App review: Rock Band

review by Christine Chan


At this point in time it’s hard to not have heard of the recent music rhythm game craze that started with Guitar Hero, and has spread to cover an entire band with Rock Band, where you and your friends can all rock out on plastic peripherals. The trend has spread to even handheld versions of the game on the PSP and and other mobile phones, but now the iPhone/iPod Touch is the latest to get a portable version of the original rockin’ console game. Unfortunately, it does not give the same experience that we’ve grown to love.

The graphics are pretty amazing looking, from the splash screen to menus to playing the songs. It has the standard Rock Band look and feel to it. Though the visuals of the band and club are limited since it is just the iPhone/iPod Touch. However, this is about as close as the console versions as this iPhone port will get in the visualization department. You don’t get to customize your own band, or even a single musician in the band.



You can play lead guitar, bass, drums, or vocals. However, there is nothing really that differentiates any of these instruments. They are ALL just tapping on the screen. Yes, even singing. You tap along to the pitch of the vocals, but the percussion beats are still there. Despite there being a microphone on the iPhone and newer iPod Touches, there is no singing involved (take that as a blessing or a curse).



What made Rock Band for consoles great is that it gives you the feeling of really being in a rock band with plastic instruments. Last I checked, tapping on a screen does NOT give me that same feeling of a fake drum set or guitar.

There are 20 songs that come with the game, with a couple of unlockables in the music store, a set of two will cost you .99 each, along with some free downloads. New content is constantly being added to the music store. The set list may or may not be to your liking, and your purchase may be solely based on these songs. For your reference, the complete setlist (not including downloadable content) will be included at the end of this review. Personally, I did not like many of the songs included in the game, so mileage will differ in this area.

Rock Band for iPhone features three game modes – World Tour (career), Quick Play, and Multiplayer. World Tour allows you to build your reputation as a rock star, starting out with easy songs and working your way to much more challenging songs. Quick Play lets you choose any song to play without any specific order. So if you just have the itch to play that one song, you can with this mode.

Multiplayer is a bit of a letdown, because it can only be done with up to four devices with Bluetooth. There is no online play, like the console counterpart. But this Bluetooth multiplayer is great – if you know up to three others that have an iPhone/iPod Touch AND also have dished out the money for this game. If not, then this mode is next-to-useless. You can connect to Facebook to form your band together with Facebook Connect, but I haven’t had much luck with that.

There’s a choice in the menu to view your “Claims to Fame”, which is neat, as it lets you view your progression in World Tour, any achievements you’ve unlocked throughout play, and statistics. Statistics is the neatest of these three Claims to Fame, as you can see what your favorite instrument is, obsession level, completion, fans, average difficulty, achievements, longest note streaks, and highest score.

Overall, if you must scuttle for every Rock Band title there is, I guess you won’t regret this game. However, if you like Rock Band for the sole purpose of having a great hang out with friends rocking out to great music on fake instruments, then I don’t think this game will suit your needs. I fit in the latter. It seems that EA is milking the franchise for all it’s worth, and the end result is a product that is nothing more than another tapping music game that doesn’t even add anything special.

Rock Band is available for $6.99 in the App Store.