With nothing more than a pair of thumbs for drumsticks and two thumbnails as guitar picks,
Rock Band strikes up 20 tunes in this touch-enabled iPhone adaptation of the console hit. Guitar, bass, drums, vocals - they're all here and we've played them all in our first look.
Rock Band takes the core gameplay of the console series and strips away the peripherals, letting you play any of four instruments with taps of your touchscreen.
Guitar, bass, and drums are handled as expected: you tap coloured pads along the bottom of the screen as notes stream downward. Fill up the 'overdrive' gauge by nailing glowing notes and you can then activate it for extra points by quickly tilting your handset.
The decision to limit the note tracks to four instead of the console's five comes as a result of limited screen space and desire to make the game more accessible. As it is now, space is tight when manoeuvring your two thumbs across the width of the screen. Adding a fifth track would crowd things.
Having four tracks does make the game easier, yet we still found it challenging on the toughest setting. There seems to be a big jump in difficulty from Medium to Hard, with the note choreography on Hard featuring noticeably more complex patterns than those in Medium.
Most of the tracks are a breeze on Medium, but coughing up 3-, 4-star performances on Hard took a lot more work.
Vocals differ from the other instruments, though not in the way you would expect. Green notes representing lyrics zip from right to left horizontally across the screen - hitting them is a matter of tapping buttons situated along the left.
It's a lame setup. It does little to convey the sensation of actually singing, instead artificially distinguishing vocals from the other instruments by turning the note tracks at a 90-degree angle.
We would have liked to see some utilisation of the microphone or headset for singing or at least humming, though the current note track scheme is a disappointing consolation.
Fortunately, it's not enough to get
Rock Band off the beat because hits all the right notes when it comes to other features like a well-structured single player game, the promise of downloadable tracks, and multiplayer modes.
In fact, the game promises to go well beyond expectations in these regards, so the disappointing vocal setup may ultimately have only a minor impact on the game as a whole.
World Tour, which includes both Quick Play and Solo Tour modes, serves as your single player hub, a backstage of sorts where you can play one-off songs or tackle entire sets in five different venues.
In Solo Tour, earning stars on each of four song in the five cities grants access to new tunes and venues. Even better, achievements chronicle your highlights like a
Rolling Stones reporter.
What really has our ear are Bluetooth and online multiplayer modes. Delivering full band play, you and three buddies can link up locally via Bluetooth or through Facebook for jam sessions. Online cooperative multiplayer is unavailable in any other iPhone and iPod touch music game, instantly propelling
Rock Band to star status. Curiously, competitive play is missing.
Replay value is extended further with the prospect of downloadable tracks. EA intends to release
Rock Band with 20 songs (for the complete core soundtrack, check out the announcement) and provide additional tracks from within the game at an undisclosed cost.
How these optional tracks are priced will be important given pressure from other music games such as
Tap Tap Revenge 3.
Aside from what looks to become a vocals snafu,
Rock Band's iPhone tour promises to open strong. Cooperative multiplayer gives it an edge, as does solid note track choreography that should dish out some challenging jam sessions. Expect to strike up the
Rock Band later this month.
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