So what do you do when you 3 games deep into the Guitar Hero franchise and you don't have any competition? Well you make your own competition that's what! Not even after 2 months of Guitar Hero 3 being released the boys over at Harmonix released Rock Band on December 17, 2007. They was trying to get them holiday sales! That explains all the holiday songs....... not on...... the game. Anyways, really the big reason for this franchise existence is because they wanted to really make the Rock Band experience come true! Ill get more into what I mean by that later but to yap a bit more. Rock band was made by the same people who made Guitar Hero 1 (Harmonix) who split off after the first game and just kinda sat around owning the rights to make a shameless rehash of Guitar Hero 1. And did they years later? Well I wouldn't say its shameless! But let's get into more details into the innards of this Band Simulator, no groupies required!

{Story?/Difficulty}
Just like its older bro of Guitar Hero 1 and 2 there is absolutely no story to this game whatsoever. And just like Guitar Hero 1 and 2 the Career Mode is just you doing a whole bunch of different sets in different locations. Outside of that there is nothing, no Rock gods, no Rock warriors, No Rock Dwayne. Just rocking out from beginning to the end. Not even in the later releases of the game is there a story or anything. In fact the Wii version has less of a Career Mode as you cant make up your own setlists (or character) like you can in the PS 2 version. And same case as with the Guitar Hero series, I for sure am not playing it for the story, but the songs. So I wont even make you wait to the end of this section and just tell you, there is no score for the story. Onto how hard the game is, I feel like its harder. Not only does the game use all same mechanics that Guitar Hero does but it also adds all that challenge to new instruments! Not only can you play like a Hero on the Guitar you can also be a Danny Carry on the drums, or you can lose IQ levels as you strum on the bass, or just Britney Spears out on the Mic! I personally cant play on the drums, I like to think I can sing and the bass is a simpler version of the lead guitar. So really the ability to use the instruments is really up to personal aptitude. So I'd say mine is just a bit better then a dead ferret. So if your musically inclined then it might be a bit easier for yo. But really after a bunch of practice you should be fairly good at most of the instruments you can use. The only one that works a huge difference is the Vocals where you got to match the pitch instead of pressing buttons on time. Another thing that I don't really like that increases the difficulty is the tiny Gems you gotta hit! It might just be all the years I've played Guitar Hero games and the lack of years I've played Rock band games. But I just really like the round Gems better than the thin rectangular ones of this game, I don't hit this ones as good for some reason. Outside of that and my inability to swing both my arms in a pattern to save anyone's life, I really enjoy the difficulty of it. With the inclusion of 3 more instruments they really added to the fun factor and they are all different enough to feel like your learning something new. The biggest improvement for me is the weird delay or whatever I felt in the first 2 Guitar Hero game is just gone, I never get that weird feeling of some how missing the Reds or Greens like I would out of nowhere in the others.To put it into numbers I'd have to give the difficulty a a nice high 6 out of 10, like 6.8 out of 10. They increased the difficulty in a good way and included new great ways to challenge yourself but it still feels like its a challenge anyone can pick up and master.

{Graphics/Sound}
Rock Band looks pretty nice, you can tell that with the years of advancment from Guitar Hero 1 to Rock Band were pretty decent. And they might not of made the other series past the first game, but I still feel like this game kinda looks like a Guitar Hero 3.4 in terms of the Graphics. I really like the millions of different character designs you can make in the character creator area. The clothing types and tattoos are endless, I'll get into all that later, but the graphics sure help out in making all that much better. I also feel like its just a bit more flashy looking in the sets then the Guitar Hero games, but I feel like I stare a bit harder at the Highway then I do in those games. In terms of the Venues I like, The Red Rocks Ampithature, The Filmore and The 9:30 Club, just to name a few. And I dunno what it is about PS 2 openings but maaaaaaaaaan they are always so good, and always look super amazing as well! I personally feel Rock Band 1 and 2's opening rival the likes of Gun's opening or the Persona games openings. It's just wild what the PS2 could produce if even for just a few minutes. I cant say which is better, cuz they kinda look the same, but on a good way, so I'll say Rock Band 2 looks better for the opening but this is always great and the dude screaming on the Semi is just so hype inducing. That's all I personally have to say about the graphics of the game. To try and keep the sound part to not repeating very much of the same things as previously stated in other games. Ill just say that for the 'first' outing of this series they actually did get all the rights to the songs in the games, kinda like there were 36 other games to deal with that issue first! But they did get a lot of great songs, although a good number of them was literally just on Guitar Hero 3 so that's a thing I suppose. But they get some great tracks to play and while I feel Rock Band 2 has the best songs of the Rock Band games (and at least 3rd best of any rhythm game!) There is still a lot of great songs. And to get onto what I think are the top 5 best songs of this game and what:
#5:Wont get Fooled Again by The Who: If you have never watched CSI: Miami then have you even lived? I dunno but I know for sure you've been fooled again! And that Guitar solo later is just great as well by the way.
#4:I'm So Sick by Flyleaf: Hearing Lacey Sturen of Flyleaf screaming her head off while you play the guitar or drums is just a fun experience, I just really don't understand why the song is in the Extras, wasn't this song already super popular by that point?
#3:Epic by Faith no More: YOOOOOOOU WANT IT ALL......... BUT YOU CANT HAAAAAAAAVE IT. That's all I got to say about that!
#2:The Hand that Feeds by NIN: Oh boy I just love me some Nine Inch Nails! They have such great songs, and The Hand that Feeds is a great song! To bad its not a song off of the Pretty Hate Machine album!
#1: Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden: We all knew this song was going to be on this list! It's a great Soundgarden song and it saddens me that it took up til this game to get a Soundgarden song, at least the first Guitar Hero had Audioslave.
And that's my top 5 song list of Rock Band. It's got a great soundtrack and has a large variety of songs from Metalica to Weezer. Ill give the graphics of the game a 7 out of 10 and the sound a almost perfect 9 out of 10. Like a 9.3 out of 10.

{Addictive/Depth}
You liked fake strumming in Guitar Hero? Well you'll like it here as well, and being able to hit the drums or to sing is a great addition. While you was able to play bass in other games, this is the first to let you do it in basically all the modes. But being actually able to fully play as band with you and all your friends sure is a never ending fun fest! And if for some reason your not into that, then you'll probably be super into make your own characters and guitars. If there was just a game about that, well I'd play it all the time! I really can just spend hours just doing those things and never actually play the game! The worst part about it all though is you gotta do it all with the Guitar Controller which just kills me! But once you make a character for you and each of your friends, family and significant others cats, then you'll be jamming for hours to come! Making your own Setlists is pretty fun as well, I can just play my top 5 songs over and over again in any order I want! And your going to have to if you want to unlock everything in this game as it takes forever and a million and one dollars on top of it! So you'll for sure be spending a lot of time playing songs you do like, and finding some new ones to like a long the way as well. In terms of what is different between the instruments, the bass has fewer notes to hit as it is simpler, but pretty much the same as Lead. the drums add a foot pedal to the mix which really is just the orange, but you know, got to hit it with your foot! And like I said with the Mic you just gotta match the pitch, it also helps to say the words properly but I know I've messed up and it still counted. Same with actually starting to sing when your needed and stopping when needed. I dunno know it measures your pitch, but it doesn't always measure it properly that is for sure. If you liked the other games without all this bonus content then you will love the natural progression in this game. I'd give the addictiveness of the game a 7 out of 10 and the depth a high 9 out of 10. I can see why people could like Rock Band more just for all the extra stuff it added, and it did a great job in adding new instruments into the mix.

And that is how the Battle of the Bands started. Sadly though it all just kinda fizzled out in the end though! But that's years from now at this point! I mean we just got Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band in less than a year. At the same time we got Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band in less than a year. I keep talking about the 3 games beforehand in Guitar Hero, but at that point we had already had like 1 or 2 'spin off' games in the series. So really the rhythm game craze was starting to die down a bit already. But any who Rock Band 1 is great and worth the play if you have never before. Ill give it a 8.4 out of 10. Pick it up and tell me which side you fall on. I personally fall on Guitar Hero but I see the appeal for Rock Band.