinate their outfits when I had time. I cared about the number of fans we had, I wanted to five-star everything, and I pretty much made a home in World Tour Mode. That didn't happen in the other versions of the game.
Before I launched into that previous diatribe, I said we'd be talking about gameplay and content. We've covered gameplay (it's great), and now we need to talk content. As much as I dig World Tour Mode, that's pretty much all Rock Band Unplugged brings to the table. Yes, there's Band Survival Mode (where all the tracks are playing at the same time and you have to jump around like a mad person to keep them all going) and Warmup Mode (where you can pick a track and just play that instrument for the entire song), but both of these garnishes exist outside of World Tour. So, I've created this band I care about and want to succeed, but neither of these modes affect the Trophy Whores' progress.
Rock all night.
Keeping with content, we need to talk about the music of Unplugged. Sure, there are 41 songs on the UMD and that's a healthy number, but only nine of them haven't appeared in a Rock Band game before. I love "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Chop Suey!" as much of the next guy, but I would've loved to have seen a lot more new stuff on here. I mean, most videogame fans have played Rock Band, so I would think giving them some new tunes would be a good idea.
Helping with this track list problem is the fact that Unplugged is packing an in-game music store -- a PSP first. Yup, just like on the consoles, you'll be able to connect your handheld to the Internet and download the latest songs. At launch, there are going to be 10 songs, but even some of these have been in Rock Band games already. On top of that, the songs cost as much as the DLC on the home consoles (.99 cents to $1.99). I could see the cost being the same if the PSP songs carried over to Rock Band on the PS3, but as a stand alone, that seems a bit high -- especially when I'm only going to want to play in World Tour and I'll probably have bested those gigs by the time more tracks show up.
©2009-05-22, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved