Reviews

Video Game Reviews: Rock Band for PS3

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We had nothing to do for Thanksgiving so we stayed up and played for seven hours.

He played drums and I sang and we launched our way into the world that is Rock Band. Seven hours straight that first night. We opened a lot of cities. We had a lot of fun. We also noticed something due to my voice strain:

Rock Band has not a lot of songs for females to sing along to.

Two days later my throat started to really hurt and the conversation that had taken place as we ended our first night came to mind due to the fact my voice was sounding as though I had the flu - basically a low speaking voice was all that I could produce.

Even the way the game makes a vocalist match tones should knock it down about three pasties.

However, and I know this sounds nonsensical, with these issues I want to assert that it does NOT keep the two of us from playing whenever we get a chance.

It would also be nice if the game had scores based on how many people are playing in a game. The fact that our two person band is being scored against a four person band does not make any sense. Well, it does if you have a lot of friends in the nearby area to play with regularly. But if you are a two-person outfit, you're screwed in the online competition. It would be nice if they had it based on the number of people in the band since a team of four of course is going to always score higher than a team of two.

Now I know that I do not have a great singing voice. That has not stopped me in the least and I have sung on and off since I started in grade school up to the point where I played in an industrial-rock band with somebody for twelve years (again on and off) and performed in NYC, Boston, and San Francisco over a fairly long span. And while I can not ever hit high notes without cracking (I am a fairly middle of the road alto) I find myself desparate to match tones.

The Pixies song is a perfect example. There is no way, no matter how hard I try that I will EVER match some of the notes Black Francis (as he was known during those days) sings...never. So I find myself stuck in a vocalist's limbo.

Now while my husband had no issues with the drums or the drumsticks and "drummed," as earlier mentioned, for seven hours the first night we played, I tried to play as a drummer too and found one of my hands bleeding after only a few songs. Some ointment and two bandaids for a day helped heal the hand, but I have to admit that I feel a hint of fear to attempt drumming again. It is not that I am a terrible drummer (which I know) but finding my hand bleeding bothered me. I might try again with bandaids pre-applied for some cushioning. I have had bands ask me to drum or play bass for them and I have always had to say no due to my hands being not strong enough, nor my rhythm long-lasting enough.

Some songs I detest, but I have to admit that so far I find that I like the diversity. Of course by diversity I mean in style. However it almost feels like we have a musical glass ceiling at work here. No black bands and almost no female ones. A bit of an oversight?

However even with these issues I think that this is the best game of 2007. I know that people on my friend's list on LJ think the same. Being able to play a game in a group situation and support one another is a great feeling. When I aced "Don't Fear the Reaper," earning 100% on it the first time we played it (on Medium difficulty) - kicking my husband's butt, I might add - it felt amazing.

Which explains why even though I have a web site to build and more articles to write as soon as my throat feels a little better I will head back to the living room to go see if I can beat "Synchronicity II" on Hard and a few others on Expert. Just because even though it hurts, I love this game.

So when it comes right down to it I rate the game five pasties. Sore throat, bleeding palms and all.