First and foremost, I am a Harmonix fan, I’ve been playing their games since Frequency. Anytime they’ve created a rhythm game I’ve yet to be disappointed. So it gets me mad when people claim that Guitar Hero/Neversoft were the original innovators of the genre. Harmonix created the systems that are involved in the game, Neversoft jumped on later and added their own spin. Not much, but they added a few things.
With the release of the Guitar Hero: World Tour set list has me considering buying this game. Although I find the game intriguing, but a couple of points not related to the game, but related to the company.
Activision hasn’t gotten the DLC thing right. You’re forced to buy track packs and never give you the option of individual tracks. A quick scan of both RB and GH and the GH tracks are more expensive in some points. The Activision track record of regularly releasing DLC is spotty at best, and oftentimes I struggle with the song selection: I like one song in the set, but I’d have to spend a lot of money for one song and two songs I don’t like.
The drum and mic portions of the game haven’t been proven in the gameplay department yet. For example: Rock Band has solos in their game for all their instruments, and adding a rhythm portion to singing was innovative. The best innovation GH3 had was…boss battles. Sure GH was harder, but when you just want to play with a bunch of people who want to play with you but have never played before, you don’t want a harder game. I want a game that everyone can jump into, have fun, and mess around. I don’t want a bunch of people walking away frustrated because they can’t master the controls. You’ll have a bunch a people walking away from the game in mid-set.
Activision blocked Harmonix from developing a patch to allow compatibility between Guitar Hero Guitars and the Rock Band game. Both Sony and Harmonix were ready to release the patch, Activision, blocked it for their own reason. Although this problem has been rectified, it is a sign of blocking future innovation.
I am under impression that GH fans will buy GH, regardless of any shortcomings. RB fans will buy RB, regardless of any of their shortcomings. The really intelligent people will take RB over GH only because they know the pedigrees, played both games, and got burned heavily by Activision (I’m not saying EA has a better track record. See: Spore). Game fans shouldn’t get caught up in needless rivalries and buy the set they want the most.
I’m not saying I’m against getting GHWT. I’m taking a wait and see attitude. Activision has already burned me (GH2 tracks not playable in GH3? No DLC for months on end? Blocked patches?) So, I’m taking a wait and see attitude. Besides, competition brings innovation.
