Rock Band Blitz Review

Posted By Robert G. about 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Rock Band Blitz Review

Spark up the strobe lights and refill that fog machine. Its time to party like it’s 2007 all over again.

Ok, that might be a tad dramatic, but lets go back to that magic year, the year that rhythm-based games were finally mainstream enough to be cared for. The runaway success of the Guitar Hero franchise had put rock music on the map once more, offering a dazzling experience to doe-eyed rock wannabes worldwide. But while Guitar Hero started the fire, Rock Band has kept it burning as the world keeps turning, and Rock Band Blitz shows that there is still a smash hit hidden away if given a chance.

Let’s be honest, rhythm games have pretty much washed out in the past few years. Like a greedy music mogul and his desire for platinum records, the rhythm genre has dissipated through over-exposure, the topper being the mangled corpse of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, failing to even hit 200,000 sold copies. But that was then, and this is now. Rock Band has been silently keeping the music going, releasing songs every week on the bountiful music store known as the Rock Band network, making the need for more games in the Rock Band series almost obsolete.

But that doesn’t mean Harmonix hasn’t been busy. Their latest release, Rock Band Blitz, shows that there are still many ways to show that rock and roll will never die. Rock Band Blitz is a back to basics style game; instead of worrying about tapping every single key in rapid succession, skillfully hitting all of those hammer-ons, pull-offs, and double pedal drum moves to complete a song with a group of friends in the room, Rock Band Blitz keeps things light and simple, giving you four control buttons, moving left and right, and strumming left and right.

Yep, that’s it. The game is so simple a cat can play Blitz with relative ease. Not that this is a strike against Blitz for being too simple, because really, that’s the point. Rock Band Blitz is all about the party, the ease of jumping in and out of a song and competing with friends for a high score. Its about having fun with an arcade-style game, something that Neversoft and Activision experimented with, but ultimately failed, to deliver with Guitar Hero. It is a throwback to previous Harmonix titles like Amplitude and Frequency, using the controller for a simple rhythm experience to get the highest amount of points as possible.

So those looking for a strict simulation of Spoonman by Soundgarden, you will be disappointed. However, those looking to finally beat Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce without much difficulty, jump right in! The basic controls are just move left and right, and flick left and right on the thumbsticks (or the a button and the directional pad) as notes pass buy to gather points. The more points in a lane, the bigger the score modifier goes, and at certain points in the song, if you fill up all the lanes on the track, you can get a bonus multiplier to your score, allowing for more points by the time the song finishes. So you need to be willing to jump between lanes and miss a few notes to get a high score. You need to be flexible and not worry about hitting everything, because you can’t.

It's that simple!

And since this is an arcade game, powerups are thrown into the mix as well. Some give you a flat x2 modifier, others allow a “bandmate” to play a lane for you for a short period of time, others give bonus points for playing drums or guitar or keyboards. Each powerup is a specific type as well; some are done by using energy (think star power in previous Rock Band games) while others cause special abilites to happen when hitting glowing purple notes on the track. And since you can pick and choose which three powerups you can bring with you on a given song, there is a decent amount of depth to be had for a simple arcade game.

To balance this out though, as Blitz does have its own economy, or, I should say, economies. Every time you complete a song, you get both coins and points. The points unlock the myriad of powerups at your disposal, while the coins allow you to use the powerups on a given track. Yes, the price of getting a high score at times does fall on how much money you have in your fictional bank account in Rock Band Blitz. While not a massive flaw on its own, as the game does provide you with enough coins for even a three-star performance, it does detract from the fun of the arcade style because it provides an arbitrary limit to how high your score can get with and without powerups.

And remember, the name of the game is to hit the lofty heights of the leader boards. Since Rock Band Blitz is always about beating out others at their high score, a challenge mode is also added to the mix so you can throw the gauntlet down on anyone for high score dominance. You also earn coins and points through challenges, win or lose, so it does become another way to not only gain a competitive edge on the songs, but to grind out coins for the next rock battle you have in mind. Sadly, there is no offline battle mode, and a game screaming for social competitiveness could have used one desperately to spice up the score-chasing in the long run.

Blitz also boasts a 25 initial song setlist, 23 of which were never featured in a Rock Band game before. The 25 songs run the gamut of genres, from the hair metal majesty of Quiet Riot’s Metal Health (Bang Your Head) to the bubblegum pop song Raise your Glass by P!nk. The mix is both eclectic and varied enough to have a little bit of something for everyone playing. To top it all off, the setlist is compatible with Rock Band 3, allowing the 25 songs to be played with the plastic peripherals with ease right out of the box. Plus add cross-compatibility with almost every single downloadable track (which is well over 2,000 at this point) in the Rock Band network, Rock Band Blitz has a fairly unlimited library at its disposal to keep the music going.

And really, there is nothing else to it. Rock Band Blitz lacks the complexity of the rock and roll simulation we are used to by strumming plastic guitars and banging on working drums, but makes up for it by being the perfect throwback to an earlier time, a nostalgic trip down the Amplitude roadway. It is far from the flashiest of comebacks, but Rock Band Blitz shows that rhythm games are not as washed out as we thought they may be, offering a fun experience for those who are about to rock.

A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. The title was played through XBLA, but is also available on the PSN.

Rock Band Blitz Review

By Robert G.

Rock Band Blitz lacks the complexity of the rock and roll simulation we are used to, but makes up for it by being the perfect throwback to an earlier time, a nostalgic trip down the Amplitude roadway.