Review: ‘Rock Band 4’ Puts On a Good Show
(Image: Harmonix)
The rumors are true: Spacepunch is getting back together.
I’m not sure if we’re billing our forthcoming jaunt across the continental U.S. (sorry, Honolulu!) as a comeback tour, because we’ve only been out of commission for about five years. But it’s clear our (twelve) fans are excited that Karianne, Joe, Paul, and I will once again wield plastic for a genre-redefining journey to rock ‘n’ roll Valhalla. Or at least Detroit.
After breaking up back in 2011, the surviving members of Spacepunch (R.I.P., former drummer Derp McBlunty) went their separate ways. Joe’s been busy with some data analysis gig; Paul went back to school; Karianne’s been doing hair, and I, of course, returned to my lowly gig as a video game critic. But we missed each other so much that we couldn’t resist cramming back into the van for one more ride.
At least that’s what we’ve been telling the press.
The truth? We got back together because Harmonix just released Rock Band 4, and I have to write about it. Otherwise, we would have stayed in our corners. Joe’s got a bad back. Karianne has a kid and didn’t really want to hire a sitter for three practices a week. I’m buried in like five other games. Uprooting our lives to crowd around a TV for eight hours of fake rock isn’t exactly enticing.
But we did it, and it was surprisingly fun. Rock Band 4 channels all the positive vibes and camaraderie of past music games, and while it’s short on new ideas, it manages to retain the most important one: making geeks with plastic trinkets genuinely feel like rock stars.
This is a feeling you have probably had before. Rock Band 4 is essentially just an incremental update to a game series that ran out of steam years ago. But with a new Guitar Hero game coming out in a few weeks, it’s clear that the music video game Illuminati has officially decreed that enough time has passed since these products fell from grace. Whether or not you agree with that sentiment is very much key to your appreciation for Rock Band 4.
Rock Band 4 tries to sway you by playing to your sense of nostalgia. If you saved your drums, guitars, and mics from older music games, there’s a very good chance they will work (here’s a handy compatibility chart).
A few caveats: Old gear will only work if it’s for the same platform family (i.e. Xbox 360 gear works on the Xbox One, not PS4), and while PlayStation instruments should pair up relatively quickly with the PS4, Xbox 360 gear requires a $25 adapter to work with the Xbox One. And apologies to wannabe Elton Johns, but the keyboard peripheral from Rock Band 3 is not supported here.
Of course, you can always pick up some fresh plastic instead. While the new instruments look identical to what you might have gotten with an earlier Rock Band, the drum pads have better bounce and the guitar’s strum bar feels more responsive. It’s all sturdier, though there aren’t any new buttons or anything.
That’s because Rock Band 4 plays exactly like other Rock Band games. You still press five buttons (or hit pads) in time to multicolored notes sliding down the screen. You still sing along to lyrics scrolling at the top. You still raise your guitar to the heavens to trigger “Overdrive.” You still flash red and can fail out if you flub too many notes (this can be switched off). It’s Rock Band. If you are over, say, 20, you have very likely done this before. A lot.
Harmonix has added some cool twists to help the game earn its sequential number. A terrific new guitar solo system lets you bang away on your fake guitar like Yngwie Malmsteem instead of following preset notes. Visual cues tell you to hold notes, play quarter notes, or harness your inner Steve Vai with some two-hand tapping on the upper fret buttons. It’s still a far cry from really playing a guitar — think of it as guitar button-mashing — but it’s an attractive alternative to futilely flubbing through Eddie’s tasty solo on Van Halen’s “Panama.”
(Image: Harmonix)
Singers can also express themselves better on songs that allow for “Freestyle” vocals. Stray from the main vocal line and you can still score points, provided you’re hitting the notes in the right key. And while drummers still mostly just follow the rules, new drum fills help keep the beat from falling apart when you start wailing away like Animal.
Rock Band 4 has a succinct, almost minimalist feel. You can set up a gig easily — a new “Voting” feature ensures that everyone gets a say in what song comes up next — or you can go bigger by creating a band and taking it through the game’s career mode. Unfortunately, this mode lacks charisma. Playful little text blurbs tell the story of your group traveling the world playing shows, but it mostly amounts to just playing song after song in short sets to earn enough stars to open up new venues.
Weirdly, the character creator, once a Rock Band strong suit, has been whittled down to a scant few options to start. Eventually, you’ll access plenty of clothing, makeup, and hair choices, but every player sort of looks the same. That’s partly because there are only two body type here — masculine and feminine — and they both weigh 90 pounds soaking wet. Heroin chic might play in a few clubs, but why in the world can’t I build a Meatloaf or Aretha Franklin or Jack Black or any size musician other than 1977 Iggy Pop?
Another trouble spot is the game’s track list. I realize this is entirely a matter of personal musical taste, but the 64 songs that come on the disc are pretty disappointing. Aside from a few great picks — “Panama,” for sure, U2’s “I Will Follow” and, for the first time, a fat Elvis classic in “Suspicious Minds” — it’s crammed with B-sides from A-listers or A-sides from bands you’ve never heard of. No offense to Eddie Japan, Heaven’s Basement, or White Denim, but this isn’t exactly the sort of stuff you hope to play after a five-year layoff.
(Image: Harmonix)
To be fair, Rock Band is Rock Band’s worst enemy here: The reason you don’t see more big songs is that they probably already released those years ago, either on older game discs or as downloadable content.
The good news is that you can freely download all your old purchases, provided they were bought in the same system family. It’s a bit wonky — the in-game store isn’t quite up to speed yet — but letting players access their full catalog of purchased songs is a nice, fan-friendly move. That also means, however, that those new to the franchise will very likely want to spend extra to grab some better songs. Despite already owning plenty, I did just that, dropping $20 on a bunch of David Bowie and Stevie Wonder tracks that I had no idea were released in the years since I last played Rock Band 3. Build out a strong set list and the game becomes immeasurably more fun.
And ultimately, that’s what Rock Band trades in. Despite its lack of big upgrades and unsatisfying track list, this is still a blast to play with friends. If video games intend, in part, to deliver fantasy, then Rock Band is, once again, a resounding success. You play this game, you feel like a rock star. It’s that simple.
Okay, fine. Nothing is that simple. If you already made your peace with the music game genre, Rock Band 4 likely doesn’t pack enough innovation to bring you back to the stage. But if there’s a nagging feeling behind your left ear, a sense of unfinished business and stages left unplayed — or if you somehow missed this wave the first time it crashed into game consoles — then it’s a great excuse to get your own band back together. Besides, Spacepunch needs an opening act.
What’s Hot: Guitar solos rule; works with your old gear and songs; still makes you feel like a rock star
What’s Not: Lacks innovation; weak on-disc track list; Career mode isn’t great
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