GENRE
	Music
	DEVELOPER
	Harmonix
	PUBLISHER
	MTV Games / EA Distribution
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-4
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	No
	DS COMPATIBLE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

If you know the formula, you already know if you'll like Rock Band. Falling notes on a fret board. Strum on rhythm with the appropriate button press on the guitar, or lift your sticks and bang the drums as the note hits the bottom, or sing on pitch with a horizontal vocal track. It's nothing new, and either you like these games or you don't. That said, it's the details that both make and break Rock Band.

visuals

Before the music starts, Rock Band makes an immediate impression with a slick look, particularly during play. With a stylized realism, the visuals do well to immerse players into the atmosphere. The crowd moves realistically -- Guitar Hero, by contrast, makes groupies feel like a room full of Datas -- and the various band mates and locals feel like people and places you may have seen in real life. Even the fret board is prettier, with nicer colors and a fun design as you hit Overdrive (a.k.a. Star Power). EA is usually spot-on with the look, and this is no exception.

audio

Any music game will live or die by it's soundtrack, and the 60-something songs spanning more than 50 years of rock gives a little bit of everything to whatever type of music lover you happen to be. Rock Band of course uses every bit of it's soundtrack in any setting -- menus, tutorials, credits. Most of the recordings are by the original artist (cool) but most of the covers are brutally divergent from the source (not cool). We can appreciate a rerecording, but most of them beg for a return of the original. It's a small complaint for what turns out to be a deep soundtrack.

What one thinks of the individual songs, however, proves a matter of taste. This reviewer prefers the upbeat tunes of Here It Goes, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, and Rockaway Beach and could do without some of the mellow tones of Maps, but Rock Band needs to have a wide variety and we understand that.

gameplay

Rock Band's song selection is both a strength for tastes but a weakness for the game. While past Guitar Heroes could focus on hard-rocking guitar riffs and shred-happy solos, Rock Band needs to spread the love across two instruments and vocals. That leaves a few tracks that are fun on the drums, but not on the guitar, or challenging on the guitar, but boring on the vocals. It's one thing to create your own music, but playing it needs some degree of action for all the band mates.

Rock Band throws a few twists to alleviate this. Every song has sections of drum solos, where drummers can do whatever they want without penalty. By hitting the trailing note in these sections, drummers activate their Overdrive, which can be used for the normal score multipliers or to "save" a fallen band companion. These sections show up again at the end of some songs -- guitars included this time -- with a final button mash of mayhem. While the guitar music does not always blare like it should, it gives a little divergence to the now familiar fret formula. The additional recognition of hitting a "Bass Grove" by maintaining long streaks on the bass is another nice touch.

Of course, it's hard to stay in that groove if you can't get into it, and one of our main complaints with the Guitar Hero franchise is the guitar's loud, clicky strum bar that could remove you from the immersion. Rock Band solves this with a more natural, rubbery bar that is practically silent. The (mostly useless) switch is one bad idea, as it is placed in the way of where I strum, but it's workable. The solo buttons up the neck, which allows playing without strumming during solos, and an overall weightier design makes it a slightly better controller overall. Transitioning from one game to the other was not too difficult, although Guitar Hero III is much more forgiving on hammer-ons and feels a bit more playable. Of course, as of now the drums live no where but Rock Band and play as well as the other instruments.

The only drawback is the extremely loud drum set, which essentially drowns out the actual drum track and can be distracting for the singer or guitarist. The fact that everything requires a USB connection and only the guitar is wireless feels a little dated and makes storage a bit more of a hassle. Also, a little more thought was needed into the menu navigation. If you are in sessions alone and want to bounce between instruments, you need to navigate all the way back to the main menu, then back into the song lists with your new instrument. It is unnecessarily cumbersome.

multiplayer

The game is obviously meant to be played with others, and the fun factor rises with additional players. Everything is local on the Wii, as the makers left off the online component. Also, at a hefty price tag of $170, your best to find at least one friend willing to go halfsies on the cost.

overall

While the game is solid, Rock Band for Wii is as stripped to the core as can be. While Guitar Hero III at least gave us online play and solid Wii Remote speaker support, Rock Band does neither. Even the downloadable tracks available on the PS3 and 360 versions -- DLC will be available in the Wii version of the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour, by the way -- are only available as a separate purchase in the form a “Track Pack” disc. Add in just how long it took for the game to even release for Wii, and it’s easily the least attractive edition of Rock Band.

But that doesn't mean it's bad. The variety of drumming doubles the longevity, so to say. If you like to sing, then you have another layer to work through, and the overall formula is as solid and fun as ever. With more music games on the horizon, including a full band of instruments in the next Guitar Hero, it may come down to how bad you need a new music game right now. If Wii is you're only system and you have the cash, it's probably worth it. On its own, it's a solid entry, although there are also a lot of other competing music games out there.

8.5/10