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I don’t really feel like doing a huge write-up on a game that is already being heralded so greatly by the mainstream critics. Go buy it… if you can find it.

Pros: Great songlist including the Harmonix bonus bands, good portion of DLC already available, Band World Tour (BWT), best multiplayer ever, fairly deep avatar customization, gameplay eclipses high bars set by GH1/2 by making the game feel even more musical, great learning curve on drums, excellent online features, peripherals were sturdy and the game was very stable.

Cons: BWT someone cycles the same songs too many times until you get lots of songs unlocked, Single player can feel like a grind while trying to unlock said songs, and lots of time doing other important things will be spent playing this game.

Score: 9.9/10

Quite possibly the best game ever created, although I think buying just the game for the guitar part would be a huge mistake.

An update that I didn’t post was that I bought Guitar Hero 3 (w/ Les Paul) and am having a blast with it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I like it more than Guitar Hero 2. Guitar Hero 3’s biggest problem is in its lack of required precision. The timing window in Guitar Hero 1 and 2 were pretty large by most music/rhythm game standards, and Guitar Hero 3 has thrown that out and made the timing window so large a whale could fit through it. Guitar Hero 2 already made the system pretty easy with the completely revamped HO/PO system. Now you can flail like Kerry King and still get great scores. In my opinion, it is the one thing that truly kept it from greatness. There is a ‘precision mode’ but why would anyone want to use that when it is easier to stay competitive without it? I give Guitar Hero 3 an 8.8/10, which is a LOT higher than I expected to give it after reading previews. Oh, and battle mode is a fucking joke.

I guess I should first admit that I’m biased towards Rock Band. The sheer rockitude of having 4 people hook up to play the same song together is incredible. It is a feeling totally unlike anything that Guitar Hero could ever provide. The sad thing is that Rock Band will never be about individual competition. I think very few people will try to compete on a solo instrument versus instrument level. The game is just simply not designed to be all about individual performances, but finding 3 other people that can tear it up is hard. That is where practice comes in and the feeling of being in a real band. Practice at home, rehearse on Fridays with tons of beer. Figure out who the weakest link is and if you’re playing for score, find someone new if it isn’t a close friend. Even if it is just pretending to be in a band, it still has creativity required. Not many groups will be able to play Expert on all 4 instruments. Do you let your weakest player play on Medium while everyone else plays Hard/Expert? What about the best player? Should you let him do Hard vocals because everyone else is tone deaf? What set up allows everyone to enjoy what they’re doing without getting bored? Do you switch instruments between songs? There are tons of questions you have to ask yourself. There are 256 different combinations of difficulties with 4 players, and if you count the fact that there are also 1, 2 and 3 player bands there are 340 different combinations. Lots of options…

Both games have their place in the market, but I think Activision needs to think hard about why people love Guitar Hero. It is a competitive and challenging game, and with a more casual and admittedly more fun game like Rock Band coming out they need to push the envelope in more than one direction. They probably have about one more year to use the brand name to push the product before Rock Band becomes the new household name. I’ll make sure to give my “score” for Rock Band when I get a chance. Should be around November 26th or 27th after I’ve had lots of time to spend with it both single player and multiplayer.

I’ve received an advance copy of the new Foo Fighters album ‘Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace’, so I thought I’d do a little write-up.

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BioShock is a FPS/RPG hybrid that takes place in an underwater dystopia, formerly a utopia, called Rapture. The city was designed perfectly for the game, and feels like a living and breathing place with its own history around every corner. If you want more history on the game, go read it elsewhere. In my opinion, the story is best to experience for yourself. Don’t spoil it.

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