Battle of the Bands - SportsTop's Blog

SportsTop's Blog

Battle of the Bands

Posted on November 23, 2008 at 07:13 PM.

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I'm in a bit of a quandary.

If you happened to read my first blog entry, you'd know that I recently moved from Virginia to California. I had movers come and pack up everything to be put into storage for no less than three months.

I packed the necessities in my SUV for things I thought I'd need over the next few months (clothes, 26" LCD, XBox 360, and PS3 among them) for the cross-country drive. I didn't really think to pack Rock Band (including the drum set and two guitars) but it turns out we are going to be with between 15-20 family members on Thanksgiving and a good number of them think a Rock Band type game would be a big hit.

Here's where my dilemma comes into the picture: Do I buy Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour for our family Thanksgiving? Keep in mind that I already have the entire original Rock Band SE.

I've heard the pro's and con's about each:

The song lists are similar in substance and style (although I'll admit that I'm slightly drawn more towards the GHWT set list with songs like Beat It, Sweet Home Alabama, and The Joker).
The Rock Band drum set seems to be more durable than the GHWT set.
There are complaints of instrument lag on Rock Band.
The GHWT drum set comes with cymbals out of the box while the Rock Band add on cymbals cost $30.

I think the biggest factor that comes into play is the option to import songs from RB disc to RB2 and the availability of all the songs purchased from XBL.

On the flip side I've always like the Guitar Hero gameplay over Rock Band. The guitar that came with GH3 was much better than the RB guitar and the responsiveness seemed a bit better but I didn't have too much of a problem adjusting to RB after playing GH3.

And so goes the back and forth I've been wrestling with over the past few days.

Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour?

Guitar Hero World Tour or Rock Band 2?

Do I flip a coin? Maybe just ask a random person on the street to decide for me?

Maybe the best bet is to let the replies to this blog decide.

Although with my luck there'll be two responses with one vote for each and then I'll be right back where I started.

Any other suggestions?

Comments

# 1 Fresh Tendrils @ Nov 23

Well, you already have Rock Band 2 with all the instruments so I would go with GHWT. Once you get everything to CA and everything unpacked, then you can sell/trade in the GHWT drums if you don't like them. Thats the only thing I can come up with. I personally wouldn't buy the same game.

Perhaps you could pick up a different game, such as Scene It or something along those lines?

# 2 SportsTop @ Nov 23

I'm sold on one of those two games.

Add to it that I found this:

....and it's a no-brainer.

# 3 Hooe @ Nov 25

I vote Rock Band 2. My experience with both GH3 and (albeit in a limited amount) with GH:WT were rather dull.

Between the on-disc songs, DLC, and import from Rock Band, there's songs for pretty much every skill level in Rock Band 2. My impression of GH3 was that it was incredibly easy until about the 7th tier (when it all just went to hell), and I've read that for the most part GH:WT is the easiest GH game created (meaning you may get bored with it quickly).

With regard to new instruments, the Rock Band 2 instruments are supposed to be far more durable than their prior iterations. If you're getting it for the XBOX360, you should know that the game is compatible with pretty much any guitar controller you might already own (I currently play with a GH2 Xplorer and/or a GH3 Les Paul).