I was skeptical of the game. Why would anyone want to pretend he or she can sing or play music? I watched Ben, Natalie and Tim start to play the game. Or should I say heard. Our Wii console is in the basement. The first few mornings after Ben got his present, he would wake up at the crack of dawn and go downstairs. Mike and I could hear him belting out "The Final Countdown" or "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" at 6:30 a.m.
Mike began playing the guitar on some of the songs. I tried the drums which is not easy for me. Mike sang "Accidentally in Love" while I played drums and Ben played guitar. That is Mike's favorite song on Lego: Rock Band. In Lego: Rock Band, the focus is to keep performing songs and collect Lego bricks. The kids can build cool vehicles from the bricks and move onto hipper venues. The Beatles: Rock Band has a similar goal. Band members play Beatles' songs to rack up points. As your band becomes more competent, the game takes you to historic Beatles venues. The band also can make landmark records like the Beatles did.
I attempted singing "Let's Dance" which was tough for me because of an upper respiratory infection. The drums also weren't working out for me. I am rhythmical but not coordinated for drums. I decided to switch to bass. Thankfully, Rock Band lets you play left-handed. After I took a stab at the game, it became a breeze. Of course, I had to do the tutorial a few times with Iggy Pop.
Since Lego: Rock Band and The Beatles: Rock Band didn't have all of the songs we liked, Mike ordered Rock Band 2 for us to play. We decided that we would "tour" after the kids went to bed. Mike and I created the Treacherous Goons for our world tour. He's the guitarist and I'm the bassist. Granted we are missing a few other members but the game lets you play with just two players.
I was playing at the Easy level while Mike started on the Medium level. Each guitar has a color coded fret board from green to orange. There also is a strum bar which is this little white lever that you "strum" with your fingers. Oh and there is a way cool, whammy bar that you can use to distort notes. On the easy level, a guitarist has plenty of time to change fingers on the fret board. The game only expects the easy level guitarist to play one or two colored notes at a time. The medium level is obviously harder. The guitarist is expected to play one, two or three notes at a time at a faster pace.
The game has your band start out poor and under-promoted. As you play more increasingly difficult songs and reach greater than 70% proficiency, the game awards you fans and money. As the band earns more cash, you can hire promoters, roadies and managers. You also can change your musician's appearance. The game lets you spend your cash for attire in various garbs from punk to rock. Tattoos are an option along with diverse, almost freaky hair styles. Oh and you can buy new instruments.
The bizare thing that Rock Band 2 does is let you create an online character. The intention is to have you buy "merchandise" for your band. The Rock Band website lets you create a "photo shoot" which transfers images to t-shirts, posters, stickers and keychains. That seems a bit much to me. I know some people are really into their online persona. Come on! It's just a game.
We started our tour in New York city and had to play songs like "De-Luxe" by Lush
or "Today" by the Smashing Pumpkins. We then moved onto Chicago and got to play songs like "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads
and "Give It Away" by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. We were cruising during most of our gigs with Mike and I scoring in the 90's for most of our songs.
I got more confident and decided I would move up onto the Medium level. Oooh, that hurt! With bass, the musician doesn't play two notes simultaneously very often. I still had a hard time keeping up with the pace. The one song that confounded me was "Let Be There Rock" by AC/DC.
The bass playing in that song is fast and relentless. I started "practicing" in the afternoons while the kids were at school. In the practice mode, a player can choose the speed of the song. You can ratchet it down to 50 percent if you like. I had to slow down the AC/DC song until I could master the notes.
After about a week of practice almost every afternoon, I got a handle on the Medium level. Mike and I were able to move on to L.A. then London and finally Spain. Rock Band 2 kept throwing harder and harder songs at us. I felt sorry for Mike when he had to play "Master Exploder" by Tenacious D. The guitar notes are wicked and the bass doesn't kick in until half way through the song.
The game continued to up the ante with various challenges like the Mystery Set List. Rock Band 2 would throw at us three different songs usually with one simple and two difficult. We can also made our own set list and earned more fans. Right now we are "invited" to play a Rolling Stone Rock Immortal set list in Shanghai. The first song was "Battery" by Metallica
and it was a doosey. Both Mike and I failed out of it since we were below 70% of mastery. Now our difficult task it to become proficient in the Metallica song. Unfortunately, "Battery" is not available yet in our practice list. I'm not sure how we are going to lick this song.
Needless to say, you will find me "practicing" in our basement the next week or two or three. Yes, I'm a Rock Band devotee. It's a fun winter pursuit that whole family can enjoy. Rock on out !--Janis Joplin.
You forgot my favorite song on RB2!
ReplyDeleteEverlong by the Foo Fighters