Rock Band 4 makes smart choices in bringing the series back, even if its setlist is somewhat disappointing. Our full review. Watch more IGN Game Reviews here! • Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater...
Kind of wish I never got rid of my plastic instruments. I got the itch to play RB again, and even the guitar and game alone are running above $200 on the aftermarket, and I can't find any store that still carries any. Funny how only 5 years ago, you could walk into a Wal-Mart or a Gamestop, and they had huge deals just to try to get rid of all the Rock Band and Guitar Hero stuff they had laying around.
+Jerry Mcghoulberry That meme is retarded. You're misinterpreting the Pokemon review by not actually reading/watching it and by taking it completely out of context.
I'm so disappointed with both GH Live's soundtrack and Rock Band's. Uptown Funk? Really? I realize that they had to make it for a wider audience, but I feel like they alienated us longtime RB/GH fans. I discovered my love for metal and grunge from these games. The amount of old school metal in these games are non-existant. Oh yeah, and they have a Skrillex song. Kill me now.
So to recap. No online. No Keyboard Weak To Shitty Song List No Online Minor Graphical Improvements No Online? No Innovation 60 Dollars NO ONLINE I mean come on atleast give me a reason to buy this garbage.
Online will be coming later, Keyboard had a very small audience, and there is definitely innovation in the technology used to make freestyle guitar solos. And there are also dynamic drum fills, freestyle vocals, and the new Shows and Tour mode!
suezotiger Harmonix is working on getting wired instruments to work. In fact, IONs already work on PS4, and they should have them working on Xbox One any week now.
Sounds good to me, I have so much dlc and songs transferred from other rock band games that I can add to the library. Online play doesn't mean much to me because the only time I play it is when I have a bunch of friends over
+Pickle312 Pretty much this exactly. I never understood the desire to play Rock Band online. If you're not there for me to interact with, then I might as well be playing solo, except that somebody else can lose for me. No appeal there what-so-ever.
+[technologic] Riiiiight tell that to people working in game stores. I know for a fact all the Gamestops in my town are having serious scarcity problems, and are all planning midnight launch events because of the sheer number of preorders.... so clearly nobody cares. Gotta love that 'What I think must be what the world thinks' mentality.
Man I remember back in 2010 when music games were super fatigued and on their way out. Glad that five years later guitar hero and rock band are making a comeback. Hopefully we don't get over saturated this time again.
If you’re coming to view this video now, RB4 does have online play now, but only if you purchase the Rivals expansion pack. Now this setlist isn’t the best, but there are still some kickass songs on the main disc! Plus if you bought export keys for RB1 and RB2, that will be available for you to export into this game! Plus the addition of the RB3 export, this game has a lot of diversity in song selection. DLC previously purchased on a 360 or PS3 is also available to get back on the Xbox One or PS4. In my opinion, it’s a great comeback from Harmonix!
If I'm going to play a game with guitars, I'd choose Rocksmith. But out of the two fake guitar games, Guitar Hero Live atleast offers a much better setlist straight away and a new presentation.
+Shendowx Oops, you're right Shendow. But still, the guitarists are more or less competing with each other. It's not the same full band co-op experience like Rock Band.
+Nonstopper™ Except you obviously didn't (or are deliberately ignoring things to suit the narrative you want to create) because you're ignoring A LOT of new and changed features that make it very clearly NOT a port.
Ehhhh, I dunno. Think I'm gonna pass on this and pick up Disgaea 5 and Transformers instead. The soundtrack was awful imo. The others were so great to the point where I really didn't need DLC. But this is just...I dunno. Too poppy, hipsterish, mainstream, radio, indie music. And it just seems like there is less this time around. The song menu seems really dull in comparison to RB3, no keyboard, you don't see your band members chilling and setting things up, pro guitar is gone, and no online(seriously, wtf?) You're supposed to add to sequels, not take away. If they don't let us...lettuce import RB3 songs, I'm just going to pass on this.
Rock Band 3 does not have freestyle guitar solos, dynamic drum fills, freestyle vocals, a proper campaign/tour mode, shows mode, new DLC won't be coming to RB3, you have to pull out your old console to play RB3, etc. That enough?
+TrickedOutGames this rock band is the same that is pretty bad, mine as well play rock band 3 cause the playlist sucks in this one, I like guitar hero lives way better just an opinion
+lilhaze34 No, however December 8 is the first major update. It will add more social features as well as new modes. Online play could come then or likely early 2016.
+Calvin reddick-primo Simple really. Different people have different priorities that inform their opinions, and in the reviewers opinion (as in mine, as well as most Rock Band players) online isn't a big concern. The totals are based on the reviewers opinion, it doesn't guarantee that you will agree, but your opinion is no more valid than his.
Ordered the full band edition off of EBay, cannot wait for it to come. So excited to play The Doors :D Honestly, Id on't mind DLC for music games. It's the ONLY time a video game should ever have it. It means you can play for ages and it just expands it.
So here's what I got out of this. The "new" part of the game fails. But the party atmosphere that's been there forever is what makes it good. Or great. So if you've continued to play Rock Band frequently until now, like I have, there's no need to get this yet, as it is a letdown. Nice job. High score for nostalgia, that never left to begin with.
+aftershock0 No? Even the original Rock Band had day one DLC. It is the nature of the genre and makes more sense to have DLC songs rather than release new discs every year.
Two pros are "4-Player is a blast," and "Party friendly setup?" Isn't it like that with every Rock Band? Why would you keep giving the game points for the same thing. Deduct points for being repetitive instead.
I'll wait until someone hacks into the files and rips the charts and songs for Phase Shift and download the RB4 setlist for Phase Shift for free (or at least my favorite songs, but there aren't many songs on the setlist that I know, but I hope there are enough challenging/hard songs). I already dished out $100 on GHL and I don't want to spend an extra $250 on RB4 for PS4 (and I have Xbox 360 RB instruments and I don't know if certain Xbox 360-to-PS3 controller converter are compatible with instrumental controllers).
How the hell do I turn off the background music during songs. Putting the slider doesn't do anything and I just want to hear the song while I play but the background music is louder.
Was there any follow up to the idea that you could bring your PS3/360 songs over (Only PS3 to PS4 and 360 - XBONE) as well as using the old controllers?
Technical question about RB4: You know the Wii guitar that you use by connecting a USB thing to the wii, that you use without a Wii remote? can I use that on my PS4 if I want to play rockband 4?
+NinjaPhilosophy Harmonix has hinted that online play will be coming at a later date. Rock Band has always been about playing locally as a band! Online play likely wasn't included at launch due to Harmonix being an indie company now, and not having the budget with EA/MTV that they had before.
+TrickedOutGames Harmonix said they were going for a base to throw dlc and updates at for the foreseeable future, and they're usually really good about feedback, so maybe they'll fix some of these issues AND add online.
+TrickedOutGames gotta admit though it is a blessing in disguise in some kind of sense.....I mean if the game was unfinished as some people claim and it was not by the help of EA...just imagine if EA was in the mix, I mean after all, EA does have a reputation of pushing out unfinished games (cough) battlefield (cough) oh excuse me...
MrViral20 Yeah but we think the benefits of EA outweigh the cons. With EA, the graphics would probably be better, much larger marketing for the game, possibly cheaper instrument bundles, better on-disc setlist, etc.
For people that think rock smith is better (and I don't know why), rock band is a game usually played at parties and most of all, for fun. Rock smith is more of an instructional game with how to play a guitar. Also, a lot of people say how guitar hero has a better set list, which is why there is dlc, which at release should cost a buck per pop. Not to mention, that dlc is also transferred. I don't have anything against guitar hero or rock smith, it's just that people don't think about how different the games are. Especially since harmonix worked on the first few guitar heroes then moved to rock band with MTV.
Harmonix made a mistake by moving with mtv, now they have no back up and don't even have online even though guitar hero was bitching and throwing money at them they decided to make a cartoony, easy as hell, arcade guitar simulated
Swablu 123 They said "rock band will release with online features still in the works." I don't know why they didn't release the game with online multiplayer in the first place.
NO ONLINE MULTIPLAYER?!?!! Wow... I'm so glad I found this out the day before picking this game up! I was really looking forward to getting the online band back together, and removing online multiplayer seems like such a middle finger to long time fans.
Harmonix is an indie company now. They used to have EA and MTV backing them up, so now they don't have the resources for online play at launch. It will be coming later in an update though.
They should add "Fallujah - Sapphire, The Night Reveals, Enslaved Eternal Phenomenon, Cerebral Hybridization, and Venom Upon The Blade" to the track list!
wait why isn't lack of online the main negative? My most memorable moments was playing with friends online since we aren't close enough to get together and play.
+ChocoboWarrior091 Harmonix has hinted that online play will be coming at a later date. Rock Band has always been about playing locally as a band! Online play likely wasn't included at launch due to Harmonix being an indie company now, and not having the budget with EA/MTV that they had before.
It's so awful how you've forgotten about the absence of pro instruments. That was the best thing the series had ever done, with the possibility to make 7 players parties, but no, 4 players again with basic controllers with a better campaign means better for you? Terrible
So i bought rock band 1 on ps2. And RB2 and RB3 on ps3. Gonna get RB4 on ps4. Is there any way to get the old songs onto the ps4 game or will i have to buy them all over again
Trying to decide between rock band and guitar hero. Looks like guitar hero is winning. Huge upgrade! Besides, everyone just wants to play the drums anyways. I don't usually buy games with no real replay value. Rock band is great for playing it over and over but when you are being constantly challenged and offered something new every day or week, hour....guitar hero wins and I think it should have gotten a better vote than rock band. Looks like the same to me. They focused more on just the songs than actually wanting to keep people playing it for years to come with new content.
Online Shmonline. The point of Rockband is to be a party game. What's the point of having bandmates if you can't be there interacting with them? Playing a game like this online, to me, is just like playing solo, except that if the person you're playing with sucks, they can drag you down with them. I won't miss that function one bit - and if they took the time they would have spent building it and used it on something else? Awesome.
no online modes at all? As someone who 100% RB2 and 3 the online component is what kept me playing. Also the whole free-style solo thing is ResidentSleeper.
Unfortunately I'll be passing on this one. I had RB3 on Xbox 360 (PS3 xmb glitch...) so all my DLC is Xbox. Now I have a PS4 so I have no downloaded songs at all. Looks like this relies on your DLC library mostly.
+OutlawTorn14 Yes, as long as you previously exported them already. They don't have it working yet but they will soon. We're assuming they will transfer like DLC where you must redownload each individual track. Harmonix is currently working on getting Rock Band 3 to export as well!
Picked up the band in a box bundle. Was excited to play some dream theater. But after spending 250 I don't want to dish out another 50 on enough songs to still enjoy it. Plus this game lags like all hell. I have to recalibrate every other song or every instrument switch. The mic being the worst. Also the kick pedal is off from the rest of the drums. And finally the guitar misses half the notes when playing more than quarter notes. I give it a 5/10. End rant.
Hope people who got this are enjoying it and having fun. I'll definitely be happy to play with a group of friends because he has a lot of dlc songs. But as far as my money goes, Guitar Hero is more promising.
I don't like how you need the DLC for the tour mode to be substantial, but if it's the DLC you probably already bought years ago, then one cannot complain.
Freestyle guitar solos are for noobs and casuals only. Anyone that is actually good at the game would rather try to actually play the solo (usually the funnest part of the entire song) not just hit random buttons... that's dumb. If I want to just "freestyle" on a fake guitar, I would go to the children's toy section and buy a 10 guitar with likely more buttons and play with that lol. Not spend 250 for the same thing.
+TheEvilPanda The full band set includes the new/improved instruments which are 1 guitar, 1 drums, 1 microphone, and the game disc itself for $249.99. You can also buy just the new guitar and game disc for $129.99. Lastly, if you still have your old instruments, you can just buy the game disc!
no online play? no headset jacks in the instruments. literally forced to play by myself unless I have friends over.....the game is still in development.
I'm confused by the high score, don't get me wrong I like rock band but the reviewer said it himself, the tracklist is very poor . meaning and already expensive game needs you to buy some decent tracks.
