Back in Black: Guitar Hero Live vs. Rock Band 4

After a 5 year hiatus, 2015 is earmarked for the triumphant return of the rhythm action game… or that’s certainly what both Harmonix and Activision hope. This October, those of you that get a twisted pleasure from rocking out on plastic instruments (aka, all of us) will get to choose between Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live.

The battle between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises is long-running, but historically bore a striking resemblance to the console wars or Coke vs Pepsi; You have a favourite, the subtle differences helped make up your mind, but to an outside observer they are remarkably similar.

Well, not any more (for the music games at least) – Where once these two big-hitters were difficult to tell apart, in their upcoming iterations they are now set to be totally distinct experiences.

The problem is, we the gamer are left with some difficult questions.

The first and most obvious is; ‘Are we ready for new music games?’
There is no doubt that when the music genre hit the gaming scene it was AMAZING. Totally new and fresh, brill for parties and great for noobs and hardcore gamers alike. However, by the 7th iteration it was beginning to feel a bit like money for nothing. The inclusion of new instruments made a big difference, but still the fun of playing along to your fave tunes eventually started to fade.

So the first hurdle I think both companies are going to face is convincing people that they need this game back in their lives on the new generation of consoles. After all, a fair amount of people (myself included) still have the ability to dust off an Xbox 360 (or PS3) if they want to rock out. More than that, with backwards compatibility becoming a thing, it’s not impossible that we might be able to play the 360 versions on the One. So there has to be a pretty compelling reason to pick one of these up again.

The second question is Which one should I get?. In order to answer that question, we need to have a look at what we know about each game so far…

Guitar Hero Live

The new Guitar Hero is (from the looks of it at least) a lightyear ahead of where we left the franchise 5 years ago. Previously you played along to the multi-coloured scrolling tablature while your cell-shaded avatars performed in the background. In all honesty, if you were playing anything other than “I love Rock and Roll” on easy, you probably paid little or no attention to what was going on behind the scrolling fret as your brow furrowed with concentration on the dancing prompts.

Guitar Hero Live throws that model out the window like a TV from a hotel room. Now you are part of an actual band (and so far there are going to be 5 to choose from)…. as in, full, live, video-rendered actual people playing along with you. You take the first person perspective of the guitarist and experience all the concerts as if you were really there. Better yet, both the band and the crowd respond to your playing. Start dropping notes and suffer angry looks from the drummer (or someone that matters). Play like a God and get flashed by the hot brunette in the front row* (*please note, this almost DEFINITELY doesn’t actually happen).

There also is a second mode, called ‘Guitar Hero TV’, which lets you play along to famous music videos (in so far as the videos play in the background while you strum along). The idea seems to be trying to create a streaming service; GHTV is described as ‘a continuous broadcast of music videos’ in which hundreds of videos will be available at launch (spanning all different genres), and new videos continually added to the line-up. We are told that ‘turning on GHTV is similar to turning on your regular TV. Pick a channel and dive right in’. Don’t like what’s on? Just switch over to another channel and play a new song.

The actual style of play has been totally revamped, too. The 5-coloured frets are gone, and have been replaced with a more simple black/white button system. There is now a 3 by 2 button arrangement, with white at the bottom and black at the top of each of the three press-able frets. The idea seems to be that initially it’s far simpler to play than the old system, but as you ramp up the difficulty you have to start creating chord structures and shapes. If Activision are to be believed, the system makes the game… “easier for beginners and harder for experts”.

So far, sounds pretty awesome, so are there any negatives?

Well, I stand to be corrected, but from the (rather ambiguous) blurb on the website there seems to be a worrying focus on milking real cash monies out of the player along the way. Hopefully this is just my cynical misinterpretation, but it would be a bit of an eyebrow-raiser to see a lot of paywalls in a game that already wants you to invest in software and hardware. The first thing that piqued my concern was “You’ll earn in-game currency in GHTV that you can use to play songs on demand or to acquire a ton of different items in the game like custom note highways, player cards and more”. Bare in mind that this is part of the ‘channel-hopping’.

In GHTV you seem to be stuck playing whatever song is currently being broadcast unless you ‘pay’ for a song on demand. Is that an unlock to permanently choose that song? I am not convinced. To me ‘on demand’ carries a worrying suggestion that you have to pay every time you want to play that video. I know I know, it clearly says ‘in-game currency’. But are you telling me a series that has thrived on selling individual songs as DLC won’t provide the option of buy in game credit with real world Debit?

Well I can tell you why I think that real money will be a focus in this game… the ‘Premium Content’ is why; “Premium Shows include anything from new music videos in GHTV to live concert footage that you can play along to. Get access to this content by levelling up and completing challenges, or use real currency to play instantly.”.

So yeah. Guitar Hero Live is definitely looking to be ‘the gift that keeps on giving’ for Activision. Is that a bad thing? It seems like spending real money is only one option, and there should be plenty of content to keep us happy, even without it. I will keep a watchful eye on this aspect but for now, pencil me ‘curious, but not concerned’.

So, any other negatives with the new GH title? Well it’s a totally fresh take on the genre, and a new way to play. As a result, all the DLC you purchased since 2005 will stay out of reach. No old songs can be ported to this new title, as they simply wouldn’t work with it. Likewise, that huge collection of plastic instruments in your loft are destined to remain the sole playthings of spiders and that weird ghost that closes doors upstairs when you’re in on your own.

Only new instruments with the new button layout will be compatible with Guitar Hero Live. To be honest, that makes sense, and is the price of getting a totally new system of play instead of ‘more of the same’. Still it’s sure to bother one or two veterans.

The only other big surprise is the decision for Guitar Hero to ‘go back to its roots’… and by that I mean forget about drums and singing. If you want to get involved with your favourite ‘choon’, your choices are guitar, guitar or…. guitar. When you consider how much time and effort must have gone into rendering all the video necessary it’s no surprise that Activision have been limited to simulating one role.

Rock Band 4

So what about the new Rock band? Is this another totally new angle that will revitalise the genre? …No.

Especially when compared to Guitar Hero Live, Rock Band 4 is initially looks decidedly reactionary. The play system is almost identical to the old games, with those 5 colours wandering down the play lanes as your personalised cartoon band members bop along to the tune of your choice. In fact the only major difference will be the updated graphics and playlists.

There is also a new play feature called ‘freestyle mode’. This is designed to basically let you periodically trigger a mode in which you can play whatever the hell you want and it will still count as accurate as long as its in time with the song. I’m assuming this is pretty similar to the old ‘drum breaks’ you could do on the previous games.

Obviously there will be new instruments available, and many will be pleased to hear that these still range from Lead and Bass guitar through to Drums and Mic.

So what is the big selling point of Rock Band 4 beyond the wider array of instruments? One word – LEGACY.

Harmonix have made it clear that every penny you’ve previously spent on their games will continue to provide value on the next generation. All previously purchased Rock Band DLC will be supported and will port straight over to the new game via your account.

Even better, Harmonix are releasing a ‘legacy adaptor’ (aka fancy USB hub). This will let you dust off your vast collection of old Rock Band instruments and justify to your wife/girlfriend/mum why you’ve kept them for the last five years ‘just in case’.

Parting Shots

So what do you think? Are you done with the plastic guitars, or are you excited to get another chance to rock out with your… err… socks out?

I have to say, the Guitar Hero Live videos look amazing. The first time I saw the demonstration of playing “Gold on the Ceiling” to a reactive stadium crowd, I actually got goose bumps. I think the fresh take could be spectacular and take the experience to the next level. It also makes me wonder what Oculus/hololens might be able to add. The option for music videos, to me at least, also present a far more interesting backdrop than a cartoon band… but that’s down to personal taste.

Having said that, now I’ve started to look into it, I do have mild concerns about how much it will cost to get the full GHL experience. I also wonder if in practice the use of video footage (or FMV as we called it in the 90’s) will actually prove as awesome as they’ve made it look, or whether it will actually be very limited. Will we be seeing the same clips and reactions over and over again? Will it get old fast? After all, MegaCD games (both of them) weren’t exactly known for their spontaneous and varied gameplay.

For me, Rock Band 4 was very much the trailing horse when both of these were originally announced. However, the ability to use all my old content and all my old instruments –as well as just getting to play drums – has now made me think this could well be the direction I go come October…

I’d love to hear what the rest of you think though.

^HooksaN (@Hooksan)