Download Thursday (Not My Fault)
At last, Xbox Live is finally back and working and I was able to get the new downloads that I wanted to get and give them a try. This week, a lot of the publicity has been for the Spinal Tap pack. They released a new album this week and the downloads are some of the newer songs. If you look on forums, most Rock Band players including myself didn't give a rat's ass about the Spinal Tap pack. Maybe if they had older songs like "Sex Farm" , I'd probably be in. The pack that players were interested in was the Evanescence pack. Evanescence is another one of my favorite bands and I was really excited about this pack when I heard about it. These are songs that I've heard a million times. These are songs that I listen to when driving and I bang the heck out of the steering wheel. So, adding these to the Rock Band library is pretty cool. There are 3 songs in this pack, which brings the total of songs in my library to 260. I only tried each song once so here it goes.
First up, "Bring Me to Life"
All of the songs in this pack are given a difficulty rating of 3 dots on drums. On hard level, I didn't think it would be that much of a challenge. Honestly, I think this songs plays a bit harder than its rating. I don't know, but the first time I played it wasn't very pretty. Yeah, I passed, but it was harder that I thought it would be. The kick drum pattern is a bit tricky and it's what's preventing me from getting good streak going. On the first try, I was only able to kick it into overdrive only once. That's pretty crappy, but I guess I just need some practice.
Next up, "Call Me When You're Sober"
Another fun song, although it's really short. Again, it has a very tricky kick drum pattern. With this song, I don't think I hit overdrive even one time. The bridge is also pretty complicated at first. It's all timing and it just takes practice. It's fairly straightforward, but getting trough it was pretty sloppy. I passed it, but it wasn't a thing of beauty.
Finally, "Weight of the World". There isn't any official video to this so watch some dorky Death Note AMV.
This is the random song from this pack. There's always one song in a track pack that seems like they pulled it out of a hat. There are other songs that I probably would have like to have as the third song, but this is what they gave us. It's a pretty good. I love the chorus. Even though all of these songs have the same difficulty rating, this song is tough. Another tricky kick drum pattern and it's tough to get a streak going. It's tough to get into overdrive on this one.
I definitely want to get more practice with this pack. I definitely want to give the vocals a try. At least on hard level, I want to make it look a little easier. Right now, it's just a mess. I can muddle through them but so what?
I'm still working on this pack and having a lot of fun with it. Over the past few days, I've gotten past a few more songs.
One of the songs I got through was "Can I Play With Madness"
This is one of the few songs in the package that doesn't get the highest difficulty rating. It's rated at 3 or 4 dots. I can't really remember. Once again, it's those kick drum patterns that will get you. I failed it a lot before it finally just clicked. I can deal with not being able to pass the songs with the difficult rating. The easier ones, I need to get through.
Next we have "Powerslave"
This is one of the songs that earn the highest level of difficulty. I failed it a bunch of times before getting it. The kick drum pattern isn't too tough here, but keeping the rhythm on the cymbals is pretty tough. It's a quick pattern and you go back and forth between yellow and blue cymbals a lot. On my custom drum kit, that's a long distance to be moving one hand that quickly. I finally resorted to going back to the traditional 4-pad technique and ignored using the cymbals for the most part. I'm used to using them and it's difficult to not use the cymbals. Once I switched to the old method, it wasn't too bad. It's good practice. I can't always have my drum kit with me especially when I play on someone else's setup.
Finally, "Hallowed Be Thy Name"
This was a pain in the ass. It's another one of those songs that gets the highest difficulty rating. It's also over 7 minutes long. The first 1:30 is pretty easy--just a bunch of rhythmic cymbal hits. After that, it's pure hell. I was able to get through "Fear of the Dark" and the main drum pattern is fairly similar. It's tough to get a streak going, but not impossible to hit the glowing combos. The trick was to conserve the overdrive until I really needed it. The end is the longest freeform ending ever. This video is the actual live version that is used in the game so you can get an idea of how long that is. I think I gained an extra 20,000 points on the ending alone by going nuts at the end. Anyways, getting through this song is a pretty good accomplishment.
So, that's two weeks of some pretty good DLC. I guess we'll know tomorrow what next weeks DLC is. I know there's a Green Day pack coming out next month. I hope it's not the huge country music pack that's in the works. I don't know who buys the country music. Next RB party should be pretty fun. I really want to do more singing next time.
First up, "Bring Me to Life"
Click to viewAll of the songs in this pack are given a difficulty rating of 3 dots on drums. On hard level, I didn't think it would be that much of a challenge. Honestly, I think this songs plays a bit harder than its rating. I don't know, but the first time I played it wasn't very pretty. Yeah, I passed, but it was harder that I thought it would be. The kick drum pattern is a bit tricky and it's what's preventing me from getting good streak going. On the first try, I was only able to kick it into overdrive only once. That's pretty crappy, but I guess I just need some practice.
Next up, "Call Me When You're Sober"
Another fun song, although it's really short. Again, it has a very tricky kick drum pattern. With this song, I don't think I hit overdrive even one time. The bridge is also pretty complicated at first. It's all timing and it just takes practice. It's fairly straightforward, but getting trough it was pretty sloppy. I passed it, but it wasn't a thing of beauty.
Finally, "Weight of the World". There isn't any official video to this so watch some dorky Death Note AMV.
This is the random song from this pack. There's always one song in a track pack that seems like they pulled it out of a hat. There are other songs that I probably would have like to have as the third song, but this is what they gave us. It's a pretty good. I love the chorus. Even though all of these songs have the same difficulty rating, this song is tough. Another tricky kick drum pattern and it's tough to get a streak going. It's tough to get into overdrive on this one.
I definitely want to get more practice with this pack. I definitely want to give the vocals a try. At least on hard level, I want to make it look a little easier. Right now, it's just a mess. I can muddle through them but so what?
I'm still working on this pack and having a lot of fun with it. Over the past few days, I've gotten past a few more songs.
One of the songs I got through was "Can I Play With Madness"
This is one of the few songs in the package that doesn't get the highest difficulty rating. It's rated at 3 or 4 dots. I can't really remember. Once again, it's those kick drum patterns that will get you. I failed it a lot before it finally just clicked. I can deal with not being able to pass the songs with the difficult rating. The easier ones, I need to get through.
Next we have "Powerslave"
This is one of the songs that earn the highest level of difficulty. I failed it a bunch of times before getting it. The kick drum pattern isn't too tough here, but keeping the rhythm on the cymbals is pretty tough. It's a quick pattern and you go back and forth between yellow and blue cymbals a lot. On my custom drum kit, that's a long distance to be moving one hand that quickly. I finally resorted to going back to the traditional 4-pad technique and ignored using the cymbals for the most part. I'm used to using them and it's difficult to not use the cymbals. Once I switched to the old method, it wasn't too bad. It's good practice. I can't always have my drum kit with me especially when I play on someone else's setup.
Finally, "Hallowed Be Thy Name"
This was a pain in the ass. It's another one of those songs that gets the highest difficulty rating. It's also over 7 minutes long. The first 1:30 is pretty easy--just a bunch of rhythmic cymbal hits. After that, it's pure hell. I was able to get through "Fear of the Dark" and the main drum pattern is fairly similar. It's tough to get a streak going, but not impossible to hit the glowing combos. The trick was to conserve the overdrive until I really needed it. The end is the longest freeform ending ever. This video is the actual live version that is used in the game so you can get an idea of how long that is. I think I gained an extra 20,000 points on the ending alone by going nuts at the end. Anyways, getting through this song is a pretty good accomplishment.
So, that's two weeks of some pretty good DLC. I guess we'll know tomorrow what next weeks DLC is. I know there's a Green Day pack coming out next month. I hope it's not the huge country music pack that's in the works. I don't know who buys the country music. Next RB party should be pretty fun. I really want to do more singing next time.