Hi. My name’s Wayne.
I’m an idiot.
But I repeat myself.
We as a family knew that Rock Band came out (about this time last year on most systems, just this past summer for Wii), and then Rock Band 2 came out, and we let it go by as well, simply due to cost. We have GH1, GH2, GH3 and GH:80′s already and although the lure of vocals and a drumkit (especially for our 6yr old Jaden) were strong indeed, we were able to resist this whole time.
Over the weekend, we went up to Blockbuster to exchange our online movies for some free in-store movies. We also frequently will rent a Playstation 2 game for Jaden because it’s SOOOOO much cheaper than buying. I mean, when we buy a game, he plays it a few times and then it sits on the shelf. But when we RENT it, he knows he has a week or two to play, so he plays-plays-plays-plays and THEN gets tired of it, just in time to return it.
On this most recent visit, he wanted us to rent the “Bolt” for Nintendo DS. I’m thinking… “hoo-boy! it’s only $4.99! Awesome!” so we take the case up to the counter and they’re sold out. Bummer. Argh. Dang. So we end up getting the PS2 version of “Bolt” and start to check-out and they remind us that it’s $7.99 for a PS2 rental, but two for $10.
Hmm. 2 for $10. That’s like, a savings or something. So I go back to see what *I* might want to play on PS2 and I see
And my mind flashes back to the days where our whole family spent hours jamming out to the previous Guitar Hero series. I figure – we already have the guitar controllers, it’s only $2 more, and …
So I got it. And the family LOVED IT once more. At this time, I completely forgot that GH World Tour had the four parts to it – guitar, bass, vocals and drums. Our whole family just kind of “forgot” about Guitar Hero for months and months.
We have now remembered.
We haven’t bought the drums or microphone, or the new guitars because, well… they’re expensive and money’s tight. But we have decided as a family that at some point, we want this game for the Wii. We want to see Jaden rocking out on the drums. My wife loves playing bass, Caitlin is a natural on the guitar (she regularly gets 100% sight-reading many expert songs) and I like doing the vocals. It’s a perfect fit.
Here are some of my first impressions of the game, only after a couple hours of playing
- I’ve only played Rock Band on demo equipment at the store, but I still highly prefer the Guitar Hero-style “runway” on the screen where the notes come down.
- OMG STEELY DAN IS ON HERE!
- I really like how you can switch difficulty from the song play section and not have to back all the way out. For example, I had to switch from Expert to Hard to beat Ted Nugent, but then I could go back to Expert. Jaden loves this as well – he can switch from Medium to Easy without changing up the band. Way to go GH programmers!
- OMG HOTEL CALIFORNIA IS ON HERE!
- I think it’s great that you can still have Star Power Paths active while using Star Power.
- OMG BON JOVI IS ON HERE! MY WIFE LOVES YOU!
- The new “beginner” level where you just have to strum without a fret, aka “open strum”, is great for people who really just don’t get it, and I also like the new “sustain one note while you play another” feature. It adds a neat complexity to the game.
- OMG VAN HALEN’S HOT FOR TEACHER IN ON HERE! (I don’t feel tardy)
- The ability for band members to employ star power separately is a smart idea.
- Speaking of Van Halen, OMG MICHAEL JACKSON’S BEAT IT IS ON HERE!
- You can actually compose your own songs and share them with others
- OMG WINGS’ BAND ON THE RUN IS ON HERE!
- Finally – FINALLY, the Wii has Downloadable Content (DLC)! Although I rented the PS2 version of the game, I’m very very glad for Guitar Hero to finally bring DLC to the Wii. I haven’t even see what, if any, DLC is actually available yet, but I’m still excited about it nonetheless.
- OMG WILLIE NELSON IS ON.. .wait. What? Willie Nelson? Seriously?
