music games

DropMix Review

JettLeave a comment

Always at the forefront of music and rhythm games, Harmonix teams up with Hasbro for DropMix. This innovative card game aims to give you unprecedented control over music, allowing you to mix-and-match bits of different songs in order to create intricate mashups and mixes without any prerequisite skill in music. Beyond its free-form mixing mode, DropMix comes equipped with multiple game modes that provide structure to the experience.

Does its music-mixing tech work as advertised? Do its modes of play add value to the experience? And should you take the plunge for DropMix and its expansions?

Continue reading →

Floor Kids Impressions

JettLeave a comment

Floor Kids is a rhythm game about the art of breakdancing. Available on the Nintendo eShop, players will break it down to original music by DJ Kid Koala. Hip-hop video games are few and far between, but is this one worth trying based on its concept alone?

Continue reading →

Rock Band: 10 Years Later

JettLeave a comment

rockband_01-56a7373f3df78cf772935f67

On this day in 2007, the original Rock Band was unleashed on the world. Having been anxiously awaiting for that day for quite some time, I rushed into EB Games to pick up my band set. The journey I would go on with that series is one that left an indelible imprint on my life. It’s also one that I struggle to see myself coming back to in a meaningful way.

Continue reading →

Rock Band 4 Review

JettLeave a comment

It’s easy for me to romanticize about the glory days of Rock Band. From the hundreds of songs I’ve purchased, to the countless number of hours I had playing that series with friends, to the way the games inspired me to start learning real instruments, its influence on my life can’t be ignored. As much as I adore that franchise, there are reasons why I – and many others – abandoned the entire genre years ago and haven’t really looked back.

Are people ready for the return of Rock Band? Am I ready for its return? Whether we’re ready for it or not, Rock Band 4 is here, hoping we’ll all get our bands back together.

Continue reading →

Rock Band Returns with Rock Band 4

JettLeave a comment

After a five year hiatus (if you don’t include the tangentially-related Rock Band Blitz), Harmonix is set to bring the franchise back with Rock Band 4. Poised for release later in 2015, Harmonix has stated that they want all our old instruments to be compatible, that they’re working on allowing players to transfer all of their old music to the new game and that they’ve come up with some ways to really freshen things up. Am I ready to rock out with plastic instruments again?

Continue reading →

Rocksmith 2014 Review

JettLeave a comment

I owe a lot to the original Rocksmith. With its help, I achieved my lifelong dream of being able to playing the guitar with some form of competency. Sure, I have a long way to go before I can rock a sold out stadium, but I’ve developed a foundation of knowledge and skills to play music today with a clear road map for growth that I can follow with or without the game. Case in point, I was able to learn the song 22 by Taylor Swift without any assistance from the game, which I think was a huge milestone in the development of my guitar skills.

With that said, that original Rocksmith didn’t make the learning process as seamless as it could have been. On a fundamental level, it was a good teaching tool trapped in a bad video game, as its traditional career mode ended up hampering the learning process for players of all skill levels. This time, Rocksmith 2014 cuts any pretense of trying to be the next Guitar Hero to instead focus on being the best guitar teacher it can be.

Continue reading →

Top 10 Games Of This Generation – #2 – Rock Band

JettLeave a comment

Rock Band at face value is the logical next step from Guitar Hero. With the inclusion of drums and vocals, it took a rather solitary experience and made it one of the biggest multiplayer phenomenons of this generation. As a franchise, Rock Band has set the standard that all rhythm games should aspire for. Based on its merits alone, this game would have made my list regardless. However, it appears so high up because of the life-changing impact its had on my life.

Continue reading →

Just Dance 4 Review

JettLeave a comment

Have you grown tired of cutting a rug with Ubisoft yet? Based on how well the Just Dance series continues to sell, probably not. Just Dance 4 is the recent main-line entry to the series that’s mostly another one of those. However, for fans of the series, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Also, the Wii U version that I’m playing has a few console-exclusive perks that may be enough get you back on the dance floor once again.

Continue reading →

Taylor Swift and Transcending Rocksmith

JettLeave a comment

Not sure if I’ve mentioned this on the blog, but I do bring it up on The Recurring Bosscast a lot. I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan. I own all of her albums, loudly sing her songs when she comes on the radio and am not ashamed to admit my fandom for her music. A few days after starting Rocksmith, I set myself a personal goal that I would one day learn how to play one of her songs. However, two things got in the way of that goal:

1) Most of her songs require a capo, which I don’t own. This is a relatively easy fix.

2) I just started learning how to play guitar and everything about it was hard.

Continue reading →

An Ode to Rock Band

JettLeave a comment

On one hand, the news of Harmonix’s last round of Rock Band DLC hitting today shouldn’t have stung me as much as it did. I haven’t picked up a plastic instrument in years and had no plans of going back. However, this franchise has left an undeniable mark on my life since its 2007 debut and it’s sad to see the curtains finally close on an old friend.

Continue reading →