I thought it was about time to wrap this up. I didn’t wanna fall into my usual trap of leaving things unfinished, so here goes…

Gaz and I had been playing Rock Band for quite some time when Activision announced the impending Guitar Hero: World Tour. Rock Band had set the new standard with the full compliment of instruments and it was pretty obvious Activision weren’t gonna take that lying down. So what do all big companies do when faced with a good competitor? They copy them of course.

Now this in itself is an understandable gesture. Harmonix once again showed them a gap in the market, as they’re unable to spot em themselves and they made a competitor. Competition is a healthy thing in this environment as it only inspires people like Harmonix to do something better. And they did, Rock Band 2. Harmonix had obviously gotten wind of Activision’s plot (if you can call it that) and used the time to make a beefed up, polished off , leaner, meaner competitor. The stage was set.

Guitar Hero: World Tour versus Rock Band 2

GH:WT came out before RB2 (them’s your abbreviations) and Gaz and I were umming and arring on whether or not to buy it. For a long time it wasn’t immediately clear whether the GH:WT instruments would be backwards compatible and the RB ones would be forwards compatible. We didn’t wanna shell out more cash (and it was quite a lot) for a set of new bits and bobs that wouldn’t work with all the other games. In a move of frankly mind boggling sensibility, a governing body whose name I have forgotten ruled that Activision and EA should play nice and make their peripherals cross compatible. Hurrah! This enabled us to gauge our options safe in the knowledge that whatever we used would work on everything else.

As good as RB1 was, the drums were very loud and my GH3 guitar was really quite small. Gaz and I were a bit flush at the time and decided to upgrade our weapons to the latest and greatest. This decision lead us to the full version of GH:WT with new drums, guitar and microphone. In spite of whatever I might think about GH:WT now, I will still stick by these controllers as they are fantastic. The guitar was solid and reliable, so much so that I still use it now. The drums were a lot quieter and a lot bulkier which is quite handy when you’re bashing the shit out of them on a regular basis.

So with the arrival of GH:WT we stopped playing RB1 for a bit. Mainly because the instruments were great and we’d played RB1 to death and back. The new songs in GH:WT were a breath of fresh air with a couple of inspired choices among a large contingent of indifference. We’d been playing it for a while and something just wasn’t right. The nature of the problem became clear when RB2 came out.

RB2 isn’t really RB2. It’s more like RB1.5. A toned, polished version of Rock Band designed to bring that little bit more to the table in the face of competition. It worked. To be playing Rock Band again was a joy. It was when playing Rock Band 2 that we saw just how far GH:WT missed the point. It highlighted the fundamental difference in the core purpose of the respective games. RB (1 and 2) were designed to be multiplayer first and catered for single player whereas GH:WT is the complete opposite.

Everything about Rock Band was designed be as inclusive as possible. When playing a song in Rock Band, band members have the ability to help other members through a song. Pulling everyone together, fostering a group experience, helping you to feel like a band. Overdrive was implemented in a group fashion as well. Sections of the song had synchronous overdrive sections where everyone would get more overdrive if you all completed a section perfectly together. When overdrive was used, it counted towards a band multiplier, again encouraging group play. You were a band.

GH:WT had none of that. If one person failed, you all failed. You had one joined Star power (overdrive) pool allowing people to be greedy. There was no co-operation. You were almost fighting against each other in what was supposed to be a co-operative experience. It completely missed the point. You weren’t a band, you were group of people forced to play together. Some people may suggest thats what most real bands are like, but it certainly wasn’t Activision’s intention when it was made. It showed they didn’t get it at all. It was a one player game.

The lack of true core differences between RB1 and RB2 made lead you to question what the point of RB2 was. But aside from the polishing and tweaking there was another thing Harmonix did which showed the difference in the ethos of the two franchises. They allowed you import the songs from RB1 into RB2. This immediately doubled the track list and showed a desire for you to enjoy it. They knew they weren’t making a completely new game, so they gave you enough to make it worth it.

When you take it out of the game mechanic itself, RB2 was still eons better. The tour mode from RB1 was improved with different gigs in different locations. Giving you sense of moving forward as a band, again breeding a feeling of co-operation, a proper multiplayer experience. GH:WT just had a list of songs and said, go on, play that and fuck off.

Rock Band 2 won this battle by a country mile. I still play it today as it was designed from the ground up to be a enjoyable group experience. GH:WT is a single player game with the trappings of a multiplayer game.

The Decision

This brings us pretty much up to the present and due to comparatively recent events I have come to a fork in the road. New versions of these games have come out since then and I’m fairly sure GH5 has addressed some of the problems I have highlighted above. I say fairly sure because I haven’t played it. After GH:WT I wasn’t that interested. The track list was forgettable and I wasn’t convinced they’d ever get it.

My apprehension was vindicated when news hit of a flurry complaints directed at GH5. Guitar Hero (since version 3) has placed an disproportionate amount of value in their rock star cameos and GH5 was no exception. During development they had secured the rights to include the late Kurt Cobain as a playable character in GH5. When the game launched it became apparent that you could use Kurt on any song on any instrument, effectively trampling over his memory. I thought this was a shame but no more than that. I didn’t expect any better from them thats for sure.

I thought this was isolated slip up until Activision released their new game Band Hero. A game designed to appeal to a broader spectrum of people with more poppy songs, fair enough, whatever. I wasn’t fussed until I saw they’d done it again, this time with the band No Doubt. Again I’m not overly fussed about No Doubt but it was the nature of Activision’s statement on the subject that hit me, I quote:

“Some of the world’s most popular and iconic artists have been featured in Guitar Hero as playable characters, and we are proud to count No Doubt among them. Activision has a written agreement to use No Doubt in Band Hero – an agreement signed by No Doubt after extensive negotiations with its representatives, who collectively have decades of experience in the entertainment industry. Pursuant to that agreement, Activision worked with No Doubt and the band’s management in developing Band Hero. As a result, Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit. Activision is exploring its own legal options with respect to No Doubt’s obligations under the agreement.”

This is a formally worded middle finger to anyone who values music beyond the almighty dollar. We’re doing what we want. Fuck you. I had intended to show a video illustrating this but Activision’s intervention has gone further to prove my point. A while ago I found a video clip of Band Hero showing Cobain and Johnny Cash (another legend fucked) being depicted singing YMCA. It truly shows how little Activision care about music. The fact they’ve had it pulled shows they care even less than that.

You may think I’m naive for thinking they should care. This is a valid point but I don’t expect them to care. I don’t expect anything from them, they’re twats. I only highlight this because I’ve seen how good it can be when they do care.

Harmonix had been working for some time on Beatles: Rock Band (BRB). I wasn’t a massive fan of the Beatles at the time but for a long time I’d meant to have a proper look at what they were like. I was stunned. BRB is something of true beauty.  Everything about it was made with a true understanding of the music. Building on the solid foundation of Rock Band and placed into the magical world of the Beatles, a world I didn’t know before I played it. Here is the best example I can find, funnily enough not removed from the web. Maybe they’re proud of it.

Look at it. The use of colour, the gorgeous animation, the song itself. It’s an unbridled joy, a triumph. This is better than anything in any Guitar Hero game and it will stay with me forever. It’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in a video game, it shows what games are truly capable of.

Beatles Rock Band is a game made with real warmth, charm and respect. Made with love. Harmonix should be applauded for making something like this and it leads me to the decision and the grand point of the last 3 blogs on this subject.

I am never buying another {insert name here} Hero game again.

I rarely make vitriolic statements like this but on this one I feel I should. This whole thing has showed me what can be achieved if we invest ourselves into what we make. Marvelous things can happen. If Harmonix can be bothered to respect the people they portray in their games, then I can be bothered to buy their games. Equally if Guitar Hero and it’s ilk can’t be bothered to respect those they portray, then why should I buy their games. It doesn’t take much and they don’t even want to do that for no other reason I can see than to not concede they made a mistake.

I might be wrong but Harmonix seem to make their music games with a heartfelt appreciation of their subject matter, Activision couldn’t give two shits, so fuck them.

I do wonder if I’ll extend this to anything released by Activision. Dolly steps I guess, I’ll be a fully principled human being one day.