Rock Band Blitz Review
As a lover of music games I was sad when they all pretty much died out. The Setting up of peripherals was at times a bit of a chore but it was worth it for the hours of rocking out you had ahead of you.
When Rock Band Blitz was announced I wasn’t sure what to expect because the only controller needed was the standard handheld controller that you use for everyday gaming. It just so happens that this works really well!
So Rock Band Blitz is basically bejeweled (I’ll go into more detail on that later) but with music and no time limit. You’re given a huge set list containing some really amazing tracks and artists from previous Rock Band games such as Alice Cooper, Bullet for my Valentine, Foo Fighters etc. Choose the track you want and score BIG in order to gain 5 stars and be the best rocker out there.
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Where you would have previously selected your preferred peripheral this time you’re in control of everything so that’s Drums, bass, electric guitar, voice and even keyboard. The idea is that you use the left and right analogue sticks to tap the beat according to the instrument chosen. Once you have hit a high X multiplier you move onto another instrument by pressing LT or RT depending on which one you want to control next.
This works surprisingly well and is the equivalent of tapping your leg or steering wheel to the beat of the song. I feel like I can really enjoy the music compared to the usual Rock Band games because I am doing what I would do naturally and don’t have to think too much or concentrate as hard.
Whilst going through the tracks you have to try and constantly increase the X multiplier. You do this by getting each instrument up as high as you can and then once you hit a certain section of the highway your maximum is increased like a ladder climb. Leave one of the instruments at the bottom of the ladder and your climb will be minimal, stopping you from getting a huge score.
The highway is really cool but could cause sea sickness and headaches for some. The highway constantly moves along what mostly appears to be a street but rather than it just being a straight line it bends and moves up and down like a hill. I would think that the majority of people will have to have a break every so often just to balance their head out as I did.
After the completion of each song you are rewarded coins which can be spent on power-ups similar to those seen in Bejeweled. Power-ups vary from gaining X2 points, setting off exploding notes that wipe out all other notes within its radius and certain instruments points being worth more than usual. You will need to use the right selection according to the track in order to really see the benefit to your score. A​gain this is a great idea that works really well.
There isn’t a side by side multiplayer mode but you’re able to challenge people to beat your score on any chosen song. If the person accepts the challenge the winner will be rewarded with a generous amount of coins and the loser just a few.
As you would expect Rock Band has something for everyone because once again there is a DLC store where you can buy more tracks than your bank account can handle for the true hardcore fans this will be a great selling point as it was in previous Rock Band titles.
Rock Band Blitz honestly surprised me with how well it works and how great it feels. This is the way I want to play my music games from now on because there is nothing better than tapping a leg when you hear a song you love and this is pretty much what you’re doing.
9/10
Review By Wicket2961
