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E3 07: Rock Band Hands on

by: John -
More On: Rock Band
The game that many want to experience was finally played by Chuck and I as we hit Rock Band in our EA appointment. I first played the guitar and I really like the feel of the new guitar. The buttons encompass the whole width of the neck and are raised a little with the same coloring as the neck except for an outline of the color. Five more buttons were near the base of the neck but I never did use them when I was playing. We tried Tom Sawyer by the Rush as our first song and the timing for the notes seems a little bit earlier than Guitar Hero. I adjusted by strumming a little bit earlier and I was finally able to hit all the notes easily. It takes a little bit to get used to but I was able to finish up perfectly after a third of the way through the song. I had to throw the guitar a little higher than my 360 guitar to activate star power as well. The whammy bar was stiff enough and I liked how it felt. It's too bad the guitars were wired.

Now, I had to experience the drums and I can say the unit is pretty good size and you can hit it pads pretty hard with your sticks. The drum sticks are real sticks so they felt pretty natural in my hand. Well, I never played drums but I've held sticks before. Anyways, playing on easy it took me about thirty seconds to get the hang of the drums and follow the pattern on the screen. It was a little awkward with the setup having me look to the lower left when playing so for the right most drum I was hitting more of the corner then the middle. Luckily, this registered so I was able to successfully hit the notes. Was it fun? You bet it was. The drums are a whole different experience and I had a blast playing it. Like I said, it didn't take long for me to get the hang of it but then again it was on easy. I did do better than Chuckat least since he did fail the drums portion.

Overall, Rock Band was a ton of fun with four of us on stage. When it all comes together it's a rather sweet time. It's going to be an expensive setup but rocking with your friends to some really great songs is immensely fun.