Need to Decide What Guitar Hero/Rock Band game to get

[racketboy]

OK, keep in mind this will be for the Wii.
I want to get my wife a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game for the Wii. She's been waiting to get one for a while, but I want to get the best bang for the buck.

I did start a similar conversation a while ago, but I wanted to start fresh since the games are out now and problems have popped up
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... =15&t=8368

Here's some points to consider
- I don't think either of us (or anyone we know) will want to do the microphone part. My wife just wants to do guitar. I would like to do some guitar, but drums also looks fun.
- Since my wife is a musician, I think should would really like the creation features in Guitar Hero World Tour.
- The instruments in World Tour and RB2 are supposed to be improved, but there have been reports of defective instruments in World Tour (not sure if it applies to the Wii version or not)
- It also seems that the Wii bundles of World Tour don't hit Amazon until after Christmas. Not sure if that applies to other retailers.
- Should I consider third party instruments?

[Niode]

I'd highly recommend Rock Band and Rock Band 2. Rock band instruments are compatible with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band 2. The original rock band instruments are fine imo and are cheaper now. So If you are looking for price performance I'd get the original Rock Band + instruments and then Rock Band 2 on it's own. Right there you have access to around 400 tracks instantly. Guitar Hero World Tour isn't even in the same league when it comes to DLC.

The track creation in GH:WT isn't really that good. IT's very basic and you can't really make much with it. It just feels tacked on. Being a musician myself it seems awfully limited. I'd rather just use a real sequencer like Logic Studio or even Nuendo. Probably fun for non-musicians for about ten minutes.

The things that are different in GH:WT such as the slider bar and the linked notes are completely pointless you can play the game just fine without them. They don't make things easier at all. They're just tacked on to separate it from Rock Band. Same with the additional cymbals on the drum kit. Utterly pointless. Few songs actually make good use of them. Plus playing hi-hats on them makes 0 sense from a drummer's perspective.

All in all, the GH:WT bundle is £20 more than the Rock Band bundle but you get an extra guitar with GH:WT. However, the Rock Band software is far superior to GH:WT. GH:WT seemed very unfinished to me, the characters are really wooden on stage, the drummer still drums the same retarded puppet style drumming from the previous Guitar Hero games which really gets on my nerves for some reason. The character customization is much better in Rock Band. The multiplayer tour mode is much better in Rock Band. I just feel that everything is better in Rock Band. Neversoft should've stuck with creating the definitive Guitar experience instead of watering down the game with additional instruments that just don't quite work as well as the guitar.

I'd highly recommend Rock Band since it's sequel is out now and the games are both compatible with each other giving you access to a much larger song library than GH:WT.

[racketboy]

RB2 didn't improve the instruments over the original? What about third-party instruments? (not worth it?)

Can you play easily without anyone using a microphone?

[MrPopo]

The RB2 instruments are improved over the RB1 instruments, but it's an incremental upgrade. There's nothing earthshatteringly different between the two sets of instruments, so if price is a concern you'd be fine with the RB1 instruments. And if you get really hardcore into the drums you'll end up going crazy with modding the kits anyway, so it won't matter.

I'm not too familiar with the third party instruments, so I can't speak to them. And make sure for the Wii that you get Rock Band 2, as it is the full RB experience, while RB1 is watered down. You want to have the access to the DLC, if nothing else.

And you don't have to worry about never having a singer. You just select how many human players you have, and assign them guitar, drum, bass, or vocals. So if you always have one on guitar and one on drums you'll be fine. Of course, the game is much more fun when you have four people doing all the parts, but getting people to do the vocals can be hard.

[aaron]

i hate all of these games. i don't really know why.

[Niode]

i hate all of these games. i don't really know why.

Thanks for your input to this thread


In this country you buy the instruments separate to the games. Everybody complained about it at first but it does make sense, because now you can buy the original instruments and save some money whilst still getting the latest games.

From experience, third party instruments just don't cut it. Plus when you buy the 1st party instruments they are covered for a year so if your drum pedal breaks you can get a replacement pretty quickly, likewise if anything else on the other instruments break.

[cabrando]

I have Huitar Hero 2, 3 and Rock Band 1 for the 360. So I can only speak my opinion on those.

Guitar Hero 2 has the best soundtrack of the 3.
Rock Band has the best DLC.
Rock Band guitar is unusable to me after using the GH guitar. (mainly strumming)
Rock Band Drums are fine for me, though others have had the pedal break.
If you're going for multi-player definitely get RB.

[racketboy]

The RB2 instruments are improved over the RB1 instruments, but it's an incremental upgrade. There's nothing earthshatteringly different between the two sets of instruments, so if price is a concern you'd be fine with the RB1 instruments. And if you get really hardcore into the drums you'll end up going crazy with modding the kits anyway, so it won't matter.

I'm not too familiar with the third party instruments, so I can't speak to them. And make sure for the Wii that you get Rock Band 2, as it is the full RB experience, while RB1 is watered down. You want to have the access to the DLC, if nothing else.

And you don't have to worry about never having a singer. You just select how many human players you have, and assign them guitar, drum, bass, or vocals. So if you always have one on guitar and one on drums you'll be fine. Of course, the game is much more fun when you have four people doing all the parts, but getting people to do the vocals can be hard.

Can you expand on the "watered-down" of RB1?

[racketboy]

Another thought....
I'm assuming the Wii will not be my last console -- who knows I may get a PS3 or a 360 in the coming years.

What do you think about me getting just Guitar Hero 3 (now only $50 with a guitar) and then getting Rock Band 2 (or whatever is new) for the other console later on? (since the DLC will be better)

[futuramaguy42]

The RedOctane official site has some really good deals for Guitar Hero.

I'm a bigger fan of the Rockband setlist so its really up to which games songs you like better. Rock Band 1 is what I would get and then you can buy any of the other games later. I hear the drumkit isn't as bad as some people are saying, but if your getting a newer console just wait because I hear the online stuff and DLC songs are really cool. I do not own any of these games except Guitar Hero 1 for PS2 but want to buy some new ones for 360.