Rock on with Bandfuse: Rock Legends - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 13 June 2012 / 3,207 Views
Rock and Roll videogames will never die! At least that’s the sentiment I came away with after this year’s E3 where Harmonix showed off a new peripheral-free addition to the Rock Band series, Ubisoft were pimping updates to their 2011 release Rocksmith, and Realta Entertainment Group debuted a new game in the genre in the form of a game called Bandfuse: Legends of Rock. Their goal is to provide a pick-up and play experience for guitarists of all skill levels from timid beginners to master shredders. You play the game using real instruments, as the game should be compatible with just about any electric guitar, as well as bass guitars and USB microphones.
The Bandfuse booth at E3 was equipped with its own stage that hosted performances of the game in action with a full band. There were two people on guitar, one on bass and one on vocals. Playing in tandem with the game’s onscreen interface produced a surprisingly convincing and full sounding performance, though the lack of percussion was regrettable. Afterwards, I picked up a guitar and tried the game for myself. I’ve been a mediocre guitar player for several years now and am always on the lookout for new ways to improve my skills so I tried to absorb all that Bandfuse had to offer.
These types of games live and die by their musical interface. The scrolling stream of notes must be accessible enough for the average player yet also complex enough that they can deliver uncompromising transcriptions of the most intricate rock songs. I’m not quite sure where Bandfuse: Rock Legends lands in this regard. The game of course comes with multiple difficulty settings that you can toggle through on the fly using the Xbox 360 controller. However, the animated tab lets you know which note to play by signifying what string and fret number to play. Even I found it difficult to recall and play the correct fret in time with the music. Obviously one expects to improve with practice, but even on the lowest difficulty I was only able to hit about 65% of the notes on any given song.
The first song I played was Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” because I was feeling a bit nostalgic. While playing the game screen shows off the animated guitar tablature, the lyrics to the song in case you want to sing along, and the music video for the song. Next I played “Sugar, We’re Going Down” by Fall Out Boy, “Yellow” by Coldplay, and “Reptilla” by the strokes. Obviously the higher the difficulty you play on the more authentic sounding a recreation the game will animate for you to jam to. The game’s soundtrack promises to ship with a veritable all-star lineup of Rock legends, both past and contemporary. Acts such as Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, The Clash, Incubus and more are all represented.
In addition to a comprehensive career mode, Bandfuse will offer unique ways to create your content and play with others. The game’s Free Jam will allow you to unleash your inner Paul Simon and create whatever songs you can dream up. There will also be a Jam Along mode that lets you lay down your own riffs, vocal and rhythm tracks using any of the preloaded songs as a backing track. If you just want to improve your skills there are rehearsal options that allow you to slow down songs to a desired pace so they are easier to master. In multiplayer you will be allowed to form bands, play along, and create music with up to three friends in addition to moving your way up the online leaderboards.
Your mentor on your musical journey to rock stardom is none other than Slash, who continues to prove that he is willing to attach his name to just about anything. With all of these featured artists and inspired game modes behind it, Bandfuse: Rock Legends aims to inject life into this ailing genre. Bandfuse: Rock Legends will be available in a variety of retail SKUs this winter for the Xbox 360.
