Are you ready to rock? I said, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?! Yet another generation of rhythm games has descended upon us, bringing along a whole new set of little plastic instruments for us to enjoy. As a result, many people are now faced with the decision of choosing between Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. Which rhythm game reigns supreme? In the following article, I’m going to break down the comparison shot-by-shot, feature-by-feature until I can declare a true winner. Let’s Get Rocked!
Guitar Hero World Tour Challenges Rock Band 2
Before we get down to business, it may be worthwhile to provide a brief history lesson. As you may already know, Guitar Hero burst onto the scene a few years ago, sparking all sorts of interest into the rhythm game genre. Activision and Harmonix enjoyed all kinds of success, but they had a bit of a falling out last year. Harmonix jumped ship and brought its team over to Electronic Arts to create Rock Band.
Activision continued its Guitar Hero franchise in the absence of Harmonix, but it stuck to the “just playing the guitar” end of the equation. By contrast, Rock Band offered a “full band” experience. In addition to a couple of guitars, it also had a drum set and a microphone. It seemed that Guitar Hero fell behind.
Not one to go down without a fight, Activision and Neversoft came battling back with the release of Guitar Hero World Tour, the first “full band” game in the franchise. This, of course, directly competes against Rock Band 2 from Harmonix and Electronic Arts. The challenge is notable and intense, setting the stage for today’s comparison. Let’s get down to it.
Starting with the Guitar Battle
Perhaps the best place to start would be where it all began: the guitar. This part of our musical adventure has been upgraded in both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour.
On the Guitar Hero front, I definitely appreciate the relocation of the “star power” button and the larger fret buttons are a great idea. The touch strip is an interesting novelty, but it really doesn’t add much to the enjoyment of the game. This is a matter of personal preference, but I also prefer the round notes in GHWT compared to the “bars” in Rock Band too.
On the Rock Band 2 side of the equation, not as much has changed compared to the first Rock Band. The “squishy” strum bar still doesn’t provide as much tactile feedback as the “clacky” Guitar Hero strum bar. Even so, the larger fret buttons, the solo sections, and the fact that the notes stay the same color during Overdrive/Star Power give this win to the crew at Harmonix and EA.
Point Goes To: Rock Band 2
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Rocking Out on the Drums
Rock Band 2 largely maintains the status quo, sticking to four pads and a bass pedal. The drum set for Rock Band 2 isn’t as loud as before, but they’re still loud. The velocity-sensitive pads are a nifty trick and the “freestyle” sections leading up to the activation of Overdrive are quite fun.
That said, I think Guitar Hero World Tour has more to offer here. Whereas you have to wait for certain moments to activate Overdrive in Rock Band 2, you can activate Star Power at any time by nailing the two cymbals at the same time in GHWT. The very inclusion of cymbals is also a very satisfying, albeit much more confusing, experience. I would have liked the two cymbal streams to look a little different than the three regular pads, but you’ll get used to it. I also found the build quality of the GHWT set and the “softness” of the pads to be much better than the RB2 counterpart.
Guitar Hero, despite its name, is the clear winner on the drums.
Point Goes To: Guitar Hero World Tour
Playing with Friends and Groupies
You’ll notice that I skipped over the vocals. While they are presented in a slightly different way in the two games, the experience is virtually identical. The only real difference is, like the drums, you can activate Star Power at any time in Guitar Hero World Tour and not in Rock Band 2. I didn’t feel that the vocals were notable enough to warrant a whole “point” in this comparison, so I’ve melded it into my comparison of the full band experience.
I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but the band gameplay in Rock Band 2 has been left largely untouched compared to its predecessor. It’s a system that just works. Each player gets his/her own Overdrive meter and you can get a sense of your overall progress by peeking at the number of stars earned thus far in the song. The large meter on the left is also great for seeing how everyone is doing. The ability to “save” band members is very, very much appreciated too.
Activision and Neversoft did not do as good a job with Guitar Hero World Tour. While the individual experience is similar to the old Guitar Hero games, the full band just isn’t as well-designed as Rock Band 2. Each band member shares the Star Power lights and, for some strange reason, activation of Star Power doesn’t last until the meter is drained.
Continuing with the poor design of the gameplay screen, you’ll find that the tiny Rock Meter has been tucked away in the far left corner, making it difficult for the players on the drums and guitars to see how everyone is doing. Further still, each individual player’s performance has been reduced to remarkably tiny meters underneath the Rock Meter. This is much worse than the “arrow” style with the gauge in Rock Band 2.
Oh, and you can’t save your band members. If one person fails, the band fails. For all these reasons, the full band mode in Guitar Hero is, you guessed it, a fail. Not an epic fail, but a fail nonetheless.
Point Goes To: Rock Band 2
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The Career Road to Fame and Fortune
In previous Guitar Hero games, you basically just rifled your way through the various playlists, unlocking new songs along the way and watching short comic-style animations for a slim storyline. Unfortunately, not much has changed for Guitar Hero World Tour, even in full band mode.
While you can bounce between different set lists instead of tackling them in a linear fashion, there is absolutely no risk-reward. You don’t lose fans and you don’t lose money. The super weird thing is that you actually have to pay your hard-earned cash to buy some of the new gigs. What’s up with that? The career mode just isn’t all that satisfying at all, because there is a total lack of a dynamic experience.
Rock Band 2, on the other hand, maintains the World Tour mechanic found in the first Rock Band. It’s much more of an involving experience, because you keep track of your number of fans, losing fans as you fail gigs and that kind of thing. You can also bounce between different venues, accept propositions to earn double the fans if you get four stars or more (and similar offers from time to time), and you can actually hire staff that help you in various ways.
The career mode in Rock Band 2 is much more enjoyable, because it feels like you’re actually involved in something. You have to unlock a bus before you can travel across the continent. You have to earn that plane before you can rock out overseas. It’s also much clearer how and when you can unlock certain venues and gigs.
Point Goes To: Rock Band 2
All That Other Stuff
Both games attempt to throw in enough extras to captivate your interest for as long as possible. Both games come with full support for downloadable content, but Guitar Hero has a Music Studio where gamers can compose their own creations. Better still, these player creations can be shared online for free! While I won’t be making any new songs any time soon, this is a fun addition that could have a lot of promise.
A music game is only as good as its track list, but it’s also a matter of personal preference. I like the setlist in Rock Band 2 better, mostly because of “One Step Closer” from Linkin Park, “Come Out and Play” from The Offspring, and “Lump” from Presidents of the United States of America. I also appreciate how you can see the individual difficulty ratings for each instrument from the song list.
That said, I love how the Quickplay mode in Guitar Hero World Tour allows you to create your own set list, rather than picking one song at a time. It’s a tiny detail, but a notable one.
In terms of other extras, the character creation and customization mode is slightly stronger in Guitar Hero, mostly because each component of a character’s instrument is fully customizable. I thought that was pretty cool. Neither “Rock Star Maker” mode is quite as good as many other games, though.
Which game has the better extras? It’s tight, but I’ll give the point to GHWT.
Point Goes To: Guitar Hero World Tour
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Final Verdict
After taking a look at everything that goes into a terrific “full band” rhythm game, I think that we can finally tally up the results and declare a winner.
- Guitar: RB2
- Drums: GHWT
- Band: RB2
- Career: RB2
- Extras: GHWT
Rock Band 2 wins by a score of 3-2. Although I appreciate the effort from Harmonix, Red Octane, and Activision to bring us a great full band experience, Rock Band 2 is the much better game overall. I do have to say that the Guitar Hero World Tour hardware is superior to the Rock Band 2 stuff in most respects, but in terms of overall gameplay, it’s Rock Band 2 for sure.
Overall Winner – Rock Band 2
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