|
|
|
Platform
Playstation 3
Genre
Music
Publisher
MTV
Games / EA
Developer
Harmonix
ESRB
T
(Teen)
Released
June 8,
2010
|
 |
|
- Excellent
track list
- Enjoyable on most instruments
- Presentation captures the excitement of Green Day’s live performances
Exportable to Rock Band
|
 |
|
- Only 47 songs
(excluding DLC)
- No major gameplay changes
- Only three venues
- Guitar is the weak point in band play
- Why didn’t I learn anything about the band?
|
 |
|
Review:
Guitar Hero: World Tour (360)
Review:
DJ Hero (360)
Review:
Just Dance (Wii)
|
|
Newsletter |
|
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter
sent out twice weekly.
Enter E-Mail Address Below:
| |
Green Day:
Rock Band
Score: 8.0 / 10
Green Day is by far one of the most polarizing
bands out there today. You really won’t find many people who do not have an
opinion of the band. Personally, I am a big fan of Green Day’s music even though
I prefer their older work.
Green Day is only the second band to get their own full fledged Rock Band game
after to the Beatles. Green Day Rock Band’s (GDRB) approach to highlighting the
band’s career is somewhat different from the Beatles Rock Band (TBRB). However,
gameplay wise, GDRB doesn’t reinvent the series in any way, but rather sticks to
|
|
|
the tried and true formula that has made Rock Band
great.
TBRB focused heavily on band’s rise to fame, starting from playing smaller gigs
such as the English clubs to playing full stadiums and eventually spending the
later part of their career in the studio. To break up the monotony of playing
live performances and music in the studio, |
Advertisement
|
|
TBRB
also featured some amazing dreamscapes, which are sorely lacking in GDRB.
Green Day’s always been known to be one of the best live bands around, so
instead of re-creating dreamscapes, GDRB focuses on the live performances. This
approach causes GDRB to shoot itself in the foot as the game only features three
venues. Each of the venues represents a different period of the band with a
different look and set list of songs. Within each venue are also a number of
challenges which feature several songs and full albums. The challenges in the
TBRB basically forced you to play through the same set list of songs in the
career mode. The challenges are structured much better as they are centered
around specific themes instead.
As you progress through the career mode you unlock a number of photos and
videos. The video footage of the game mostly consists of several interviews and
live performances. The extra footage is a nice addition and the live
performances are entertaining to watch, although some of them have already been
on Youtube for some time.
If you are expecting to learn about the band’s history from GDRB, then you will
be sorely disappointed. Unlike TBRB, you don’t really learn anything at all
about the band’s history. If you come into this game not knowing a thing about
the band, chances are when you walk away chances are you wouldn’t have learnt a
single thing about the band. It would have even been nice to see interesting
facts about the band displayed on the loading screens, but instead the loading
screens are littered with numerous gameplay tips.
The soundtrack features three full albums provided you have already own the
Green Day DLC released last year and several other singles from other albums.
The three albums featured in the game are: Dookie, American Idiot and 21st
Century Breakdown with several songs from Green Day’s other albums (excluding
Kerplunk and 1090 Smooth). Overall the soundtrack is fantastic. There are a few
songs that I was not particularly crazy about, but for the most part the songs
are varied and are a blast to play on most instruments. Each album in the game
plays differently as you can see the band’s music evolve with time, going from
standard punk rock to rock operas to more pop focused songs. All of the songs
are fully exportable to Rock Band 2, which is a nice addition.
Compared to TBRB, I personally had more fun with GDRB. Green Day seems like the
perfect band for Rock Band as all the instruments are a blast to play and the
vocal harmonies are much more enjoyable than the Beatles. I usually shy away
from singing but the vocals in GDRB seem much easier to sing and more enjoyable,
especially with two other people. The game also features some amazing drum
tracks and bass lines. The only real sore point in GDRB’s instruments is the
guitar which mostly revolves around fast strumming of chords repeated over and
over again.
There really aren’t any new earth shattering additions to GDRB. The game focuses
more heavily on the music than the gameplay. The only noticeable changes in GDRB
are the subtle gameplay tweaks. Vocal charting seems much better than previous
games and drum fills are much louder than previous games as well. There is also
a new drum trainer mode which allows you to play Green Day drummer Tre Cool’s
“Greatest Hits”, which are approximately 75 of his best drum fills. The Greatest
hits will certainly put your drumming skills to test as the tougher fills are
insanely difficult and almost near impossible to complete.
GDRB runs on the same engine as TBRB. GDRB looks fairly impressive as the game
really captures the energy of Green Day’s life performances. Some of the venues
feature pyrotechnics, crowd surfing, hand waving, clapping and bigscreen
monitors. In each of the three venues featured, you’ll see the band wearing
different clothing and sporting different looks with respect to that time
period.
Whether or not you should get GDRB is fairly simple. If you like Green Day, then
the answer is fairly straightforward. If not, then perhaps you should wait for
the next installments of Rock Band or Guitar Hero.
- Sidd Masand
(July
2, 2010)
|
