Music games have certainly carved a niche for themselves in the realm of video games today.
Just look at the way franchises such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band have grown, giving gamers young and old an excuse to pick up plastic instruments or cheap microphones and live out their ultimate music fantasies in the safety and comfort of rec rooms around the globe.
But the genre has taken its lumps, too. Standalone games, such as Guitar Hero Metallica or Rock Band’s AC/DC Live Track Pack, have been decried as cash grabs by publishers.
Two new releases – Activision’s Band Hero and Warner Bros. Interactive’s Lego Rock Band (both available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii) – stand out this holiday season, thanks largely to a more family friendly approach sure to win over adults, as well as some younger gamers.
Band Hero offers the same features as Guitar Hero 5, a well-received title released earlier this year. These include the ability to jump-in or jump-out of any song during the party play mode, a karaoke-inspired sing-along mode, the option to use any combination of instruments in your four-piece band (including four lead singers or four drummers) and the opportunity to import tracks from Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 5.
As always, the key to these games lies largely in its track list and Band Hero offers up more than 60 hits that are decidedly more accessible than some of GH5’s more edgy, alternative cuts.
Among the key tracks for young gamers (in the 9-13 age range) are Jesse McCartney’s Beautiful Soul, Taylor Swift’s Love Story, Picture to Burn and You Belong With Me, Maroon 5’s She Will Be Loved and The All-American Rejects’ Dirty Little Secret. Adults, meanwhile, will groove to the likes of The Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Woman, Pat Benatar’s Love is a Battlefield, Cheap Trick’s I Want You to Want Me and KT Tunstall’s Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.
Lego Rock Band also aims to please a wide audience, but I fear its looks might be a little misleading. The Lego brand might not appeal much to tweens and pre-teens, so much as it does the 7-9 crowd. But the music is aimed at those older kids and adults.
Certainly kids will identify the Counting Crows Accidentally in Love because of its appearance on the Shrek 2 soundtrack, while Pink’s anthem So What is sure to please. But I think the child-friendly Lego characters might be a little off-putting to older kids.
Adults and younger gamers will find the tongue-in-cheek Lego humour amusing, such as using a rock band to help demolish a building by rocking out with giant amps.
The set list incorporates some classics that moms and dads will groove to, including Europe’s The Final Countdown, Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name, Carl Douglas’ Kung Fu Fighting and Queen’s We Will Rock You (complete with a Lego Freddie Mercury lookalike).
A nice feature of this game is its accessibility and family friendly difficulty settings. The super easy setting means even the youngest gamer can join in, just needing to hit the strum bar or drum pad in time with the music in order to play along. Each player has his/her own setting, so that everyone can determine how challenging they want the experience to be.
Overall, both games take a more accessible approach with tracks that are more mainstream than a lot of the previous Guitar Hero and Rock Band releases. And while either one will certainly make for a fun time on a family gaming night, I give the edge to Band Hero if you’re looking at picking up one title this holiday season.
Both games are rated E-10+ for everyone 10 and older.
Ratings
Band Hero: 4 stars out of 5.
Lego Rock Band: 3.5 stars out of 5
