God bless software developers Harmonix and Red Octane for creating the gaming culture of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. A culture that, for a time was relatively revered amongst gamers all over the world. But my gosh, they didn’t know how to stop riding the gravy train like a ‘bat out of hell’ until the wheels came off.
Now, those plastic guitar shaped controllers that ‘used to be cool’, suddenly became…erm…well rather embarrassing; generating feelings akin to seeing your dad step onto the dance floor or hearing your mum sing along to Tupac with wild abandon. Those pieces of plastic have ‘now gone to rest’ in the cupboard of anyone with a sense of shame. And so they should.
For a long time it used to be a criticism by ‘real guitar players’ that although you are ‘playing’ along to a track you were never actually ‘playing the guitar’ but really just pressing a range of coloured buttons in time with the beat. I used to feel like the child the other kids laughed at in school, the one that no one talks to because whilst my friends could play ‘no woman, no cry’ in real life on a real guitar all I could do was download the track pack from PSN and bop around my front room like a fool.
Well, they’ll all pay now, because whilst Rocksmith is very similar to games significant of its genre, it’s not the same at all. Yes you have to hit sequences of notes in time, yes they come down a ‘virtual highway’ and yes it has that whole ‘You Rock!’ mentality with a playlist that opens up in time the better you get, but no, it is not the same, not the same at all.
In Rocksmith you see, you use a real guitar. Not a plastic guitar. Or a controller shaped like a guitar; a real guitar with real strings and real notes. You will hear no clicking as you flick the fret or press the buttons because there are none. For a non-musician like me it was almost overwhelming putting it on – there was this whole ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ feeling. I’m not going to lie here I felt like a man.
Using the RealTone cable included in the box I hooked my real guitar up to my PS3 and that was it. Like Rock Band the game takes you really slowly through how the game mechanics actually work. As I said before for those who have played Guitar hero or Rock Band you will feel right at home and I think this is what the developers wanted; familiarity. At first you’re just hitting single notes as they move down towards the virtual neck of the guitar, the notes even rotate to show when to hit them. With single notes it is easy to think you are a rock god because you are playing riffs from Rolling Stones’ ‘Satisfaction’ or hitting note after note in ‘Go With the Flow’ by Queens of the Stone Age. I found it very rewarding and pleasing to both the eyes and ears.
However it is then that the difficulty is ramped up as you are introduced to chords, solos and other things that make you appreciate the playing dexterity of Clapton, Sting or Queen, yes, playing the guitar is a craft in itself.
Thankfully there are a wealth of options users can access which provide mini-games, practice arenas and challenges to help you in your bid to become more proficient. Technique challenges include chord play, slides, sustains, hammer-ons and pull-offs. Challenges adopt the same dynamic difficulty setting as the main game, and this ensures players grow accustomed to techniques before mastering them. There is also a Guitar-arcade which contains a technique-based mini-games which is fun, transforming genuine skills into enjoyable side quests.
I thought the soundtrack ranged from o.k to good, but even then it was nowhere near as good as it should be. However I spared a thought for the developers Ubisoft who are going to have to go through the nightmare of negotiating licence fees etc. It is well documented how horrendous it was for the developers of Guitar Hero and let’s face it you weren’t actually playing a guitar back then so you weren’t actually learning the chords or could play it away from the game. Here you could actually learn the chords on a friends machine and play it on your guitar at home so how much fun is going to be had with copyright issues remains to be seen.
My only other criticism of this game and perhaps the most important issue is that guitar games have been done to exhaustion. Yes it’s different, yes you can learn guitar playing skills from the game (obviously it can’t prevent you from having bad form or bad technique, that would be for a tutor to correct) but in doing so you have lost the whole pick up and play value from the game. Granted many young people may want to learn to play the guitar and I am not for one second saying the game isn’t fun, but you’ll have to not only spend the money for the title and guitar but be dedicated to essentially learning a new skill. I just can’t help but feel some of the accessibility is gone – however, it must be said if that was what was needed to rebuild music games of this type on the consoles then that was exactly what needed to happen and more power to Ubisoft for doing something which should have happened a long time ago.
O.k so onto the verdict –
Rock Band games of old have finally come to maturity. Rocksmith isn’t provide a fast-track solution to guitar playing and won’t magically turn you into a rock god however it will motivate players to keep on playing and even better get more players together. Rich in rewards, progress and achievement it is a great title to have. However this title is not for everyone, but if you’re prepared to put in the hours and make those fingers ‘hurt real bad’, Rocksmith can be a useful learning perfect learning tool, hitting all the right notes.
8.5 / 10