Rocksmith: kinda like Rock Band/Guitar Hero...but with a REAL guitar

Hey, are you getting the guitar bundle? I also saw that GameStop was offering a $25 voucher for a guitar purchase at a music store if you preordered the game.

 

Ah, I totally feel you. It would have been my case too, except I had an sum of money come in to me from extra income last month, as a bit of serendipity. A fraction of that I'm setting aside for this game as a reward for all those extra hours I put in.

I hope you won't have to wait long.

 

First Impressions

I haven't had a lot of time to play this yet (maybe about an hour), but I like it so far.

Some quick notes (pardon the pun):

• There is a learning curve: they've pretty much designed their own system that fits somewhere between tablature and guitar rhythm games that use buttons. It takes a while to get used to, as the strings are colour coded and the camera will pan in and out depending on the movement up and down the neck. It also has notations for hammer ons, slides, palm mutes, etc. It's generally a sleek system; it just takes a while to get oriented to it. If you make a mistake, it doesn't just point out your failure, it actually gives you guidance arrows pointing up or down the neck or strings in the direction of where you should have played. Pretty cool.

• This doesn't replace lessons, but it might be pretty close: There are a lot of tools. You can play songs over and over and it will scale the difficulty until you get it right, and it won't boo you off the stage. There are also technique and practice tools (some are games, some are "challenges"). What it won't teach you are subtle things like finger positioning and whether you're holding the guitar wrong. Mind you, I haven't explored the whole game yet. There are a lot of practice tools. Just don't expect things like music theory. Go to a quality instructor for that.

• The regular game mode is about "progression," and it gives you a sense of success despite only playing a fraction of the notes in the actual song. This is both good and bad, I guess. It builds your skills gradually. It moves from song to song though before you "master" them. You can always go back to the main menu and practice the song all you want, but the progress manager keeps you moving on, practicing songs once before going to a new venue to play them at a show. I imagine it will get much more difficult as you go along, as it keeps adding songs that get you to play different techniques (slides, hammer ons, palm mutes, etc.). This is good both for the beginner and for learning how to read the screen notation. I'm not a new guitarist, but I'm not very good. I appreciate being able to have fun while brushing up on skills and learning new songs. The game starts you playing one note at a time. If you get better, it throws more at you. I haven't hit any chords yet, but I think they're coming really soon.

• Be prepared to adjust your hardware setup. I'm currently playing through an HDMI cable for both audio and video. The optimal setup uses HDMI for video and composite cable for audio. Audio through HDMI is a bit delayed. It isn't noticeable at first, but when more notes come your way, you wonder if you're getting it right or if you're just whaling on the strings to keep up. It's kind of like a delay or echo effect on a guitar. It's fine for some things, but could be a problem when you play songs that require a certain amount of speed. I'm not too worried about it yet, but I'm already thinking ahead about changing my setup.

• The DLC/online store currently lies fallow (except for a $5 package to unlock all the effects, etc. without having to play the game). However, given the setup, it appears ready to be filled with rock awesomesauce. I can't wait to see what songs they add (though the release setlist is decent). There is even talk of adding a bass component. There is a lot of potential here, especially considering you can play two players with a second cable.

• It's not quite the same kind of game as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which are great rhythm-based party games. This is a game that teaches you to play an instrument through some pretty cool songs, while having fun doing it. I can see this game encouraging me to practice way more than usual. It takes the chore and sense of failure out of it. However, this means it's not quite a game you just pick up with your friends and have a casual game session.

If you aren't very good at playing guitar and are normally frustrated at practicing (especially if you're typically directionless and unfocused like me), I highly recommend this game. It provides a cool environment for practicing, which includes a lot of fun. I can't wait to see all that the game offers.

I imagine it would be good for true beginners as well.

 

Yeah, I get lost with the colours, when I should instead look at the string positioning. I shouldn't be thinking "red"; I should be thinking "6th string" or "top string." However, I do think that maybe the colour coding is something my brain will learn automatically soon enough. The red is easy when you know it's the top string. It's when it switches to blue to yellow and back that I get thrown off. Like I said, it's a learning curve. It's a matter of getting your brain to meld their notation system with your mapping of the guitar fretboard and strings.

 

The minigame above showed a sequential scale progression, though that might only be for the lower levels. I'm not sure whether scales are a part of the non-game technique practice section.

 

I agree. It gets fun when you understand how it works. The dynamic difficulty is a big part of the challenge. It's as if it says, "Hey, you know that part of the song you haven't been playing? HERE! Play it now! Play it, bitch! Go!"

You really lose track of time playing, which is good.

I went back and did a few more runs through the Stones' "Satisfaction." I can almost make the main riff sound like it should---it's all in the pull-offs (pulls-off?). Though I still have some "unlocking" of that bridge riff to do. I'm also getting pretty good at the rhythm parts.

 

No. You jump into it, guitar in hand, of course!

It starts you off one note at a time, even if the song is using chords. The notes may even be one note per bar at first. If you prove you can do it, it will add more notes. If you keep it up, they will turn into chords if that's what it's supposed to be. If it's a riff, you will start playing the full riff. It will even wait before adding techniques such as pull-offs.

Bridges and solos tend to be minimalistic at first. I'm assuming this is because of the open or linear structure compared to a chord progression or repeated riff. I'm guessing it's also because it often requires moving up the neck several frets and choosing different strings (e.g. more alternations between previously unused strings vs. the verse riff). If you nail the verses/chorus, you will eventually open up bridges and solos more.

At any time, if you screw up, get fatigued, have a brain fart, or whatever, it will scale back on you to where you were previously comfortable. It won't force you to look like a tool, like they do in the higher difficulty levels on Rock Band or Guitar Hero.

To give you an idea, here is a relatively amateur player trying "Satisfaction" for the first time:



Here is the same song played by someone a little further along. Notice how it has more notes to begin with. Also watch to see if you can notice the difficulty change in the middle of the song. (Also notice the lefty setup )

 

Pretty much. As long as it has a standard jack.

There is a split-screen two-player mode, where you both play the song. As far as I can tell, the game has mapped out all the guitar parts of each song.

Most songs have at least two out of the three possible arrangements (some have at least three):

1) Single note arrangement
2) Chord arrangement
3) Combo arrangement (both single note and chord)

So you can have one guy do the single note and the other guy do the chord or combo.

It's a really cool game. I imagine even good guitarists would have fun with it, especially if they wanted to play with other people who aren't as good. The game will scale to each skill level, and you'll both have fun.

Don't know the song? No worries. It will teach you.

Oh, and they're planning on adding a bass option in the downloadable content down the road, so there will be that too.