So I’ve been playing around with Rock Band 3 for awhile now. (I reviewed it on Monday of last week.) For whatever reason, this has been the most that I’ve played with one of the Rock Band games by myself in a long time. (They still get a lot of exercise at parties or anytime you have a few people over. As soon as the party really gets going, somebody spots the drum kit shoved over in the corner and wants to play, and sooner or later, everybody gets sucked in.)
Archive for the ‘Video Games’ Category
More RB3
Friday, April 29th, 2011Review: Rock Band 3
Monday, April 18th, 2011I just got a copy of Rock Band 3 a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to play it for awhile before I reviewed it though, which is why I haven’t posted this before now.
Bladder of Steel – I did it!
Monday, November 8th, 2010So, I decided to try for a couple of Achievements in Rock Band 2 yesterday–the ‘Vinyl Artist’, for getting through the entire Endless Setlist on Medium, and the ‘Bladder of Steel Award’, for not pausing the game while playing the Endless Setlist.
Bon Jovi Greatest Hits for Rock Band 3
Friday, October 8th, 2010Harmonix confirmed that there’s going to be a Bon Jovi Greatest Hits track pack for Rock Band.
Rock Band 3 Songs Announced
Monday, August 30th, 2010…and there’s no Bon Jovi. The complete official list is available from rockband.com.
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Rock Band: Bon Jovi?
Friday, June 11th, 2010It’s been confirmed that Rock Band 3 will include keyboards. Cnet’s article on the game has a picture of what the new controller will look like. (Honestly, while I might get the game, I don’t see myself shelling out more money for this particular controller. It’s not like anyone that I know is ever lining up to play with the drums when we get the game out.)
But, here’s my question: does this open the way for a Bon Jovi edition of Rock Band?
Think about it. Dave’s keys are a defining part of the Bon Jovi sound. This development would open the way for a true Bon Jovi experience in the gameplay–and would open the way for including ‘Dry County as a playable song. (My arm hurts just thinking about it.)
Up till now, the number of Bon Jovi songs available for Rock Band/2/Lego has been very limited. So far, all we’ve got are the songs that come with the discs, leaving us gamers with nothing more than the Big Three from Slippery When Wet. We’ve been arguing for a Bon Jovi DLC pack since the release of the first Rock Band, but haven’t got it so far.
At this point, with Harmonix and Activision cranking out Guitar Hero and Rock Band games for every band in the world, there’s got to be room for a Bon Jovi one. They’ve got the back catalog–and enough backstory–to fill up a game on their own.
Skill Atrophy
Friday, April 16th, 2010I haven’t really been playing any of the rhythm games, like Guitar Hero or Rock Band for quite some time. Been too busy playing stuff like the Ghostbusters game, Brutal Legend, and Bioshock lately.
But the other night, I just wanted a quick game to kill some time, and I didn’t feel like playing a battle against the AI in Brutal Legend. (That had been one of my go-to time wasters for awhile, but that lost appeal pretty fast.) So I put the first Rock Band in the Xbox for the first time in probably four or five months.
I, of course, assumed that I could pick up right where I left off and tried to play ‘Number of the Beast’ on Hard right away, and promptly failed out. Ultimately I came to the realization that I really do need to work my way back up to Hard, especially since hand-to-eye coordination isn’t really a natural skill of mine. And at the rate I’ve been going with getting distracted by other games, I probably won’t ever make it through all of the songs on Hard.
What’s really funny about the whole thing is that I can still do ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ perfectly on Expert without a problem, but then again, practice does count for something.
Still playing Brutal Legend
Friday, March 5th, 2010I already posted when I finished the main story arc in Brutal Legend. Usually with adventure games like this one, that’s where I stop. Yes, there are usually still side missions left in many of the games that I’ve stopped playing, but for the most part it’s the main quest that I’m playing for.
Plus, I’ve been meaning to start Bioshock. I know, I’m way behind the times, but it was the release of Bioshock 2 that reminded me that I had wanted to play the original. And I still do want to play through that game, because everyone I know who has played it has nothing but positive things to say about it.
So why am I still playing Brutal Legend? Well, there are still a lot of side missions left; I’ve been mopping those up and collecting the rest of the solos, legends and landmarks. Like most Xbox 360 owners, I have to admit to having an addiction to that little ‘plink’ noise that the achievements make when they come up, and there are still plenty of achievements in Brutal Legend that I haven’t collected, and a fair number of them aren’t that hard to get. Just a lot of trundling around the map and finding stuff.
Ultimately, the answer boils down to one thing: escapism. Brutal Legend doesn’t pretend to be anything profound. It’s just fun. And a lot of the remaining items that I’m hunting for are stuff like the Legends and the Landmarks. If you’ve been reading the blog, you know I have a fascination with album cover art, especially from heavy metal albums. This game just lets me wander around through a heavy metal world. It’s fun.
I suspect that’s why I’ve been putting off playing through Bioshock. Because while that game promises a bit more substance than Brutal Legend, it’s also going to be a lot heavier. And that’s something that I’m a whole lot less likely to want to face when I come home from work in the evening.
Back up and running
Friday, January 15th, 2010I got my Xbox back from Microsoft yesterday–fully repaired and ready to go. Now that I have my game system up and running again, I’ll post more about Brutal Legend.
I have to say that I’m fairly impressed with Microsoft’s service during the whole repair process. Requesting a repair was easy enough and they got the system turned around pretty quickly. I wasn’t expecting to get it back for another week or so yet.
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