Will this three pieced singer be gracing my TV screen next month?
Every bone in my alternative, grunge-loving, rock and roll body (aka my childhood) finds the upcoming casual-friendly Lego Rock Band and Band Hero games kind of gross. Taylor Swift? Janet Jackson? BRYAN ADAMS? These are the artists being rolled out for Lego Rock Band (Harmonix) and Band Hero (Activision) in the two companies’ latest attempt to cash in on the music game craze. Yet, the older, more mature, and lamer side of me is intrigued by both these games.
Harmonix’s game I’m sure will be made with the high standards all the Rock Band games have had (although I’m not sure how Lego David Bowie and Lego Iggy Pop are going to look different), and there are a lot of catchy tunes on there, including the aforementioned Bryan Adams “Summer of 69′”, Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin”, and the one song I would like to play: Europe’s “The Final Countdown”. Band Hero counters with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression that I Get”, Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting”, and the CTY classic “American Pie”, by Don McLean.
These games and their tracklists present me with two dilemmas:
1) I would feel like a corporate sellout playing these songs. At the same time, pop songs are so catchy and they seem like they would be genuinely fun to play, especially with friends or my wife.
2) I really shouldn’t be spending any more money on music games. There are tracks on both discs that I would love to try out, but I can’t shell out $120 on more music games, especially when I’m still planning on picking up Guitar Hero 5 eventually! This is getting out of hand.
In the end, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I don’t even need reviews, I’m pretty sure both games will be much of the same. If I had tweenage kids it probably would be a no-brainer, and I think a lot of families will have fun with these games, but as a solo act…I might have to pass………or not. Bah!
i definitely have more than enough music games to play right now as well, especially since i just got started on guitar hero van halen (and i haven’t even finished the guitar hero 5 set list yet -_-).
to be honest though, i’m definitely more a fan of pop and pop rock, so both of these kid friendly music games have a lot more songs i find appealing. but with the current oversaturated market, i’m not going to pay $60 for each. after buying gh5 + gh van halen together for $45 or so, I’ve decided that $20-$30 is my new price point for music games. hopefully that is the trend, since i wouldn’t mind adding the lego rock band songs to my rock band library (but $10 for the import is kinda pricey!)
These both will be a hit and you’re getting both, lets just accept that fact.
I’m surprised something like this hasn’t come out sooner. This generation of gamers was born in the late 80s and on, they don’t know rock songs from the 60s and 70s! Especially when you start incorporating vocals, people need to KNOW the song really well in order for you to play it. My wife and I have Karaoke Revolution, KR Party, and KR American Idol and guess what songs we/she sing? All the new pop songs! Her main complaint – why are there no NEW pop songs? We don’t sing the Motown and other filler, just Beyonce and Britney. $60 is a price gouge though, add in the fact that there is a limitless amount of DLC for something like this, and Activision/Harmonix win again.
These are definitely songs I would want to play. Unless you care about achievements or the cute lego animations, you could always do a game rental + $10 import fee.
Supposedly, there is a code on the inside of the box you need to input when you do the import, which makes me think they are trying to prevent that. Maybe like a CD-Key? Anyway, I’m skeptical that we can get away with that this time…though we’ll have to wait and see.