I'm singing in the game
Rob: The vocals in Rock Band are certainly miles ahead of Guitar Hero. I like the way Rock Band's hard and expert difficulty settings enable you to sing an alternate melody to the one on the original track, and provided the new melody works with the backing music the game will award you points for it. This isn't perfect, but works often enough, and Harmonix gets points for trying.
Comparatively, Guitar Hero's vocals have the appearance of an afterthought. The game's ability to register when a player is and isn't singing is very hit and miss, and it wasn't long before I started to lose interest. The fact that vocals aren't offered in conjunction with the 'live' crowd performances – Guitar Hero's greatest strength – is pretty disappointing, too.
Playing as the vocalist also further highlights the issue of both games' limited track selection. If you're playing along with the guitar or drums it doesn't really matter whether you know a song or not, because as long as you follow the prompts you'll get by just fine. Vocals are a different matter entirely, and I struggled to find songs that I knew the melody and lyrics to – yes I know the lyrics are provided for you, but good luck getting them out in time when you've never heard a particular song before.
Nick: Definitely agree. I think the vocals component of the games showcase the other major difference between the franchises – that is, Rock Band is a party game, best enjoyed with a few mates (and perhaps a few beers), whereas Guitar Hero Live is all about letting you live out the dream of being a real-life rock 'n' roll guitarist.
While you can technically have two GH guitars paired up and playing together, it is a case of two people playing the exact same thing, rather than creating a cohesive band environment.
I'd love to see Activision push the Live element of Guitar Hero a bit further. I love the sense of being on stage with a real band... But that's not enough for me. I want to start a band, playing the dingy club scene, and then rise up to the massive festival circuit. I want to be able to mix things up, playing online with friends in the same band, where they see the stage from a different perspective.
But even more than that, I want to be able to play on stage with my favourite bands, working through their greatest hits. And I want to do it in virtual reality for a truly immersive experience.
I don't think any of those things are too much to ask for on their own, and if Activision can pull them off, then Guitar Hero has got my money. Rock Band, on the other hand, can keep doing what it's doing, but it really needs to slash the price of its instruments – When a game costs more than the console you play it on, you know something is wrong.
Stephen: It's true that Rock Band 4 has got a serious price problem, especially when Guitar Hero Live's (admittedly lacklustre) double guitar set is going for less than half the price of the full Rock Band 4 band kit.
Pricing aside, I can't help but swear allegiance to Rock Band, as it provides a truly polished and undeniably fun multiplayer experience – it doesn't reinvent the wheel in any way, but why should it? Harmonix has pretty much perfected the music rhythm game at this point.
While I admire the new concepts Guitar Hero has brought to the table with its next generation reboot, I don't feel that its gameplay is anywhere near as fun as it should be, especially when it comes to singing duties (my favourite bit).
