So I bought Lego Rock Band because I am Harmonix's bitch and will buy anything with "Rock Band" slapped on it. And it's pretty fun. I like the whole style of the game and I mean, it's more Rock Band, so that's always fun.
Few things though. I got the Wii version of the game and it's totally gimped. The Wii version doesn't support DLC, Online or song exporting to Rock Band 2. DLC and Online were in Rock Band 2 for the Wii and they work great. Rock Band 2's online has worked better for me than any other Online game for Wii. So why would they not add these to Lego Rock Band? It's not like the Wii can't handle it or anything. It boggles the mind.
The graphics for the Wii aren't that great. They're not as bad as every one says, but they're not great either. A lot of it looks bad, mostly background stuff. And it goes back to the blurry vision that Rock Band 1 for the Wii had. Again, makes no sense since Rock Band 2 looked fine.
But to me, the biggest problem with the game is how repetitive the tour mode gets. The game only has 45 on disk songs and since the Wii version doesn't support DLC, you're going to be playing these same songs a lot. There's so much stuff to do in Tour and that's awesome, I love it. But it's not quite as fun to play the same songs over and over and over. "Accidently In Love" by Counting Crows is a fantastic song but playing it two challenges in a row is not so fantastic. This problem could have all been avoided if my DLC for Rock Band 2 just fucking worked on Lego Rock Band. I mean, damn.
Also, one more thing. I wonder, who was this games target market? Obviously kids would be the most likely to buy it. I mean, Legos are for kids. Kids will buy it. It'll likely sell the best for Wii. But if kids are the target market, why does the set list look like this?
1960's (2)
"Fire" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Classic Rock, 1967)
"I Want You Back" - Jackson 5 (Pop-Rock, 1969)
1970's (6)
"Crocodile Rock" - Elton John (Glam, 1973)
"Kung Fu Fighting" - Carl Douglas (Funk, 1974)
"Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (Glam, 1975)
"Ride A White Swan" - T. Rex (Glam, 1970)
"The Passenger" - Iggy Pop (Classic Rock, 1977)
"We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" - Queen (Classic Rock, 1977)
1980's (9)
"Crash" - The Primitives (Indie Rock, 1988)
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" - The Police (New Wave, 1981)
"Free Fallin'" - Tom Petty (Classic Rock, 1989)
"Ghostbusters" - Ray Parker, Jr. (Pop-Rock, 1984)
"Let's Dance" - David Bowie (Pop-Rock, 1982)
"Summer Of '69" - Bryan Adams (Rock, 1985)
"The Final Countdown" - Europe (Metal, 1986)
"Walking On Sunshine" - Katrina and The Waves (Pop-Rock, 1985)
"You Give Love A Bad Name" - Bon Jovi (Rock, 1986)
1990's (4)
"Aliens Exist" - blink-182 (Punk, 1999)
"Breakout" - Foo Fighters (Alternative, 1999)
"Song 2" - Blur (Alternative, 1997)
"Two Princes" - Spin Doctors (Alternative, 1993)
2000's (23)
"A-Punk" - Vampire Weekend (Indie Rock, 2008)
"Accidentally In Love" - Counting Crows (Rock, 2004)
"Check Yes Juliet" - We The Kings (Pop-Rock, 2007)
"Dig" - Incubus (Alternative, 2006)
"Dreaming Of You" - The Coral (Indie Rock, 2002)
"Girls & Boys" - Good Charlotte (Punk, 2003)
"Grace" - Supergrass (Rock, 2002)
"In Too Deep" - Sum 41 (Punk, 2001)
"Life Is A Highway" - Rascal Flatts (Country, 2006)
"Monster" - The Automatic Automatic (Indie Rock, 2006)
"Naive" - The Kooks (Indie Rock, 2005)
"Real Wild Child" - Everlife (Pop-Rock, 2007)
"Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)" - Lostprophets (Alternative, 2006)
"Ruby" - Kaiser Chiefs (Indie Rock, 2006)
"Short & Sweet" - Spinal Tap (Metal, 2009)
"So What" - P!nk (Pop-Rock, 2008)
"Stumble and Fall" - Razorlight (Indie Rock, 2004)
"Suddenly I See" - KT Tunstall (Rock, 2004)
"Swing, Swing" - The All-American Rejects (Emo, 2003)
"Thunder" - Boys Like Girls (Pop-Rock, 2006)
"Tick Tick Boom" - The Hives (Punk, 2007)
"Valerie" - The Zutons (Indie Rock, 2006)
"Word Up!" - KoRn (Nu-Metal, 2004)
Now, think for a second. How many of these songs or bands can you name? Now think of how many kids 5 to 12 can name. I hardly know some of these bands but kids are supposed to know them? Sure, some of these songs make sense. "Life is a Highway," "Ghostbusters" and "Accidently In Love" are all popular soundtrack songs kids will likely know. But what about most of the others? Some of these songs just don't make sense. They're all family friendly, but still.
I think what bugs me the most is that "Swing, Swing" was the song picked by the band All-American Rejects. Why a song from their first album? Why not a song from their more mainstream albums? One more kids would know?
I like the way they handled it, I think it'll help kids learn some good music. But I can't help but feel it might not have been best to load it with mostly songs kids would be unfamilar with. At least make it half and half. I mean, I don't know even know The Zutons, Everlife or The Primitives



sleepy