Joystiq

So, when Harmonix announced the game (without the keyboard, sorry you budding Rick Wakeman fans out there), we were naturally pretty excited about. However, we all wanted to know the answer to this question, "Would it suck?" We got to find out the answer recently when EA invited us to a Pre-E3 event at their mammoth glass and steel studios in Los Angeles.

Rock Band was one of the most highly anticipated IPs there, and as a result there was a waiting line for the private room where it was being shown off. It was also the loudest room in the entire place, so we felt like we were waiting to get into a mini-concert. Once the doors finally opened and the crowds parted for us ... there it was. Rock Band, in all it's multi-peripheral glory, hooked up to a lucky Xbox 360 with what looked like an actual band's worth of wires and cables plugged into a USB hub and powering the game.

First of all, we were seriously impressed with the guitars. They look like real guitars, they're modeled after Fender Stratocasters, and they make the GH axes look like toys. They are plastic, but have a faux-wood finish, more of a "heft", and instead of colored buttons you push down fret sections on the neck. It's much more of a guitar experience than you'd expect and we loved it. You use the same guitars for both bass and lead, and they otherwise work just like the Guitar Hero ones did with tilt sensors, strumming, and whammy bar, but it also has ten fret buttons, as opposed to five, and has an "effects switch" that we are still a bit unclear on.

Next up was the drums. This was the peripheral we were most interested in because we wanted to know how big this drum kit was, would it have a seat, does it break down, are the drumsticks wired, what's the gameplay like on them. Well, they're plastic drums ... but they actually look and play really well. There's a bass pedal and four snare-sized pads, and the set comes with real wooden sticks. So, if you end up tossing yours to some adoring fans, you'll have to get replacements. It doesn't include a seat, but a low chair or stool works fine. The rise they sit on is adjustable in height, and you can also remove it to sit the drums down on a table or the floor. Harmonix assured us that the whole unit breaks down into a very small package for storage, but you know you'll want to keep it out so people go "Oh, you play drums? Cool."

The microphone was the least exciting peripheral of the bunch. It looks and feels like a little black microphone that you'd pick up at Radio Shack, but it gets the job done. Thankfully it has a very long cord on it so you can rock out Joe Cocker-style and not strangle yourself in wiring. They've added some rhythm functions to the microphone as well, and you basically whack your hand on the top of it to do things like shake a tambourine or in the song we played, play more cowbell. That's right, the Blue Oyster Cult hit "Don't Fear the Reaper" is in the game, and you can provide as much cowbell as you want.

Which brings us to the gameplay, and that's what made us think Guitar Hero in the first place. It's literally identical for the three main instruments, showing a view of the neck of the guitar with notes sliding down the strings. You strum and hit the right fret button when they get into the circles at the bottom, and you're rocking. The drums work the same way with a very similar looking interface, and you have to hit the proper drum when the notes slot into place. The main difference (other than three side-by-side rhythm tracks instead of the two you get in Guitar Hero) is the addition of the vocal track at the top of the screen. The lyrics and vocal notes slide by up top horizontally, and you sing along in true karaoke fashion while you do your best not to warble. The game tracks your ability to hit the words on time, and can keep track of your tone as well, like SingStar, and scores you accordingly. When the cowbell section came up, we had to hit the mic at the right moment when colored circles slid through a target, and we like to think Christopher Walken would have been proud of us.

We didn't get into the other features of the game, but you can play a single-player with any of the three instruments (the bass is too easy for a single-player mode according to Harmonix, sorry Paul McCartney), and you can also take it online to play with other jammers on the internets. You can likewise take your entire four-piece ensemble on the road, online or off, and rock yourself up the charts. There are tutorial modes, practice modes, and you also have the ability to customize all of your avatars, down to the patches on their jackets, the length of their hair, and what kind of tats they've inked themselves with.

We weren't shown the full song list, as that is undoubtedly going to be one of the most expensive and negotiation-tastic parts of the process. In fact, Harmonix wants to know what you'd like to hear in the game. We did see the aforementioned "Don't Fear the Reaper" along with David Bowie's "Suffragette City" and The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." We're sure they'll be announcing more tracks at E3, and continuing up until the game is released in the fall. Pricing hasn't been announced yet either, but it's rumored that there will be an entire package set for sale at $200, featuring all of the peripherals.

So what did we think? There's a lot happening on-screen at once when everyone is rocking, but once you learn to ignore everything except your track, just like grooving on Guitar Hero. The drums felt a lot more solid than we'd expected, and weren't as hard to play as we thought they'd be. The vocals tend to get drowned out when two guitars are wailing, and someone is pounding plastic pads/drums, so we hope there's the ability to crank that track up. After all, it's not real rock music until the neighbors come and complain. Even with the extra peripherals you'll have to buy and the high price point, this game is going to put a garage band in tons of living rooms this holiday season. It's on our list, and for those of you about to rock ... we salute you.