A look at guitar in Rock Band, new REM track

While Rock Band looks to add a great deal to the Guitar Hero formula, there is a (legitimate) fear that hardcore Guitar Hero fanatics will find the game lacking. After all, it wouldn't exactly be fun for the rest of the band if the guitarist simply spent the whole song shredding while the rest of them stood silent. IGN takes a detailed look at this problem in a recent article. To sum up, Rock Band concentrates more on riffs than solos, but that doesn't mean solos aren't there. IGN concludes that they may not be as challenging as some of the most hardcore Guitar Hero tracks, but they can still have a high degree of difficulty. Furthermore, the article discusses Rock Band's version of star power, which is called overdrive. In an interesting trade off, a guitarist must use his or her overdrive in order to bring back a failed band mate. Ouch. The article also mentions the optional extras on the Rock Band Fender guitar, including the solo buttons close to the body as well as the effects switch. The effects switch can be used to turn on effects like wah wah during overdrive and solo sections. Finally, IGN reveals a new track for the game, "Orange Crush" by R.E.M. See it for the first time in the video above.