Monday 14 January, 2008

Summary: After witnessing someone play guitar hero 2 earlier today, I felt it paramount to hit the streets and find somebody who owned the newest installment in the rhythm series: Rock Band. After playing the game for some three hours I must give it my highest praise. Those who have played the guitar hero games will recognize the mechanics and style of play as being very similar. Rock Band is a rhythm game in which the player controls a musician performing on stage in front of a video crowd. There is a track list of songs to choose from that are primarily popular rock songs, well known for most players. This makes it easier to recognize the rhythms for those players who are NOT actually musicians because they are already familiar with the songs. The best part of this game and its true genious rests in its recognition that every struggling musician and musical enthusiast dreams of being a Rock Star. Now with the instrument shaped plastic controller one can get closer than ever before (without practicing). The object of the game is to use your either your plastic guitar-shaped controler, plastic drum set, or microphone and hit as many notes as possible in time with the song. The notes appear scrolling down the fret-board backdrop of a guitar. The notes are color-assigned to the traditional X,A,B,Y buttons on a controller and appear simply as colors the player must hold down for a designated amount of time. One progresses through the game by becoming more and more proficient with the songs, which add more notes and varying rhythms to the scroll bar as one increases the difficulty from beginner to expert. The objective is to "beat" every song in the game with as high of a score as possible on every instrument. The game is designed to be compatable for group play however and most players are simply more concerned with "passing" the song by hitting an acceptable number of notes with their friends. The group-play options for this game are fantastic as it caters to a room full of people who are invested in playing the game rather than critiquing someone else's ability to play the game, as in the guitar hero series.
GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE: My emotional state while playing the game went through a few progressions. At first I was somewhat overwhelmed by the controllers and got frusturated with my inability to play the songs and the jeering boos of the video crowd. My frustration made me initially want to quit the game, but instead I just switched over to another instrument. The guitar controller was somewhat confusing to me (as a guitar player) but rhythmically made more sense. I started becomming obsessively interested in the game and how well I could play the solos. I began by sitting down and eventually was standing up and rocking out in front of the screen while playing. As time progressed, I did not get bored of the game, so much as my fingers began to hurt (felt like carpal tunnel syndrome) and I stopped playing feeling resentful for wasting so much time video playing instead of just actually learning the songs on guitar which would have taken a comporable amount of time. The player feels attachment to the character's success because of how personal the controller makes the player feel as a musician. This is a testament for the game's ability to draw the player into the game and make them feel as if they are really performing. The failure always feels personal.
The controller design is the most seductive part of the gaming experience. The narrative progression is pretty good. You begin with zero fans and one gig to play. Over time you gain more recognition which leads to larger venues and more fans. This is important to the player because it allows them to buy roadies, audio guys, jets, etc. needed to travel the world and rock international venues. This option of forming a "band" with friends and advancing through the game together establishes good comradery. The narrative is good, but one never really worries about beating the game with their avatar because of the interactive multiplayer features which allow one to play it forever with friends. The gameplay is sensational and the design of the game factors in a significant amount of hand-eye coordination skills to pass the harder levels. It is skill and not luck that get you through the levels. The game had great flow to it because it allows each player to set an individual difficulty. Beginners can co-exist with experts on the same level, which is rare in most multi-player games and makes this one truly memorable. The social interactions are mostly positive as everyone is trying together to pass, but someone will make fun of another playing for muddying up the rhythms too badly. A MUST PLAY FOR ALL, TRY TO FIND SOMEONE WHO HAS IT!!!!

This is a good start, but I don't see your entry for the second part of the gamelog anywhere. I like your discussion of the gameplay experience.

In the future, please separate this out into paragraphs with one empty line between each paragraph. It makes it much easier on the eyes!

-Gillian Smith (TA)