My guitar is fine so far, fingers crossed. I just don't think you can bang away on the strum bar like you can on the GH controller. I think you have to hold the strum bar between your fingers instead of jamming your thumb down on it. The fact that the very first thing you see when you open the box is a big red flyer telling you what to do when your shit fucks up does not give me hope for the longevity of these toy instruments. When I was unpacking, there was a piece of cardboard wedged into one of the drum pads, and when I removed it a foam disc of some sort came out with it. I have no idea what it does, but I'll bet it's important.
Remember, this is EA. They want your shit to break before Rock Band II comes out next year so you'll buy all new shit.
OBSERVATIONS:
(I'm including my musician friend's thoughts here as well)
1. Where the hell am I going to put all this shit? I'm going to have to invest in a giant duffle bag, or an embarrassment sheet to cover it up when not in use.
2. That flimsy USB hub will be the first thing to crap out, The power plug barely fits into it, and is very loose. Plus, the cords are like 3 inches long.
3. The interface is clumsy and annoying. For a game obviously designed to appeal to casual party groups, they would've had to work to make it more unintuitive than it already is. My friend and I ended up just going with the default rockers most of the time.
4. The mic is really decent. I might try to do some recording on the computer with it to see if the quality is there. Singing on Easy is, well, easy, but playing an instrument at the same time is hard. I can get through some stuff by faking the sounds, but your eyes are all over the screen if you don't know the words by heart. It's fun when you do, though, and you get a neat sense of accomplishment.
5. I like the new guitar, personally. The strum bar makes it easier for me to strum up and down, instead of always downstrumming like I did with the GH controller. My friend prefers the GHII controller. I've ignored the solo buttons so far because when you're playing on Easy they're kind of pointless. The guitar parts on Easy are noticeably easier then in GH, which in my case is a good thing because I'll be doing vocals at the same time in a "solo" Band World Tour. But I can see where they'll get boring if that's all you play by yourself. I may bump it up to Medium.
6. Again with this unlocking songs bullshit. Have an option for all the songs to be available right off the bat for those of us who just want to fuck around in Quick Play. A happy medium would be having to unlock songs in BWT, and having a "Play All" option in Quick Play.
Now I have to do "homework" to get some stuff unlocked before my friend comes back over this weekend.
By the way, is there an unlock cheat in GHII for 360 that works? And has anyone found one for this yet?
7. My friend's thoughts on the drums (he's been drumming IRL since he was ten):
"I don't know where you're reading all these comments, but whoever thinks this game is really going to help them play the drums is in for a rude awakening when they get behind a real drum set. This may help a little with establishing a proper sense of rhythm, but the placement is totally different, and they've left out important things like the high hat. I'd love to be in the music store when the Rock Band nerds come in and hop behind the drum set thinking they're going to be the next Buddy Rich just because they played a video game on the Hard setting."
"Have fun with these while they last, because they're going to break. You might want to get some mats and cut them to fit the pads so you don't dent them, but I don't know how that would affect the sensitivity. The kick pedal seems pretty sturdy, but overall they're not built to last."
"I keep wanting to play the actual song, and not just the notes scrolling on the screen. When I come back over I'll try it on Hard or Expert and see if it gets any better for me. There needs to be an option to play all songs freestyle, where you can turn off the meter for the drums or vocals or guitar or whatever and everyone else still gets to play the normal game." I agree here, and hope they patch it for at least some of that.
"There should be an option to turn off the kick. It's way too complex for people who are just going to get together and play once in a while on the weekends, and they're just going to get frustrated. There's no easing into it. It's like if you had to play all the buttons on the guitar right from the start. The only people who are ever going to get coordinated enough on the drums to get through the songs are the ones who own the game, and that sort of defeats the purpose of a casual party game." Also agree, and hope that patch it. Shouldn't be too hard, as the demo units in stores had the kick turned off.
He also plays guitar (though not as well as the drums), but he really likes the guitar/bass parts and doesn't have the same issues, because "When you're playing the guitar or bass parts, there's no question that you're just playing a fun video game with a toy guitar, but they tried to go a little too realistic with the drum parts - even though the controller setup isn't realistic at all."
We were talking about what EA and Harmonix would do with the sequel (you know it's coming), and we both agreed there will probably be a keyboard peripheral. He seems to think they'll come out with another (more expensive, of course) drum set with a pad layout more closely resembling an actual drum rig, along with an actual kick pad. He said the way the kick plugs into the pad set now leads him to believe that they might come out with an optional kick pad attachment you'd just plug into the port on the back, to give the bass drum a more tactile feel.
Bottom line is we both liked it a lot, but he was not a fan of the drums. I haven't even attempted to play them.
