Rock Band

Compliments:
-Four Games In One
-Fantastic Visuals
-Almost Perfect Difficulty Level
-Possibly The Best Multiplayer Game

Complaints:
-Hefty Price Tag
-Some Hardware Issues
-Band World Tour Can Get Insanely Repetitive


Rock band developed by Harmonix and published by EA is the best music game to date.  The now long running Guitar Hero franchise taught us that basics of rocking, but rock band ascends that and gives players a whole band experience.

Rock band not only features guitar, but also bass guitar, drums, and vocals.  Essentially 4 games in one when playing rock band you are sure to find something you like.

The main mode of play in rock band is the band world tour.  Here you and up to 4 other friends can rock out over a career that surpasses 30+ hours of gameplay.  Your band travels around the world completing gigs that sometimes can contain 13 songs or more per gig, sometimes resulting in rock band marathon sessions.  There is also an endless setlist to complete but beware it will equal 6 hours of playing straight without saving, and in all likelihood causing headaches and seizures.  There are hundreds of songs to play in band world tour, but this is the problem with it.  You will no doubt play "Say It Ain't So" and "In Bloom" at least 25-50 times each along with many other songs.  Getting near the end of band world tour felt like a grind and took some fun out of the game.

Besides the band world tour there are solo tours for each of the instruments except bass.  The tours are similar to that of guitar hero, and you just play every song broken up into tiers.  With four difficulties and 4 instruments combined with the band world tour there is a lot of depth here, but beware the game will get boring.        

Two other problems with the game are faulty hardware and a hefty price tag.  When I first bought rock band I had to return it to the store that same day due to a broken guitar and microphone.  The second package I got has been much better and all of the instruments still play great to this day, but they surly are not built with durability in mind.  The second complaint is that the game will put a hefty dent in your wallet due to a retail price of 169.99$.  You can buy the game and instruments separate, but it is cheaper to just get the packaged deal.

Overall Rock Band is my favorite music game and will keep you occupied for a long time thanks to a lot of depth and download content.