BP Rock Band vs Singstar – I’m torn
Don’t get me wrong. I <3 Rock Band, a lot. I might even <4 or <5 it. I <3 it that much.
However, I think it is a way different tone than Singstar, which we usually end the BP with. (This could also be due to the hopefully temporary loss of Dirty and the Reebs, who were dearly missed.)
Not from the last BP… boo-hoody-hoody
So, what do you guys think? There certainly wasn’t the same level of hilarity and energy. It was more just… cool generation X detachment. But… maybe that’s just how I felt that night.
In any case, it was extremely hard not to open up that second box upstairs. It’s still waiting to be sold on Craigslist, or put into service.
If I do ditch the PS3 version, the low-cost alternative is to buy the game-only PS2 version (which I have about 5 million guitars for, and about 3 million mics for) and hope for a decent and cheap aftermarket drum set. With that said, would it be fun with just guitars and the mic? I’d put it in the DDR room on the TV. It’s got three groovy wireless headsets for you guys to jam with in judgement free silence!?
Singstar did seem to have a little more energy going, but rock band was definately still fun, and I think has a lot more replay value. Once you’ve done a song in singstar, it’s a while before you do it again, but in rock band, just pick up a new instrument! However, that doesn’t help the spectators out very much as they are just watching the same thing again … maybe that was the source of the toned down atmosphere.
December 10th, 2007 at 07:53The dynamic duo was missed! I know they would have kicked up the hilarity of rock band but I don’t think their absence was the cause of the tone. Rock band in a challenge. You want to perform well. You want to get star power to bring the vocals and drummer back in after they fail. So new faces – missing faces + focus = “don’t distract me, i MUST complete this song” tone. It is a great game when there’s just 4 people. No one waiting for a turn to play spoke up and none of the players were looking to quit the band.
I’m still trying to figure out the best set up for the drums. The office chair was nice. Getting set up with it I was nervous about the arms but being able to adjust the height was nice. My only problem is a I use my full range of motion when jamming on the kick pedal and as a result the length of the song and the distance between me and the rig is directly correlated (remember kids correlation does not imply causation!). I think I only played one song on the kit before passing the stix (what a good person i am) but I FINALLY was able to play the blue, green and kick ‘in-time’. Previously I always had difficulty turning to that side because the pads are so cramped together.
Practice makes perfect(ly permanent).
Ooo Ooo Ooo. Next time lets have a battle of the bands! One team plays, next team plays. Higher scoring team is declared the winner.
Last note on this never ending comment. Playing on a wall sized screen is key (props Gangrene). The game makers did just about the best anyone could have done to have 4 players but lets be honest, the game should ship with reading glasses for people who play on a 32″ or smaller TV.
December 10th, 2007 at 09:10Rock Band was definitely fun, I even liked the drums, though it’ll take a lot more practice to get really good at them. Perhaps it should be treated more like DDR was in previous BP’s. As in it’ll be there at the start of the party and then moved to the DDR room or stopped in favor of SingStar.
SingStar is more fun because everyone can play it and most people can at least sort of sing or are willing to laugh at themselves when they try. Plus you have the immediate competition of who will score higher 🙂
December 10th, 2007 at 11:59Gangrene,
So now that you’ve had the game for a little while I’m going to pretend like you have all the free time in the world and have been playing it tonz.
Are the drums any easier? Any more fun?
I thought the drums were really tough the first time I played. Then at the BP i think i only played one song on them but i sort of surprised myself at how much better i did. maybe i was better suited for that particular song. Anyways it seems like something one could get good at with the right practice (which reminds me of first playing GH). So what’s your take?
December 14th, 2007 at 10:58There’s one thing that completely separates singstar from rock band. The ability to download more and more songs. As VitaminZ said, there’s _MUCH_ more replay value in RB, and if that wasn’t enough, you can double the amount of songs you have with a few hundred MS points (or whatever ps3 uses…)
I also totally dig the fact that twice as many people can be playing at a time instead of singstar. The only negative about that is the only person that really “needs” to get off the instrument is the singer, because voice lossage is way faster than “sore fingers”. At least at this BP, it seemed like a lot of people were staying on way longer than the “switch off” that we would do for singstar.
RB 9.5/10, Singstar: 9/10 🙂
December 24th, 2007 at 15:33ummm… if by glacial pace you mean the rate at which new post are made then okay. why the new skinz? not that this one is bad but i liked the new one you had just put up. i can’t remember exactly what the one before it looked like but this reminds me of it. were there css issues or something?
was santa good to the house of Gangrene? did he beef up the bunker? santa brought me orange box so at the next bp i can log onto someone’s laptop if its preloaded to provide yet another station. although i’m not sure if that will be an issue.
December 27th, 2007 at 08:29