LEGO Rock Band (360) on Raptr

chancy319 reviewed LEGO Rock Band.

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  4
  

  I'm still not sure who LEGO Rock Band is for. I'm sure there's somebody out there that owns Rock Band 2, but doesn't want to admit he listens to metal songs, and has a couple kids that refuse to play anything without cartoony characters, and a mother in law who is so bad at rhythm games she needs th more »em to practically play themselves. Plus this guy likes to spend full price for half a game. Lego Rock Band is perfect for you, dude. Trying to tell you whether or not you should buy this game is complicated. Honestly it might require an extensive flowchart. I can tell you right off the bat that you should not get the Wii version. It has the fewest features (in a game that already took out a bunch of features). The lack of DLC support severely limits the replayability. To top if off, it looks like crap, too. It's a shame because the Wii version of Rock Band 2 is by far the most popular. You guys got boned on this. For the rest of you, here are the things to keep in mind: You need to already have instruments to play. You either need to be willing to play the same songs over and over, or be willing to drop more money on DLC. You have to like LEGO enough where it actually makes the game significantly more appealing so you can ignore all the features that were taken out. Or, if all else fails you just need to like the songs enough to be willing to drop $60 ($50 for the game, plus $10 for the export fee) for a track pack. And ultimately that's how this game should be looked at for most people. It's a kind of pricey track pack of a bizarre setlist for a really fun rhythm game. « less

LoadingReality reviewed LEGO Rock Band.

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  3
  

  If there’s one genre in the industry that is being milked for everything it’s got, it has to be music games. The plethora of choices to fulfill your plastic peripheral needs is staggering on a level music lovers have never seen before. Music games have been fully embraced by the youth of this de more »cade and developers are now finding ways to get everyone else in on the action. While games like Guitar Hero: Metallica and The Beatles: Rock Band are pulling the older generation into the mix, one key group is being forgotten: the children. What about em’? They have their action figure and Barbie dolls. They don’t need no stinkin’ video games rotting their brains! Especially one focused around ‘devil’ music! They could be doing something productive with their minds; like playing with LEGOs! Wait a minute! What if we brought the imaginative world of LEGO into the ever-growing video game music genre, and made all the music in the game ‘family-friendly’? Considering the astounding success of LEGO branded games, LEGO Rock Band seems like a no-brainer, but with music games being flipped out like hot cakes, it’s hard to stand out amongst the masses. This also begs the question, has the music game genre gone In Too Deep with no hope of innovation? LEGO Rock Band proves to be a small step in the right direction. To be honest, there aren’t many ‘family’ games on the market right now; at least any that are really worth mentioning. The only one I can think of that is any good is Boom Blox, so it’s nice to see one of my most trusted developers delve into an area where most others would stray. Being politically correct in today’s world is not any easy task and it’s hard to find anyone willing to try. Especially when everyone else is trying to push the envelope and come up with the next “WTF?!” moment. Harmonix’s ability to thread the needle and walk the fine line between over the top and too kiddish is in one word, brilliant. The quirkiness of LEGO’s humor is mixed so delicately with the edgy art of Rock Band, and neither of their individual charms is lost in the unlikely merging. In short, the presentation is second to none. Graphics maintain the sepia-toned, grainy look of Rock Band and incorporate the glossy fluidity of LEGO characters; However, the overall color scheme is of a darker hue and much more vibrant than past Rock Band or LEGO games. Because of this change though, gameplay suffers somewhat. The notes (colored-lego bricks) have become darker and the highway has a more transparent look to it. This makes it easy to get lost on tricky parts and even easier when hammer-on’s and pull-off’s show up. There is a definite learning curve, even for veterans. Frame-rate is steady and unflinching, albeit a bit slower than usual during gameplay. Background animations are fantastic as always, even though the drummer is completely off-time one hundred percent of the time. After a few play throughs, however, animations will start repeating fairly frequently. Loading times is an issue that has never been a problem with past Rock Band titles, but has become an annoyance in this iteration. If there is any transition to be had, expect to have a decent load time. Customization has been expanded and retuned. Everything from the manager you hire to the ‘rock den’ you dwell in can be customized to fit your bands image. By playing well at gigs you can earn gear to deck out your pad and ornaments to throw on stage while you’re jamming. The aesthetics have been refined, but at the same time down tuned. While there are more things to customize than ever, the ways in which you can modify them are severely limited. Character creation is pathetically uninspired when you consider all the doors that open when you bring Lego into the mix. Instrument choices have been reduced. Creating art and adding art have been scrapped for pre-set logos. While all of the new features are welcome additions, and hopefully here to stay it would be nice to add to the formula without removing some of the best ingredients. Another missing element is the addition of online multiplayer. The Music Store is the only feature that carries over out of all online abilities. Even though this oversight is one that is very disappointing, I can sympathize with their decision to scrap it. Trying to create a family experience is probably much easier when not having to deal with the filth that can be encountered through online play. Now, one could make the argument that that kind of audience won’t be caught dead playing a game like LEGO Rock Band, but Harmonix isn’t taking any chances. It’s not all so bad. The game costs ten dollars less most likely because of its exclusion, but if you’re looking to play these songs online, you’re going to have to fork over an extra ten bucks to export it. That rounds up to a total of sixty dollars, and one can assume that by purchasing LEGO Rock Band (the first game in the series to not include peripherals) you have played the series before. The game play fans have come to know and love is still intact with a few bursts of fresh ideas. To create a ‘family’ experience, Harmonix has incorporated a couple of game play switches one can turn on if a ‘newbie’ shows up. In an effort to appeal to the masses, an aptly titled Super Easy mode has been added requiring players to hit any button on the guitar, or drums on time. For those of you who say the only reason you can’t play expert drums is because of the bass pedal, an option has been added to automatically take care of that little nuisance. Sound production is as fantastic as it has ever been, and note charting is an art that the people of Harmonix have perfected. Although though the average difficulty of all the songs is far easier than usual (just look at “We Will Rock You”), it’s all about how you play it. Tour mode has been made into a story of sorts (think along the lines of Guitar Hero), although the premise is still very much the same. Start a band. Rock the world. Only this time with hilarious cutscenes of you and your entourage as they progress through their career, traveling across the venues by van, speedboat, jet, and even submarine. These intermissions often come at points to further progress the story along or to introduce a Rock Band Challenge. Rock Band Challenges are by far the best part about this game. As we all know, every band runs into problems while they’re touring. However, I’m sure no band has ever had to deal with a ravaging T-rex or a man-eating octopus. These, along with several other inane crises, are encountered by your band and are the bases behind Rock Band Challenges. Each challenge is based upon a specific song, usually tailoring to the objective (trying to help a farmer’s crops grow by rain dancing to Boys Like Girls, “Thunder”). During the song, if you’re playing with a few others (which you should be), each player will be given several solos allowing them to take center stage and steal the spotlight while the others enjoy the action in the back ground (unless you’re singing, in which you will always be busy). As the song comes to a close, the entire band reunites to complete the challenge in a glorious montage of explosions and sounds. Every instance is beautifully rendered and always entertaining. At least for a while, music will solve all of your problems. The rest of tour mode is compiled of ‘building’ and ‘surprise’ set lists. These can grow very tiresome very fast and the only way to help with the monotony is to have a fairly large amount of downloadable songs. Even still, some downloadable songs are not compatible because of their content rating. I guess this is to keep the ‘inappropriate’ songs off of the game, but tell me why “Gone” by Montgomery Gentry gets axed, and “Who’s Going Home With You Tonight?” by Trapt slips through the system? Not only that, but some songs are included in the downloadable list, but cannot be played, such as “Fat Bottomed Girls” by Queen. It’s on the download list when choosing songs, but it cannot be played. All I’m saying is either include all of the downloadable songs, or none at all. It’s up to the user to download the “appropriate” songs. While a set list of 45 songs might seem sparse, being one of the most off-the-wall music selections ever heard, compensates for it. Having the title of ‘family game’ has heavily influenced the variety of music, but not in the way one would think. The eclectic choice of songs insures that there’s definitely something for everyone, but you’d think they would pick songs that are mostly ‘family friendly’ considering how they handled downloadable songs. Choices such as “Suddenly I See” and “Naive” make me think that they weren’t caring about their lyrical content as much as they were trying to appeal to all age groups. Not that this is a big issue by any means, it just seems that a family game would stray away from ‘questionable’ songs. Instead, selections have been made so no one in the family feels left out. There’s something here for the kids and the parents. In that sense, this is indeed a family game. Bottom Line When it comes right down to it, LEGO Rock Band is a sign of better things to come and is a true music experience the whole family can enjoy, not matter the age. Inclusions such as Rock Band Challenges and the ability to hire multiple staff members are features that should stay. Also, after completing a song in a setlist with multiple players, your individual note streak is shown for every song instead of just the one song at the end of a setlist. High scores as well as star count for each song are shown before playing them so you know what standard must be beat. Rock Band, as a platform, is expanding in many innovative and imaginative ways. LEGO Rock Band is an obvious building block meant to experiment with a few new ideas. My belief in this genre has been cemented because of LEGO Rock Band and I can’t wait to see what Harmonix and MTV Games build next. http://www.loadingreality.com « less

TheLonging really liked LEGO Rock Band.

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  5
  

  Lego Rock Band is just basically Rock Band with legos, and it's more family-friendly, so all the songs are easier. That being said, the soundtrack is very well-thought out and every song has at least one fun instrument. As an added bonus, David Bowie, Blur, Iggy Pop, and Queen are in it too, making more »it all the more better. The only downside is no online play, and because of it's more friendly nature, not all DLC songs are compatible with L:RB. But for a new game, at $50, it's cheap, and even if you rent it, you should still have fun with this one, especially if you liked the other RB games. « less

Yuugi really liked LEGO Rock Band.

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  5
  

  An excellent fun game that's a blast to play. Awesome songs, fantastic gameplay. Who would've thought Lego and Rockband would be so much fun together?

Luige11 was the first on Raptr to review LEGO Rock Band!

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  3
  

  Really?