Last week we all went down guns ablazin' as everyone duked it out over what the better FPS gun was. One side was armed with a gravity gun, and man did they do a lot of damage. Unfortunately, the other side was equipped with a portal gun, and dodged just about all the incoming attacks. I loved reading the very logical discussion over the very illogical game physics and concepts applied in our own world, proving many robotic readers have certified Dtoid debate degrees. Once the energy field dust settled, here were the final results:
- Gravity gun (28 votes) -- No cake for you!
- Portal gun (67 votes) -- Cake winners! Just kidding!
This week we widen the scope for a debate that focuses on not just two weapons, not two games, but two entire game series. Let me repeat myself: this is a Guitar Hero series versus Rock Band series debate. To choose a winner this week you must ponder plenty of playlists, half a dozen instrument controllers and their corresponding interfaces, and enough extra audio and visual information to make an A/V club member cream his or her RCA connectors.
Which series do you like better as a whole, and why? What aspects or individual games of the series made up your mind? Give it some serious thought, get your bando' friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner.
Bonus Question: What was one thing you did not enjoy about the series you voted for?
Contest:
11:10 PM on 08.18.2009
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Guitar Hero 5 is going some way to recovering the name but it's still not as good as Rock Band
I loved Guitar Hero 1 and 2, hated everything else in the series.
So, Rock Band.
Guitar Hero has gotten progressively sloppier with each revision. Guitar Hero:Metallica, my last GH title since GH3 felt like only a minimal improvement over GH3.
If there was anything I didn't like about Rock Band, it's that they tend to space out their "must have" DLC a lot more interspersed with a lot of filler.
As for the bonus question, my only complaint about Rock Band is that the only sequel it has had so far was really just a marginal improvement over the original. Of course, since Harmonix said it's not releasing Rock Band 3 anytime soon, I'm sure that won't happen again.
What I don't like.. mmm this is hard to tell...
Maybe that I suck at the drums when I love them. But that doesn't count :P
My only complaint? Lego Rock Band...
Rock Band actually makes you feel like your in a band by having you tour around the world and play some songs again and again. Guitar Hero's "World Tour" was a pathetic attempt on challenging Rock Bands World Tour mode in my opinion. The bass in Rock Band also doesn't involve a confusing pointless purble bar on screen. Rock Band also has "Don't Stop Believing" and other weekly DLC which keeps me coming back. After playing Rock Band and Rock Band 2 I find it really hard to play Guitar Hero because simply put Rock Band is better.
For the bonus question... I think the only thing I don't enjoy about the series is the lack of recognition I got for beating everything :P I did everything I possibly could and I don't remember getting a thanks.. baaaah haha
Bonus: I wish there was a timer before starting to play after you've paused a song, like in World Tour.
The one downside so far has been the instruments. The guitars always felt a little bit flimsy and my last drum kit was held together with rubber bands, tape, a metal pedal, and a couple of tube socks.
this is your chance industry. one truly useful use for DLC -- u even have it set up in your current games to allow this. do not force us to pay for 9 shitty songs in a 10 song pack for 1 great song. become a gamer's iTunes. if you do the math, you actually make MORE money this way, but it's still the RIGHT way to do it. feel free to release 100 friggin songs a month. just make them all single DLC junks. i'm sick of there being new games every 1-3 months.
game discs at this point in our industry's lifespan is silly and stupid. we need more digital distribution options and we need it now. because it will inadvertently be done wrong early on, so let's just get the out of the way now. it's environmentally AND financially stupid to do otherwise.
/sigh
Final vote: Rock Band
BQ: Subpar peripherals
Also, and maybe this is just a marketing illusion or stereotypes about the audience, but Rock Band seems to take music more seriously. Maybe it's the art style . . .
Bonus Question: gravity gun?
I own both GH & RB and enjoy them both because I love the genre, but prefer GH overall.
A big part of it has to do with the charts that HMX puts out on Rock Band and how much better they are than anything Neversoft has done for Guitar Hero.
Also, Harmonix was able to get a dozen Iron Maiden songs onto the downloadable field, I can't let that go unnoticed.
But I have to say that Arkhon is right, the lack of the pause timer is something I don't enjoy.
So much Priest and Maiden it's fantastic. They are the kings of DLC.
Bonus Question - Rock Band guitar. I liked the frets better and the overall feel of the strum bar but I just wish it could withstand long playtimes better.
bonus - lack of importing beatles songs ):
My votes therefore goes to Harmonix and the Rock Band series.
Bonus question: Rock band's peripherals are subpar in comparison. Red Octane is much better at making the controllers.
People who will only buy a game coz it has a whole bunch of hits that they recognize from the radio on it despite the fact that the franchise title is a complete cash-in (post GH 2 days ofcourse) will vote Guitar Hero.
Not franchise whoring?
Yeah, Rock Band gets my vote here for sure. I gave away GH3 + GHWT for free, I have no need for them.
Guitar Hero kit is better than Rock Band's though.
Rock Band (32 votes)
Guitar Hero (3 votes)
lol
BQ: Not as good instruments
Rock Band by far. Fuck Guitar Hero.
Because they do it right. They released one game, started pumping out quality, diverse DLC for it, realized a few ways in which they could improve the game, so they released a second game, BUT they let you export all but two of the songs (and one was a cover that you can replace with an original via DLC anyway) to Rock Band 2, and made all DLC forwards compatible, and then sat back and kept pumping out quality DLC. One interface for all your shit. No swapping between 4 or 5 discs, just one game. The way it should be done.
The fact that Activision *still* can't commit to doing it this way (ie the right way), and they're still playing me-too catch-up with features, and the fact that Neversoft's charts simply aren't as fun and natural as Harmonix's are, led to me fire Guitar Hero for good. I've only got room for one plastic fake guitar game in my life, and Harmonix wins, by a mile and a half.
P.S. - Rectangles > Circles
As for what I don't like about Rock Band... as much as I strongly prefer the silent strummer and full-fret buttons on the RB2 guitar, their whammy bar is wack, and the effect feature (and annoying switch) just need to go altogether. I still prefer and own the RB2 guitar, but it would be perfect if those simple changes were made. That, and I wish I could "unload" songs I hate from the list without deleting them completely. Having to sift through all of the in-house band shit they dump on you is a little annoying.
If you're too slow, it's Rock Band :D
I have to say though, there're some small things in Guitar Hero's menu and interface design that would be nice to have in Rock Band. Like skipping songs during a setlist rather than ending the entire list. Or an unpause timer, as previously pointed out (though the timer covers my drum notes, boo!). Or showing the singer's pitches rather than just the words when playing online.
BQ: The instrument quality for Rock Band 1 was atrocious. Thankfully that was fixed with the second generation. The Guitar Hero guitars still feel sturdier though. Other than that, the only thing I can complain about is that Rock Band doesn't sell as well as Guitar Hero (I'm guessing they make up for it with their mountain of DLC).