Rock Band 1/2 / Guitar Hero World Tour PS2/Wii

[DevilMayCry42]

Mmkay, Dilemma...

Say I wanted to get a 'band' type game. Say I also only had a PS2 and Wii...

What would you say I got?

I'm leaning towards Rock Band PS2 and maybe getting Rock Band 2 Solus later on, because I've heard horror stories of both Rock Band and Guitar Hero Wii controllers failing really early on...

Poll, lets see what we all think here!


EDIT: Oh, and whats the skinny in interoperability for the different games on PS2/Wii?

[DevilMayCry42]

Noone got any opinions/suggestions?

[samcross]

Which is cheapest?
Which has the most songs you like?

[Nick]

Rock Band 2 instrument kit and game.

Then, if you wanna, get Rock Band 1 game only and import all the songs from that into RB2.

Seriously, the drums and guitar in GHWT are just not up to the RB2 standard, which also allows you to auto-synch sound and video... and all the DLC is compatible between both games.

[JK Ferret]

Don't get anything Wii, none of the instruments are inter-compatible.

If you want solo play too, I'd steer clear of RB2 as I've heard there isn't the option for it (can't confirm personally though)

[Haiku32]

Don't get anything Wii, none of the instruments are inter-compatible.

If you want solo play too, I'd steer clear of RB2 as I've heard there isn't the option for it (can't confirm personally though)

Of course you can play it by yourself .

[DevilMayCry42]

Rock Band 2 instrument kit and game.

Then, if you wanna, get Rock Band 1 game only and import all the songs from that into RB2.

Seriously, the drums and guitar in GHWT are just not up to the RB2 standard, which also allows you to auto-synch sound and video... and all the DLC is compatible between both games.

This also for the PS2?
How would you import the songs? To what? Wouldn't I just load up RB1 as its own game and play it separately?

What I do know is that the PS2 and PS3 use the same controllers, and I've played PS3 Rockband at a mates, and it was awesome.

So for PS2, RB1 with equipment and RB2 solus? Or RB2 with stuffs and RB1 solus? i.e. does RB2 come with improved guitar/drums/mic?

[JK Ferret]

Of course you can play it by yourself .

I dont recommend this game.

No different to Rockband in playabilty except you cant do solo career mode. The songs are crap compared to Rockband which is poor compared to GH3.

If you like songs that cane your arm just going red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,
red+blue,

you will like this. but otherwise its not really much fun. yes there are a handful of good songs but overall i must admit im very disappointed. shoulda got GH:WT

I haz mah sauces. http://forums.gameon.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38701

So for PS2, RB1 with equipment and RB2 solus? Or RB2 with stuffs and RB1 solus? i.e. does RB2 come with improved guitar/drums/mic?

RB2 has much more improved instruments ('specially the drums), although Mr Yahtzee Croshaw reckons every GH guitar controller ever is better than any of the RBones.

[Nick]

Erm, JK, yes, you can absolutely do a career mode solo in any of these games, RB, RB2 or GHWT... I'm sorry to say but the poster in that link is just wrong. I've no idea why he/she thinks you can't do a solo career, I've got all three games and you can in any of them.

RB2 even lets you create a single character which can be used on any instrument, so if you get stuck on drums, just move to bass, lead or singing to keep your career progressing... or vice versa. It also removes the 'band creator must be in the band' fucntion from RB, so any band can have any character in it... not just the one you used to create the band.

As for song listing... well that's a matter of personal choice, but to my taste, RB wins over both RB2 and GHWT... and then there's the massive range of DLC on all three to consider.. exceppt RB2 is better value as your DLC from RB is compatible and just drops straight in... unlike having to re-download stuff for GHWT.

But there's actually a lot of bleed over between RB2 and GHWT, for example they both have Eye of the Tiger and Livin' on a Prayer as unlockable in-game songs.

Devil, the RB2 kit is overall better than the RB kit... the drums are certainly better, but you do need to protect them with something like the drumhead covers that MadCatz sell as I've dented mine already.

The guitar has a built-in light and sound sensor, making synching your audio and video a doddle.

That said, I prefer the strum bar on the original RB guitars but the RB2 guitars have better fret buttons.

Comparing RB2 with GHWT, the GHWT drums are pretty poor. Neither game gives a realistic 'drum' feel with the rebound, but the RB2 drums, espesh the version 3 ones being sold now, are more accurate... and of course there's the cymbals add-on pack coming out which turns it into a near-full drum kit, which you can go mad on in the practice mode which has a freeplay session built in.

The GHWT drums are more like synth drums or a drum machine pad... too soft, not very responsive and, from my experience which a bit og Googling will confirm, very inaccurate. You can send off for a MIDI to USB cable and then get a free drum tuner program from Red Octane, but it doesn't help much... trying to balance sensitivity against bleed-over between cymbals and the pads is a nightmare.

The GHWT are heavier and feel more robust than previous GH guitars but they do still feel like a toy rather than the RB and RB2 near-replica guitars. That tough pad thing halfway down the neck, for finger sliding solos is both fairly useless and also under-used in the game anyway... so all a bit pointless.

Finally, to the gameplay itself: GHWT is basically the same sa RB and RB2... play as a band (or solo, honest you CAN play solo in career!) But the execution in GHWT is flawed. Star Power on the guitars is the usual tip-it-up thing, but for the drums you have to hit both cymbals at the same time... but if you're in the middle of drumming, when do you have time to do that?

Graphically, GHWT loses out too... the on screen tracks are fine but indications of star power is hardly obvious, the character models look blocky and the little in any lip-synching, which although it sounds stupid, only starts to make a difference once you've seen how well RB2 does it.

As for extras, GHWT has a comprehensive music creator section, where you can create, erm... well, music. But surely if you're in a midi music creator you'd want a keyborad and not a gutitar with five fret buttons and a strum abr? Basically, it's severely hobbled but the input device you have to use... though you can connect a midi keyboard through the drum kit port... but then, if you have a keyboard, why would you be using GHWT to create muusic?

RB2 has a freeplay mode for the drums, and you can store MP3's on your PS3, or search to a media server and then play along with the tracks in there... basically it's a lot more fun.

As for compatibility, only GHWT instruments work with GHWT... so you have to buy a new guitar, even if that's all you want to play. All RB2 and RB instruments are totally cross compatible, at least on the Xbox 360 and PS3 they are, but I suspect very strongly that it'll be the same on the Wii... oh, and just to really confuse things, RB2 guitars work in GHWT... but not the other way around.

Sadly, I've not much experience of RB2 on the PS2, but as I understand it, because of the limitations of the machine, you can't have the drum-over of MP3 tracks and there's no DLC or online play. So I'll modify my advice to this: Get RB2 instrument pack, then, if you want more songs, get RB1 game only and play that using your RB 2 instruments.

Hope this helps!

PS. check HEXUS.tv very soon as we're doing a three way RB, RB2 and GHWT shoot out!

[tigerboyce]

But the RB2 instrument kit isn't out yet, and there is no information anywhere about a release date

I was going by your review of the mad catz cymbals, that said they were supposed to be released in the second week of December which has obviously passed now... Amazon claims the cymbals will be out feb 6th though

[JK Ferret]

Well, like I said before, I couldn't confirm it myself as I haven't got the game. Just passing on info I'd been told It won't stop me getting it anyway, I've got both rock bands on my xmas wishlist

May actually look into getting the RB2 drums though, the World Tour ones are a nightmare. If you play gently it can still recognise hits, but sometimes it won't. And if you whack them harder, it can register on the other pads as well Getting the star power is a bit of a killer, although the tutorial says that any note(s) passing the line will be ato-hit when you activate, it usually fails to activate at all for me If only there was another way to do it (like a second pedal)

Also, while I'm complaining,wtf is up with the star rating after the songs? Really, how can you hit 99% of notes and still only manage a 3-star, while hitting 87% or lower on another song can net you all 5?

I will say though, get a mic stand and do vocals and drums at the same time Loads of fun, especially when you have to guess what the words are because yo're too busy concentrating on drumming