Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band

Okay so this isn’t really going to be a link-heavy posting – rather, this is more along the lines of a not-random musing on a topic that’s pretty close to my heart: innovation and gaming. In this case we have music beat/rhythm games, namely Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Now we all know Guitar Hero.  When it first came out it was the shit!  Not only did you get to play all those awesome songs, but you got to play those awesome songs!  I mean, that was some really hot stuff back then.  And then Guitar Hero II came out and added multiplayer (if i remember right, anyway – i kinda got into the Guitar Hero scene late, the end of two and the beginning of three really) and Guitar Hero III added the boss battles and the semblance of combat between players (if only by proxy of the events). 

 Now this was pretty cool, and inded playing songs can be (and is) an exciting enterprise.  I’ll never forget the first time I picked up the guitar to play the music games (Note: It was Drum mania/Guitar Freaks at my local hang out, James Games) and i still love them today.  But one thing still seems to be missing from the Guitar Hero equation:

A team atmosphere.

I like being with my friends when i’m playing my songs, but i like it even more when they’re playing those songs with me.  And they’re not just playing them with me, but we’re playing those songs together.  Get the difference?  We’re not just teaming up for the moment a la two guys in an FPS deathmatch who decide for their interests (and survival) to take out the leader guy on the map (*coughCoutner-Strikecough*), but rather we’re banding (haaa) together to survive – this is all of us here, not one of us with others.  And that’s what i feel Rock Band gives me.

 I don’t know, maybe i was spoiled by Guitar Freaks and got used to having a guitarist, bassist, and a drummer for doing all my songs, but the idea of innovation that Guitar Hero has in mind, which is to say releasing new editions of the same game and substituting different soundtracks for each iteration, sounds interesting to me insofar as i’d like to see the new songs they have for sale, but not the game itself.  It’s still me whaling away on my guitar all day long, while my friends watch on in amazement of my skills.

 I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to have them whaling away with me.  There’s one thing I like in games, if not gaming in general, and that’s teamwork, a team atmosphere.  Rock Band gives me that, and more.  We have a freaking mic!  What does Guitar Hero decide to give us?  Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.  Whup-tee-doo.  Sign me up for the Rock Band online music store so i can avoid paying $30 for another 14 songs, please? 

There’s innovation and then there’s iteration.  Guitar Hero, for all its past success, can’t seem to tell the difference.  For their sake i hope they can, for if they keep shelling out new sequels, sequelitis is likely to bite them in the ass, and soon it won’t be them whaling from the golden mountain on high, but another.

Mytopia: the union of casual gaming with social networking »« You gotta love a community that bands together