Developer(s)	Harmonix Music Systems
Publisher(s)	MTV Games
Distributor(s)	Electronic Arts Partners
Designer(s)	Harmonix Music Systems
Released	US November 20, 2007 (Xbox 360, PS3) December 18, 2007 (PS2)
Genre	Music
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Ratings	ESRB: T (Teen)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2
Media	DVD, Blu-ray Disc
Input methods	Guitar controller (game packaged with Fender Stratocaster controller), Drum controller, USB Microphone, Xbox 360 headset, Gamepad

Harmonix Music Systems developed Rock Band and MTV Games published it. At the end of November Rock Band was released for the Xbox 360 and also for the Playstation 3, and mid December marks the Rock Band release for the Play Station 2. Rock Band rocks the world with its 4 player mode. The players rock their virtual band with the lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, or the microphone. The notes for the players scroll across the screen. Rock Band members who play on the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 can network through the offline and online multiplayer modes. In the future this game has the potential of have hundreds of songs that are made available through downloadable content.

Gameplay
The Band Meter, which is green and on the left part of the screen, evaluates the performance of each band member. The Energy Meter, which is gold and is displayed beneath each player, shows the Overdrive of each player.

Rock Band uses a lot of the same gameplay fundamentals as Guitar Hero. Players use “instruments” to play along with and in time with the music notes as the scroll toward the players. Basically Rock Band is an expansion of Guitar Hero because it offers game play on the drums, vocals, and the lead guitar along with the bass guitar. Single player mode is called “Solo Tour Mode.” In single player mode the player has the choice to choose to play the lead guitar, the drums, or the voice. Multiplayer mode consists of 2 to 4 players in the “Band World Tour.” The Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 maintain local and online play for the multiplayer modes. Band World Tour is not part of the online play. The Playstation2 supports only local play.

For the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 players can customize their character, like the hair, body, clothing, tattoos, and instruments. Each player can earn cash within the game that can be used in the Rock Shop. In the Rock Shop they can customize their rocker. An art maker can be used to create custom tattoos, face paint, clothes, instrument artwork and also band logos. Rock Band used three tracks that vertically scroll across the screen to display the music notes. Each instrument has a section on the screen. The colored notes on the screen represent different notes on the drums and guitars. Horizontally along the top of the screen is the display for the vocals. Green bars represent the pitch of where the voice should be. When an instrument is not being played, their music notes will not be displayed onscreen, leaving more room for the display of the characters in the virtual Rock band.

During multiplayer mode the band earns points toward a common score. “Overdrive” scores are kept separately for each player. “Overdrive” is the equivalent of the “star power” on Guitar Hero. The bass guitarist can raise his multiplier to 5-6 X.

Overdrive is obtained during certain parts of a song. The player must play all of the white notes in the section successfully. The guitarists can use the guitar’s whammy bar to hit Overdrive from white notes. When the meter is half full the players can use their Overdrive and the Band Meter will change dramatically. For sections of a song that may be difficult form one player, they can use Overdrive to pass that part of the song. In single player mode, the Overdrive will kick the score multiplier up to 2X! When the band is playing together, Overdrive kicks the band’s score multiplier by two. Each member in the band can choose the difficulty level he wishes to play on. When a band member does poorly their instruments are muted but another band member can use their Overdrive to bring the players back into the game. A band member can only be save two times. After the player has failed a song three times they can no longer be brought back for that song. A bad band member will pull the Band meter down until he is saved. If that player is not saved before he hits the bottom, ultimately the band will fail that song. Bonuses are given if each band member plays his part perfectly during special parts in the song. A Bonus is given to the band if they can successfully master the “Big Rock Ending”. The special ending is only in specific songs.

Screen Shots

Video

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