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Game review: Rocksmith
Rocksmith
Many years ago Ray Connolly, the Beatles biographer, wrote a famous line “show me a boy who never wanted to be a rock star and i`ll show you a liar”.
Well folks it’s time to stop strutting around in front of the mirror in your underpants with a tennis racket (or is that just me) because Rocksmith is here, the latest guitar based game from Ubisoft.
I know we have had the likes of guitar hero satisfying our wannabe rock star needs, but it just felt like a big guitar controller, which it was in essence, so now with the unique set up with this game you can actually use a real guitar.
With the Hercules adapter you can connect an electric guitar to your PC or console and annoy the neighbours to your heart’s content.
There is an Epihone Les Paul Junior guitar available with the game at an extra cost, which will do the trick or just get your hands on a second hand guitar.
Perhaps finally use the one you have had hanging on the wall as an ornament for the past few years.
Rocksmith is more of a teaching aid than a game, yet it is incredible fun.
You start off with the basics showing you how to tune, hold and strum your instrument.
The actual game play is similar to guitar hero with the rolling display showing you which string to pluck and when.
With twelve different techniques to learn ranging from sustain to bends there is plenty to keep any budding guitar God busy.
Of course, it’s not all about six strings, there is the bass guitar part as well, so if you can`t get on with six move down to four.
The riff repeater is another nice little touch. This breaks the song up into sections, allowing you to master each one, and it slows and speeds up to match your ability until you get the hang of it.
Guitarcade is a series of mini games which are unlocked as you progress, and are basically designed around playing certain notes or bending a string to complete.
These are great for improving technique like the Scale runner which focuses on teaching scale patterns.
Amp mode turns your console into an amplifier with a variety of effect pedals and custom tones available as you progress this is a great addition allowing the player to customise tones and save them for use within the game.
The track list is impressive, with some classic numbers like satisfaction by the Rolling stones right up to undercover of Darkness by The Strokes and plenty of obscure tracks by bands I have never heard of.
It would have been nice to have some real rocking classics like Highway to Hell or Smoke on the Water, but I am sure they will make an appearance once the DLC is released.
Gameplay is pretty straight forward I found, yet being a long time guitar player I found it somewhat basic to begin with.
Yet this is great for an absolute beginner as you can be playing along in no time more experienced guitarists will find it a bit slow and dull to begin with.
As you get more into it I found lots of new stuff to be learnt.
Your guitar is tuned at the beginning of each track and the tone for each track is automatically set all you have to do is play along and it does get very busy after a while, and it became quite a challenge to get a perfect score.
Summary
If you liked Guitar Hero yet always felt there was something lacking, or you just want to learn how to play guitar then this is a brilliant way to fulfil that ambition, This game rekindled my love affair with the electric guitar and with plenty of DLC on the horizon this is a great new learning tool and loads of fun to boot.
Rocksmith
Developers: Ubisoft
Publishers: Ubisoft
PC
Xbox®
Playstation 3®
Genre: Music Video Interactive
Release Date: 18th October 2012
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