Rock Band, the wildly popular music game that has been causing a stir across the nation for some time now, has been released by Electronic Arts into the app store. With its near-console quality graphics, varied song selection, and spot-on controls, Rock Band cranks the fun dial to 11.
Rock Band offers three game modes: Quick Play, with 15 songs initially available; World Tour, where you play 5-song sets in several different venues with the ability to unlock 5 more songs; and Multiplayer, where you can join with friends online or over Bluetooth to rock out in true band fashion. The songs themselves are broken down by difficulty, allowing you to choose songs that are fairly simple to songs that are near impossible. After choosing a song, you’ll need to select an instrument from bass, guitar, drums, or vocals. A difficulty setting (easy, medium, or hard) can be selected for each song, offering increasingly more difficult tapping requirements. World Tour allows you to embark on a solo tour from Boston to New York to Seattle to Paris to Moscow. Only Boston is unlocked at the start. You can also Play Online and check out the Leaderboards, both of which require a Facebook connection. When playing online, you play through a song and a friend plays through the same song using a different instrument. Your scores will be combined to form your final score. Bluetooth multiplayer occurs in real time, which is a lot more fun. There is also an achievement system and statistics that are maintained and accessible through the World Tour menu. Your success on tour can gain you many fans along the way.
Graphically, the game is very impressive, even on the small screen of the iDevice. Bass and guitar require you to tap on pick-shaped spots at the bottom of the screen as notes stream vertically down a fretboard. Band animations play in the upper part of the screen. Tapping as the “notes” cross the target mark will earn you points and keep the song in tune. If you miss notes, the instrument sound will drop out and you’ll hear pick scratching noises. Long streaks of successful notes earn multipliers and greater points. Flicking the iDevice at the appropriate time puts you into overdrive. When using drums, you’ll still see notes streaming down a fretboard, but you’ll be tapping objects that resemble drums at the screen bottom. Missing notes on drums results in drumstick sounds. Vocals are a bit different. You’re still required to tap, but the notes stream horizontally across the screen. If you miss enough notes, the song will stop completely and indicate that you’ve failed.
Sounds, of course, are terrific. There are 20 CD quality songs of a good variety, including songs from bands such as Blink 182, Foo Fighters, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Motorhead, Joan Jett, All-American Rejects, Smashing Pumpkins, and more. There is a music store available in-game that allows you to purchase pairs of songs for $0.99. Controls utilize tapping, with the occasional flick for overdrive. In our experience, the controls work flawlessly.
Replayability is very high, as it can be quite difficult to play through a song without missing a single note. It’s also a flat out fun game to play. There are some similar games in the app store, most notably the Tap Tap Revenge series and the Guitar Rock Tour series. However, neither has the full package that Rock Band offers, and both feel a bit more forgiving than Rock Band. For the fullest, most demanding music tapping experience on the iDevice, Rock Band is top dog. Priced at $9.99, it will cost significantly more to own this game than its competitors, but die hard fans will find that it’s worth it. Rock Band shreds a 5-Dimple solo in the palm of your hand.
Rock Band gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:
