Just when you thought all was lost and the Street Fighter series was dead forever, Capcom drops this on us:

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted... I've been unbelievably busy with work; I haven’t wanted to do anything after work but relax with the family, watch some TV and play Halo 3. (Regardless of what anyone says, it’s NOT Halo 2.5!)

I just returned from Fort Lauderdale Florida last night; I had to work our booth at a trade show for Best Buy on Sunday. I thought my weekend would be ruined by having to work the show, but since I was able to get away from the booth every now and then to get a little gaming it, it wasn’t a total loss! I spent just about every minute away from our booth over playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. I’m honestly impressed by both games. The graphics and presentation aren’t what impressed me, it was the quality of the instruments and how smooth the game play was.

First off, allow me to address everyone who has been worried about the possibility of Guitar Hero III not being the same since Harmonix jumped ship to do Rock Band with EA… From what I played if GH III, we can all stop worrying; it’s essentially still the same Guitar Hero we’ve all grown to love with some welcome improvements added! Simply put, Guitar Hero III for the Xbox 360 looks amazing. Characters definitely have “Neversoft” / “Tony Hawk” looks about them, but it works well. The improved graphics, the note streak notifications that pop up, and the smoother game play are all very welcome additions, but the massive improvement in overall guitar quality is what really got me excited. It’s heavier, sturdier, the button response & movement are smoother, the strum bar is a bit stiffer, and the whammy bar is very responsive! Did you notice how I failed to mention anything about the guitar being wireless? That’s not only due to the fact that I was playing on a wired version of the guitar, it’s also because the improved quality is FAR more impressive than having a wireless version. If the current “Xplorer” guitar was wireless, I’d happily trade it in for a wired version of the new guitar…. it ROCKS! [Pardon the pun.]

 

Now on to the challenger;  Rock Band. This game had me both curious and extremely skeptical since I first heard about it, but after picking up the guitar and playing Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden) and Vaseline (Stone Temple Pilots), I was amazed!  Of course, I wasn’t able to play by myself so I have no idea how this game will play if you’re doing it solo, but simultaneously rockin’ out with 3 other people was an all out blast.

The Rock Band guitar is quite different from its Guitar Hero counterpart in several ways. The first, and possibly the most noticeable difference, is the lack of color-coded fret buttons on the neck of the guitar. The colored fret buttons do exist; however, they don’t protrude from the neck of the guitar. Instead, five of the frets on the neck are press inward, and the five colors are only viewable from the sides of the neck. This subtle, yet quite ingenious design change helps keep the Rock Band guitar looking more like a real Fender Stratocaster. The moment you pick the guitar up you’ll notice an additional five “fret buttons” at the bottom of the neck, near the base of the guitar; these are for rockin’ out during your guitar solos. During these solos there’s no need to strum the strum bar, simply press the buttons and make it up as you go along… it’s pretty entertaining, and can earn the band some extra points.

Speaking of the strum bar; that’s another difference between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars. Rather than being triangular and pointed, it has a nice lip on the top and bottom sides. This is extremely nice if you’ve ever experienced a “phantom strum” or have missed a strum during a jam session on Guitar Hero. The little nub at the end of the strum bar is handy for gripping with your index finger and thumb for rapid up / down strumming.

 

 The final major difference between the Rockband Guitar and the one for Guitar Hero III is the “Effect Switch.” I quickly learned that the switch wasn’t placed there merely for looks, it actually has a pretty cool function. I didn’t play around too much with it, because a few of the settings sounded a bit strange for the songs I was playing, but basically its function is to change the sound of the guitar while you’re playing a song.  (If you play a real guitar you probably would have known that, but I’ve never even attempted it before, so I had no clue.)

The Rock Band drum kit that Microsoft was using to demo the game is NOT the retail version of the kit. The drum kit used at the show was made of translucent blue plastic, had the Rock Band moniker on the face of every drum, and each lit up internally via color-coded LEDs when they were played.  (I wasn’t a huge fan of the translucent blue plastic, however, the colored LEDs were a pretty slick feature.) I was told that the drums shipping with Rock Band were black, did not feature the Rock Band moniker on the drum faces, nor would they light up; although one spokesperson did mention that the LED option could possibly make it into a “special edition” or “premium” drum kit in the future.

 

Overall, both games were extremely impressive. I think Guitar Hero III will be the game to get if you don’t have three other people to play with, or enjoy rocking out by yourself. Rock Band, on the other hand, will be the must have for anyone who wants a sure fire party hit, or want to start a band over Xbox Live. Both games are great and I can’t wait to see which one comes out on top.

One thing’s for sure… I'm happy that I pre-ordered both games; I have a feeling that they'll be hard to find this holiday season! 
 

  

    - Jay