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This thread has been linked to the game 'Rock Band Blitz'.
I often break out my copy of Rock Band 3 when friends come over as it still delivers one of the most enjoyable multiplayer experiences on a console to this day. Then sadly the genre died out partially thanks to over-saturation that included a number of pointless releases (Band Hero?!). With Activision pulling the plug on its once popular Guitar Hero franchise and the Rock Band series slowly drying up, all that remained were the weekly DLC tracks that would help buffer your expanding catalogue. Now however Harmonix have opted to release a solely single player experience on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in the form of Rock Band Blitz. Does this downloadable addition to the series breathe new life into the music genre?
On first glance the game seems to offer the same style of gameplay we’re used to seeing from previous entries in the series with five brightly coloured lanes lined up representing each member of the band and notes flying past requiring quick timing to hit. You’re still playing along to rock, punk, metal, pop, funk and a number of other genres only this time you’ve no need for the piles of peripherals Rock Band has used before. Instead you’ll be using a simple gamepad.
Whereas the original Rock Band titles would have you focus on the one instrument, here you’re in control of all five switching between each lane on the fly. You’ll be covering lead and bass guitar, drums, vocals and even the keyboard all at once and while this may sound like an impossible task on paper, Blitz makes a few changes to accommodate this.
For one you’ll only have two button prompts, rather than the five seen in previous titles. Whatever instrument you take control of, you’ll either be pressing the A button or flicking the left analogue and that’s it. When you want to switch lanes, again a simple press of the left or right trigger will slide you along to the left or right lane beside (Controls can be altered in the menu). While this may sound very simple, things become increasingly chaotic and difficult when you consider a couple of things. Firstly you’ll need to time your switches so you focus on an instrument that’s approaching a note filled section. For example during Queen’s “We Will Rock You” the opening simply features a drum beat with vocals so it’s no use focusing on the guitars. Likewise when a guitar solo kicks in, you best switch the focus to that lane or else risk missing out on plenty of points. The more you’ll practice, the better you’ll become at identifying key points to switch over and hit the most notes.
Likewise a new multiplier system encourages you to switch lanes as often as you can. Hitting a string of notes successfully for an instrument raises your multiplier. The idea is to juggle between each instrument and raise all their multipliers before reaching checkpoints scattered throughout each song. Do so successfully and you are rewarded with your level cap being raised one two or three levels upon which the process begins once again. While it may seem safer to stick with one or two instruments, you’ll need to switch between them all if you’ve any hope of reaching the ever satisfying gold stars.
Power ups also offer a helping hand and become slowly available the more you play the game. These abilities are split into one of three catagories and are essential in achieving a five star rating, let alone any sort of competitive score. Overdrive power-ups can be activated after filling an overdrive meter and reward you with a brief bonus to gain extra points. From double points, shock waves and bottle rockets to speeding cars and having an extra bandmate to help you out, these short moments really help boost your score. The Note power-ups meanwhile appear randomly on the lanes and will activate once struck, giving you again help in some form. Perhaps my favourite of the entire bunch sees a giant pinball bouncing back and forth as you attempt to keep hitting notes whilst at the same time keep rebounding the ball into play via shifting along the lanes. It’s great fun in a crazy Rock Band/Breakout sort of way. Finally the Track power-ups provide a select instrument with bonus points for a song.
Blitz mode offers bonus points every time you hit a combo of notes in succession without a single miss. Once activated the sense of speed is heightened and continues to keep moving until you make three mistakes. When you combine this with everything else that’s going on, there’s a lot to consider and juggling them all can at first feel very daunting. However, keep practicing and soon enough you be able to shuffle along lanes, nail power-ups and keep in Blitz mode so much so you’ll start to feel like a rock god. On the surface the game may seem deceptively simple, however delve further and you’ll uncover a pretty deep game.
Playing songs will earn you Blitz Cred and coins which unlock new power-ups and allow you to pay the fee to actually use them respectively. Even once you’ve unlocked power-ups for use, you’ll still need to fork over the cash in order to benefit from their perks and more often than not you’ll find yourself burning through more currency than earning, so it’s vital to manage what you have and use them when you feel you’ll gain most. It’s an odd decision and one that feels a little off-putting at times with even a simple restart meaning you’ll need to dip into your pocket once more. It feels cheap. Whatsmore coins and Blitz Cred can only be earned whilst online, a vicious blow for those who don’t tend to spend too much time on Xbox Live. Making it so you need to be online to unlock abilities again feels like a serious oversight.
The actual Facebook and online integration is decent enough and informs you when a friend or rival has beaten your score on a song. You can even challenge individual gamers to a Score War – a song- specific multi – day high – score competition that rewards the winner with precious coins you’ll need to continue using power-ups. As with any online integration like this, you’ll need a bunch of friends who also use it to gain the most. If you do then it can be great fun.
As with any music title, the soundtrack is where you’ll likely make your decision on whether to invest or not, and thankfully Blitz offers a decent roster. With 25 songs in all only a small handful are real stinkers including Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5. The rest are a decent mix of classic artists such as Elton John, Queen, Foo Fighters as well as some more modern hits from popular bands like My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold. Even bands I’d never heard of before managed to surprise me.
Furthermore owners of previous games in the series are able to export all their existing songs into Blitz meaning potentially your catalogue could reach into the hundred/thousands. Pretty much all previous track packs and retail products are importable into the new title with the exception of Beatles and Rock Band 3. Sure it’s disappointing as the third title did sport an impressive number of great songs, but it’s hard to complain when you’re already swimming in songs from other games. Likewise the 25 tracks from Blitz will work in Rock Band 3 so if you’re simply looking for more songs to take over to the real Rock Band experience then the option is there.
Newcomers and veterans alike are bound to have a fast paced, frantic time as Harmonix manages to take the series in an exciting new direction. Rock Band Blitz offers an addictive slice of arcade fun and thanks to a several thousand strong back catalogue that spans a number of decades, genres and artists as well as a pretty decent online competitive social tool, Blitz often calls out for one more go.
8/10
On first glance the game seems to offer the same style of gameplay we’re used to seeing from previous entries in the series with five brightly coloured lanes lined up representing each member of the band and notes flying past requiring quick timing to hit. You’re still playing along to rock, punk, metal, pop, funk and a number of other genres only this time you’ve no need for the piles of peripherals Rock Band has used before. Instead you’ll be using a simple gamepad.
Whereas the original Rock Band titles would have you focus on the one instrument, here you’re in control of all five switching between each lane on the fly. You’ll be covering lead and bass guitar, drums, vocals and even the keyboard all at once and while this may sound like an impossible task on paper, Blitz makes a few changes to accommodate this.
For one you’ll only have two button prompts, rather than the five seen in previous titles. Whatever instrument you take control of, you’ll either be pressing the A button or flicking the left analogue and that’s it. When you want to switch lanes, again a simple press of the left or right trigger will slide you along to the left or right lane beside (Controls can be altered in the menu). While this may sound very simple, things become increasingly chaotic and difficult when you consider a couple of things. Firstly you’ll need to time your switches so you focus on an instrument that’s approaching a note filled section. For example during Queen’s “We Will Rock You” the opening simply features a drum beat with vocals so it’s no use focusing on the guitars. Likewise when a guitar solo kicks in, you best switch the focus to that lane or else risk missing out on plenty of points. The more you’ll practice, the better you’ll become at identifying key points to switch over and hit the most notes.
Likewise a new multiplier system encourages you to switch lanes as often as you can. Hitting a string of notes successfully for an instrument raises your multiplier. The idea is to juggle between each instrument and raise all their multipliers before reaching checkpoints scattered throughout each song. Do so successfully and you are rewarded with your level cap being raised one two or three levels upon which the process begins once again. While it may seem safer to stick with one or two instruments, you’ll need to switch between them all if you’ve any hope of reaching the ever satisfying gold stars.
Power ups also offer a helping hand and become slowly available the more you play the game. These abilities are split into one of three catagories and are essential in achieving a five star rating, let alone any sort of competitive score. Overdrive power-ups can be activated after filling an overdrive meter and reward you with a brief bonus to gain extra points. From double points, shock waves and bottle rockets to speeding cars and having an extra bandmate to help you out, these short moments really help boost your score. The Note power-ups meanwhile appear randomly on the lanes and will activate once struck, giving you again help in some form. Perhaps my favourite of the entire bunch sees a giant pinball bouncing back and forth as you attempt to keep hitting notes whilst at the same time keep rebounding the ball into play via shifting along the lanes. It’s great fun in a crazy Rock Band/Breakout sort of way. Finally the Track power-ups provide a select instrument with bonus points for a song.
Blitz mode offers bonus points every time you hit a combo of notes in succession without a single miss. Once activated the sense of speed is heightened and continues to keep moving until you make three mistakes. When you combine this with everything else that’s going on, there’s a lot to consider and juggling them all can at first feel very daunting. However, keep practicing and soon enough you be able to shuffle along lanes, nail power-ups and keep in Blitz mode so much so you’ll start to feel like a rock god. On the surface the game may seem deceptively simple, however delve further and you’ll uncover a pretty deep game.
Playing songs will earn you Blitz Cred and coins which unlock new power-ups and allow you to pay the fee to actually use them respectively. Even once you’ve unlocked power-ups for use, you’ll still need to fork over the cash in order to benefit from their perks and more often than not you’ll find yourself burning through more currency than earning, so it’s vital to manage what you have and use them when you feel you’ll gain most. It’s an odd decision and one that feels a little off-putting at times with even a simple restart meaning you’ll need to dip into your pocket once more. It feels cheap. Whatsmore coins and Blitz Cred can only be earned whilst online, a vicious blow for those who don’t tend to spend too much time on Xbox Live. Making it so you need to be online to unlock abilities again feels like a serious oversight.
The actual Facebook and online integration is decent enough and informs you when a friend or rival has beaten your score on a song. You can even challenge individual gamers to a Score War – a song- specific multi – day high – score competition that rewards the winner with precious coins you’ll need to continue using power-ups. As with any online integration like this, you’ll need a bunch of friends who also use it to gain the most. If you do then it can be great fun.
As with any music title, the soundtrack is where you’ll likely make your decision on whether to invest or not, and thankfully Blitz offers a decent roster. With 25 songs in all only a small handful are real stinkers including Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5. The rest are a decent mix of classic artists such as Elton John, Queen, Foo Fighters as well as some more modern hits from popular bands like My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold. Even bands I’d never heard of before managed to surprise me.
Furthermore owners of previous games in the series are able to export all their existing songs into Blitz meaning potentially your catalogue could reach into the hundred/thousands. Pretty much all previous track packs and retail products are importable into the new title with the exception of Beatles and Rock Band 3. Sure it’s disappointing as the third title did sport an impressive number of great songs, but it’s hard to complain when you’re already swimming in songs from other games. Likewise the 25 tracks from Blitz will work in Rock Band 3 so if you’re simply looking for more songs to take over to the real Rock Band experience then the option is there.
Newcomers and veterans alike are bound to have a fast paced, frantic time as Harmonix manages to take the series in an exciting new direction. Rock Band Blitz offers an addictive slice of arcade fun and thanks to a several thousand strong back catalogue that spans a number of decades, genres and artists as well as a pretty decent online competitive social tool, Blitz often calls out for one more go.
8/10
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I often break out my copy of Rock Band 3 when friends come over as it still delivers one of the most enjoyable multiplayer experiences on a console to this day. Then sadly the genre died out partially thanks to over-saturation that included a number of pointless releases (Band Hero?!). With Activision pulling the plug on its once popular Guitar Hero franchise and the Rock Band series slowly drying up, all that remained were the weekly DLC tracks that would help buffer your expanding catalogue. Now however Harmonix have opted to release a solely single player experience on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in the form of Rock Band Blitz. Does this downloadable addition to the series breathe new life into the music genre?
On first glance the game seems to offer the same style of gameplay we’re used to seeing from previous entries in the series with five brightly coloured lanes lined up representing each member of the band and notes flying past requiring quick timing to hit. You’re still playing along to rock, punk, metal, pop, funk and a number of other genres only this time you’ve no need for the piles of peripherals Rock Band has used before. Instead you’ll be using a simple gamepad.
Whereas the original Rock Band titles would have you focus on the one instrument, here you’re in control of all five switching between each lane on the fly. You’ll be covering lead and bass guitar, drums, vocals and even the keyboard all at once and while this may sound like an impossible task on paper, Blitz makes a few changes to accommodate this.
For one you’ll only have two button prompts, rather than the five seen in previous titles. Whatever instrument you take control of, you’ll either be pressing the A button or flicking the left analogue and that’s it. When you want to switch lanes, again a simple press of the left or right trigger will slide you along to the left or right lane beside (Controls can be altered in the menu). While this may sound very simple, things become increasingly chaotic and difficult when you consider a couple of things. Firstly you’ll need to time your switches so you focus on an instrument that’s approaching a note filled section. For example during Queen’s “We Will Rock You” the opening simply features a drum beat with vocals so it’s no use focusing on the guitars. Likewise when a guitar solo kicks in, you best switch the focus to that lane or else risk missing out on plenty of points. The more you’ll practice, the better you’ll become at identifying key points to switch over and hit the most notes.
Likewise a new multiplier system encourages you to switch lanes as often as you can. Hitting a string of notes successfully for an instrument raises your multiplier. The idea is to juggle between each instrument and raise all their multipliers before reaching checkpoints scattered throughout each song. Do so successfully and you are rewarded with your level cap being raised one two or three levels upon which the process begins once again. While it may seem safer to stick with one or two instruments, you’ll need to switch between them all if you’ve any hope of reaching the ever satisfying gold stars.
Power ups also offer a helping hand and become slowly available the more you play the game. These abilities are split into one of three catagories and are essential in achieving a five star rating, let alone any sort of competitive score. Overdrive power-ups can be activated after filling an overdrive meter and reward you with a brief bonus to gain extra points. From double points, shock waves and bottle rockets to speeding cars and having an extra bandmate to help you out, these short moments really help boost your score. The Note power-ups meanwhile appear randomly on the lanes and will activate once struck, giving you again help in some form. Perhaps my favourite of the entire bunch sees a giant pinball bouncing back and forth as you attempt to keep hitting notes whilst at the same time keep rebounding the ball into play via shifting along the lanes. It’s great fun in a crazy Rock Band/Breakout sort of way. Finally the Track power-ups provide a select instrument with bonus points for a song.
Blitz mode offers bonus points every time you hit a combo of notes in succession without a single miss. Once activated the sense of speed is heightened and continues to keep moving until you make three mistakes. When you combine this with everything else that’s going on, there’s a lot to consider and juggling them all can at first feel very daunting. However, keep practicing and soon enough you be able to shuffle along lanes, nail power-ups and keep in Blitz mode so much so you’ll start to feel like a rock god. On the surface the game may seem deceptively simple, however delve further and you’ll uncover a pretty deep game.
Playing songs will earn you Blitz Cred and coins which unlock new power-ups and allow you to pay the fee to actually use them respectively. Even once you’ve unlocked power-ups for use, you’ll still need to fork over the cash in order to benefit from their perks and more often than not you’ll find yourself burning through more currency than earning, so it’s vital to manage what you have and use them when you feel you’ll gain most. It’s an odd decision and one that feels a little off-putting at times with even a simple restart meaning you’ll need to dip into your pocket once more. It feels cheap. Whatsmore coins and Blitz Cred can only be earned whilst online, a vicious blow for those who don’t tend to spend too much time on Xbox Live. Making it so you need to be online to unlock abilities again feels like a serious oversight.
The actual Facebook and online integration is decent enough and informs you when a friend or rival has beaten your score on a song. You can even challenge individual gamers to a Score War – a song- specific multi – day high – score competition that rewards the winner with precious coins you’ll need to continue using power-ups. As with any online integration like this, you’ll need a bunch of friends who also use it to gain the most. If you do then it can be great fun.
As with any music title, the soundtrack is where you’ll likely make your decision on whether to invest or not, and thankfully Blitz offers a decent roster. With 25 songs in all only a small handful are real stinkers including Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5. The rest are a decent mix of classic artists such as Elton John, Queen, Foo Fighters as well as some more modern hits from popular bands like My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold. Even bands I’d never heard of before managed to surprise me.
Furthermore owners of previous games in the series are able to export all their existing songs into Blitz meaning potentially your catalogue could reach into the hundred/thousands. Pretty much all previous track packs and retail products are importable into the new title with the exception of Beatles and Rock Band 3. Sure it’s disappointing as the third title did sport an impressive number of great songs, but it’s hard to complain when you’re already swimming in songs from other games. Likewise the 25 tracks from Blitz will work in Rock Band 3 so if you’re simply looking for more songs to take over to the real Rock Band experience then the option is there.
Newcomers and veterans alike are bound to have a fast paced, frantic time as Harmonix manages to take the series in an exciting new direction. Rock Band Blitz offers an addictive slice of arcade fun and thanks to a several thousand strong back catalogue that spans a number of decades, genres and artists as well as a pretty decent online competitive social tool, Blitz often calls out for one more go.
8/10
On first glance the game seems to offer the same style of gameplay we’re used to seeing from previous entries in the series with five brightly coloured lanes lined up representing each member of the band and notes flying past requiring quick timing to hit. You’re still playing along to rock, punk, metal, pop, funk and a number of other genres only this time you’ve no need for the piles of peripherals Rock Band has used before. Instead you’ll be using a simple gamepad.
Whereas the original Rock Band titles would have you focus on the one instrument, here you’re in control of all five switching between each lane on the fly. You’ll be covering lead and bass guitar, drums, vocals and even the keyboard all at once and while this may sound like an impossible task on paper, Blitz makes a few changes to accommodate this.
For one you’ll only have two button prompts, rather than the five seen in previous titles. Whatever instrument you take control of, you’ll either be pressing the A button or flicking the left analogue and that’s it. When you want to switch lanes, again a simple press of the left or right trigger will slide you along to the left or right lane beside (Controls can be altered in the menu). While this may sound very simple, things become increasingly chaotic and difficult when you consider a couple of things. Firstly you’ll need to time your switches so you focus on an instrument that’s approaching a note filled section. For example during Queen’s “We Will Rock You” the opening simply features a drum beat with vocals so it’s no use focusing on the guitars. Likewise when a guitar solo kicks in, you best switch the focus to that lane or else risk missing out on plenty of points. The more you’ll practice, the better you’ll become at identifying key points to switch over and hit the most notes.
Likewise a new multiplier system encourages you to switch lanes as often as you can. Hitting a string of notes successfully for an instrument raises your multiplier. The idea is to juggle between each instrument and raise all their multipliers before reaching checkpoints scattered throughout each song. Do so successfully and you are rewarded with your level cap being raised one two or three levels upon which the process begins once again. While it may seem safer to stick with one or two instruments, you’ll need to switch between them all if you’ve any hope of reaching the ever satisfying gold stars.
Power ups also offer a helping hand and become slowly available the more you play the game. These abilities are split into one of three catagories and are essential in achieving a five star rating, let alone any sort of competitive score. Overdrive power-ups can be activated after filling an overdrive meter and reward you with a brief bonus to gain extra points. From double points, shock waves and bottle rockets to speeding cars and having an extra bandmate to help you out, these short moments really help boost your score. The Note power-ups meanwhile appear randomly on the lanes and will activate once struck, giving you again help in some form. Perhaps my favourite of the entire bunch sees a giant pinball bouncing back and forth as you attempt to keep hitting notes whilst at the same time keep rebounding the ball into play via shifting along the lanes. It’s great fun in a crazy Rock Band/Breakout sort of way. Finally the Track power-ups provide a select instrument with bonus points for a song.
Blitz mode offers bonus points every time you hit a combo of notes in succession without a single miss. Once activated the sense of speed is heightened and continues to keep moving until you make three mistakes. When you combine this with everything else that’s going on, there’s a lot to consider and juggling them all can at first feel very daunting. However, keep practicing and soon enough you be able to shuffle along lanes, nail power-ups and keep in Blitz mode so much so you’ll start to feel like a rock god. On the surface the game may seem deceptively simple, however delve further and you’ll uncover a pretty deep game.
Playing songs will earn you Blitz Cred and coins which unlock new power-ups and allow you to pay the fee to actually use them respectively. Even once you’ve unlocked power-ups for use, you’ll still need to fork over the cash in order to benefit from their perks and more often than not you’ll find yourself burning through more currency than earning, so it’s vital to manage what you have and use them when you feel you’ll gain most. It’s an odd decision and one that feels a little off-putting at times with even a simple restart meaning you’ll need to dip into your pocket once more. It feels cheap. Whatsmore coins and Blitz Cred can only be earned whilst online, a vicious blow for those who don’t tend to spend too much time on Xbox Live. Making it so you need to be online to unlock abilities again feels like a serious oversight.
The actual Facebook and online integration is decent enough and informs you when a friend or rival has beaten your score on a song. You can even challenge individual gamers to a Score War – a song- specific multi – day high – score competition that rewards the winner with precious coins you’ll need to continue using power-ups. As with any online integration like this, you’ll need a bunch of friends who also use it to gain the most. If you do then it can be great fun.
As with any music title, the soundtrack is where you’ll likely make your decision on whether to invest or not, and thankfully Blitz offers a decent roster. With 25 songs in all only a small handful are real stinkers including Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5. The rest are a decent mix of classic artists such as Elton John, Queen, Foo Fighters as well as some more modern hits from popular bands like My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold. Even bands I’d never heard of before managed to surprise me.
Furthermore owners of previous games in the series are able to export all their existing songs into Blitz meaning potentially your catalogue could reach into the hundred/thousands. Pretty much all previous track packs and retail products are importable into the new title with the exception of Beatles and Rock Band 3. Sure it’s disappointing as the third title did sport an impressive number of great songs, but it’s hard to complain when you’re already swimming in songs from other games. Likewise the 25 tracks from Blitz will work in Rock Band 3 so if you’re simply looking for more songs to take over to the real Rock Band experience then the option is there.
Newcomers and veterans alike are bound to have a fast paced, frantic time as Harmonix manages to take the series in an exciting new direction. Rock Band Blitz offers an addictive slice of arcade fun and thanks to a several thousand strong back catalogue that spans a number of decades, genres and artists as well as a pretty decent online competitive social tool, Blitz often calls out for one more go.
8/10