Tag: Rhythm

‘Guitar Hero Live’ Announced, Coming This Fall!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: We were all pretty excited last month when Harmonix officially announced Rock Band 4, and today Activision followed suit with another entry into the Guitar Hero series called Guitar Hero Live.

And with that, the over-saturation of games and plastic must-buy-to-play controllers that led to the death of the music game industry just a few years back, is all of a sudden relevant again.

At least this time around, the games do look vastly different, with Guitar Hero Live focusing on an actual concert experience with real crowds and real reactions (as well as GHTV, which sounds interesting), while Rock Band 4 looks to bring back the classic game that we all loved, but with the tons and tons of tracks that we’ve all purchased over the years.

In any case, with both games launching this year, it’ll be very interesting to see the rhythm game war begin all over again. Are you more of a Guitar Hero or Rock Band fan? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.

https://youtu.be/6SnIZgESm4c

Harmonix Officially Announces ‘Rock Band 4’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Remember those recent rumours that Rock Band was set to make a come back? Well, turns out they were true, and it’s not even very far away.

Yep. Rock Band 4 has officially been announced for Xbox One and PS4, and it’s coming THIS year, and Harmonix says that it will support ALL of the Rock Band DLC that you’ve already bought. That’s pretty freaking cool.

A new Rock Band, of course, means some new hardware, and Mad Catz has revealed “a Rock Band 4 Band In A Box™ bundle, which includes a copy of the game, a new Wireless Fender™ Stratocaster™ Guitar Controller, a new Wireless Drum Kit and a Microphone!” There’ll also be a “Guitar Controller Bundle which includes a copy of the game and a Wireless Fender Stratocaster Guitar Controller.”

Harmonix Chief Executive Officer Steve Janiak says that “With Rock Band 4, we’re doubling down on the energy and excitement of playing music live with your friends. Focusing on the core experience that our fans have told us they love allows us to evolve established gameplay in meaningful ways that we can’t wait to share with everyone later this year.”

Harmonix notes that “Hundreds of tracks will be available at launch, with more back catalog music – and new tracks – to be added regularly after launch.”

Between this and Amplitude, could the once-venerable rhythm genre be making a comeback? Hopefully the over-saturation that lead to the genre’s demise just a few years back can be avoided this time.

Will you be picking up Rock Band 4 when it announces later this year? Sound out below!

Geekscape Games Geek Peek Review: ‘Retro/Grade’

by MoreLikeAndy

Retro/Grade ends up winning the award for “I didn’t know that was possible.” It actually had me thinking back to an old episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Will Smith had the idea for a book called ‘Celebrity Houses…At Night!” Both ideas are insane and shouldn’t work at all. Somehow, the folks over at 24 Caret Games managed to mash together a shoot-em-up and a rhythm game and have it actually work better than I expected.

 

Retro/Grade has you jump in the role of Rick Rocket who has to restore the space-time continuum before the whole universe is destroyed by the temporal anomaly. The only way you can restore the balance is to play in reverse. Essentially, you are undoing everything that was already played out before you take control. The rhythm part of the equation comes into play in that you have to time your button presses to your shots that are collected as you go in reverse. While doing this, you need to avoid the enemies attacks that appear behind as well as in front of you at times.

Using a crazy neon color scheme, it can be hard to keep track of everything, especially the higher you go in the six difficulty levels. I had a hard time in pro mode due to the colors blending in with the things I was suppose to avoid thus losing track of the shots I was suppose to collect. I didn’t have a PS3 guitar controller to test out but with dexterity and speed you need in order to go back and forth on the note lines reminded me how bad my reaction times are lately. The electro-pop music is charming and I was never in full head-bobbing motion while trying to keep my multiplier up, although I could just use my limited meter to reverse time and correct my screw-ups.

The only thing wrong with this elaborate mix-up of game genres is that there is not enough to keep you engaged past the ten campaign levels. There’s a challenge mode but that just rehashes the same levels with a specific objective for you to do. Even the music seems to sound the same after awhile. Taking a chance seemed to payoff for 24 Caret Games in creating Retro/Grade, it just left me wanting more of its goodness.