Rocksmith Review
Developer Ubisoft
Publisher Ubisoft
Platform PS3, Xbox360
Release Date Out Now.
Rocksmith is Ubisoft’s entry into the music/game genre and the natural progression of the genre to remove the plastic controllers and to use an actual guitar to teach you a real instrument. Is this something that is achieves? For me the answer is a resounding yes.
I had reached expert level on both Rockband and Guitar Hero so naturally I thought my skills would easily transfer over, I was quite wrong. The only thing it did help with was the ability to read the game, that scrolling pile of notes could be quite daunting when you only had to deal with 5 possible notes but the jump to six strings over 20 frets is frightening and that is ever before we start looking at the more complex chords.
I had taken some lessons as a kid but got nowhere I have had limited success with anything musical. I can barely hold a note, I don’t have an ear for a chord and I couldn’t tell you the name of the keys songs are written in never mind recognize one from sound. Blessed or cursed with a logical brain I was quite mathematical, had great lateral thinking skills and I could learn patterns quickly so when I saw Rocksmith I finally thought this was my chance to learn.
As a learning tool it has been hugely impressive. The game adapts to your skill level by removing more complex notes so you are gradually introduced to the instrument and song. The first play through is very simple and is just simple single notes, choosing to play it again and you quickly realize that there is a whole host of new notes to play. This keep you learning and helps your progression, the game even learns mid song. If you are doing well it will throw in some extra notes if you start messing up it will pull back so you don’t get lost.
The mini games particularly Ducks are a great way to learn how to get around the guitar. It is a simple concept a duck appears on a fret and you play that note to shoot him. As you get better it gets faster and faster. What you don’t realize as you are having fun is that it is teaching you something. Spend 30mins with this and you will notice the improvement immediately.
The other slider game was less successful, a take on a typical falling block game you had to play a note and slide from one fret to another but it often did not register and as a beginner the tops of my fingers were already quite sore so this was just a frustration.
After one evening with Rocksmith I went from total novice to being able to play one song, now it was riddled with errors and I know that the game did hold back on giving me the full set of notes but the song was starting to appear in there and the sense of achievement has driven me on. At the end of the week I not only can play a number of songs quite reasonably but I now have a number of excellent riffs that I can bang out at any time.
We have had mixed reviews from expert guitar players who have found the game a little dull, I guess if you can play the songs perfectly anyway there is little appeal here. If like me you have always dreamed of learning guitar but have struggled with traditional lessons then this is an amazing tool.
It is also a cheap alternative to buying the full set of AMP’s and pedals as it has a mode that allows you to add all kinds of distortion pedals. Going into AMP mode allows you to mess around with a whole array of different sounds.
The main difference between Rocksmith and Guitar hero is that in Rocksmith you actually play the notes, so if you had distortion you hear that in the game. The pedals are mapped to the controllers face buttons so you can even change mid song.
There is also the option to use a bass guitar, if you don’t want to shell out on a second instrument you can use your standard guitar to play the bass sections too.
Overall : For beginner to intermediate learners this is an amazing tool to help either start your career or just to have some fun. Actually playing the song along with the rest of the band is far more rewarding than plucking away solo in your bedroom.
Boasting an impressive 50 songs on the disk there is enough in there to please everyone, more songs can be downloaded but they are coming in at €2.99 each which is a bit too high to buy a lot of them.
SCORE 8/10
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