Bang the Drum Slowly

[fish_tie]

I will make a brief acknowledgment that EA made good on its promise to replace the wonky kit quickly. The new pads performed well against my, er, quality control testing. Now it is just a matter of packing up the old pads and sending them back

Comments

[word_geek]

I've been giving some thought to the sound and feel of the instruments in Rock Band, and I'm wondering what your experience has been.

For the guitar, I've heard that the buttons are now much closer together, and flush to the neck. Also that the strum-bar is fatter, and no longer clicks. I've found reviewers to be of mixed opinions on both changes. Personally, I've never liked the rather loud clicking of my GH guitars, so I think I'd enjoy the click-less strum. Dunno about the buttons, though...I suspect I'd make more errors with those.

Which got me thinking about the drums this morning. I know the heads don't have the give of ordinary drums, but in the few videos I've seen, it's the sound that bugs me. No matter which pad you hit, you get the same stick-hitting-plastic sound, which doesn't sound much like a drum, and seems like it would be distracting, since mentally, you're having to tell yourself that each pad makes a different sound. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it?

[fish_tie]

I am still wrestling with my own impressions of the equipment...

The guitar controller is bigger than previous incarnations. This is good.

The buttons are inset and only colored on the side. Depending on how much you've played the Guitar Hero titles, this could go either way. Since I am familiar with how it works, I no longer look at the fretboard to see where my fingers are at. Newer players may find it more confusing. The inset buttons require less pressure to register too and I found that to be an adjustment

[word_geek]

Like I said, I've heard varying opinions. Most reviewers note that if you don't like the mini-Strat, you can just go back to an older controller, or use the one from GH3, on the assumption that any serious Rock Band player would also have GH3. If I get Rock Band, it'll probably be with a new XBox, so I won't have the option of using my PS2 guitars with it. I'm not concerned about the fret buttons on Medium, because I've long since internalized the colors. I haven't mastered the orange fret yet, though, and I can't tell whether the flush frets will make it easier or harder.

I haven't really heard many complaints about the drums, although I've heard a distressing number of stories about them being broken out of the box. My thoughts about the noise were merely observations of watching other people play it on YouTube. I can't lock down my opinion on the whole drum thing. On the one hand, I think it'll be insanely cool; on the other, I fear I'll be completely useless at it.

[fish_tie]

The upside of the mini-strat is that though the buttons are more flush, there is a fret raised higher after the orange that help define the playable area of the controller. There are also the trademark braille marks on the green, yellow and orange.

Considering that I was one of those whose kit was only semi-functional, the whole thing was a mild let down to be sure... but hardly distressing. People need to lighten up.

Like I posted, the drums are different to me, but I am finding my way. I played a couple of songs on medium last night and did pretty well once I got the pattern down. Challenging, rewarding, relaxing... what more do you want from a game?

[captain_squid]

Dude, you got Rock Band? And you haven't called me?!

Geez, a guy goes away for a weeklong holiday and it's like he just doesn't exist any more...