SlashGear Japan
So I’ve had Rock Band Wii for a day or so now, and I thought I should be nice and share my thoughts with all of you, just in case you had any doubts or worries before it hits shelves next week. Hit the jump for my full review.
This isn’t going to be nearly as lengthy as my typical reviews, because to be honest, it’s Rock Band. The game has been out for a while, and as far as gameplay goes, it’s really the same. There are differences to be noted, such as the lack of character creation and online play, but we’ve known about this for some time also.
First thing I’d really like to note here for those that survied the Guitar Hero III disaster on the Wii, it doesn’t output sound in mono. That’s right, this game (much like every other game in the world) supports stereo sound! Unfortunately there’s no Dolby support, so no surround sound for you.
Hooking up the instruments is pretty simple, just hook up your hub and plug in your drums and mic. As for the guitars, you’ll need to plug in your wireless dongle(s). Press the little button on the dongle and then then one on your guitar and you’re good to go.
All you need to do now is pick your band name and you’re ready to rock. The game from here on out is pretty much the same. You don’t collect money for new clothes and stuff, for obvious reasons. You do have a few extra tracks that weren’t on the original set list for the 360 and PS3, it’s not much, but a few extra tracks are always nice.
So how do the instruments perform? The mic is identical to my 360 version, and the drums are almost the same. The only real difference is two bottom bars connecting the feet together are plastic, and seem to almost hug the ground. This seems to make the kit a little more steady, but otherwise they play just as well as my original set.
I haven’t played the PS3 version of the game much, so I can’t say that I’m quite as familiar with the wireless guitars. However, I can definitely say that the ones included in the Wii bundle are awesome. The wireless reaches at least 25 feet without any signal loss or missed notes (I’d have tested from a greater distance, but I ran out of room). The strum and whammy bars felt good, and the buttons were all responsive. I had no issues activating Overdrive by tilting the neck, either.
Overall, I’m pleased with the port. It really does suck that they weren’t able to get any online features or DLC into the game. I don’t really miss the character creation too much, but then again I haven’t added new clothes to my 360 characters since I initially created them. I give Rock Band for the Wii a solid 4 out of 5 gears.
Rating:
41 Responses to “SlashGear Review – Rock Band Wii”
Chris Davies June 19, 2008
I’ve never actually tried the game myself, but the drums look a little delicate considering people are going to be battering at them. Do you think they’ll hold up to a pounding, Scott?
+1Chris June 19, 2008
Well, they’re identical to my 360 drums which I’ve had since November of last year. I’ve been beating on those for around 7 months and they’re still holding strong!
+5Chris Davies June 19, 2008
That’s good. My brother plays drums and I’ve seen what’s left of his sticks after a couple of weeks – had horrible visions of an expensive games controller going a similar way!
+2Drew Villescas June 19, 2008
Thank you i have been looking forward to this game for months and this is the first review of it ive seen im aware of lack of character creation and online play but i dont mind as long as the game plays close to the 360 and ps3 versions because those were terrific.either way thanks for the review
+1Koekje June 19, 2008
This seems very nice, but there’s just one thing.. Can you use the Guitar Hero 3 guitar or do you have to purchase a whole new one?
By the way, what is wrong with the guitar hero 3 Wii? You say: “those that survied the Guitar Hero III disaster on the Wii”
I’ve never played the PS3 or Xbox versions, so I assume they are a lot better?
Cheers
+5Drew Villescas June 19, 2008
ok koekje unfortunately for the wiii version of rock band you will not be able to use the guitar hero 3 controller which is dissapointing, and also i agree with you in that guitar hero 3 for the wii isnt that bad the graphics are a little down but the gameplay is still lots of fun and i dont get what people hated so much about it.
+2Tyler June 19, 2008
I mentioned this on another story but I made a legit playlist for this game (i’ve been getting really pumped).
thought i would share…
http://www.nutsie.com/member/v....._id=153837
+1Chris June 20, 2008
I hope they dropped the price on this version to compensate for its lack of features?
I’d rather wait for a Wii version that doesn’t rely on FMVs. This is why downloadable content and the character creator weren’t implemented. They deemed the PS2 as too weak to handle real-time content, so used massive pre-rendered videos instead, which of course they figured would be fine for us Wii owners.
+1Josh June 22, 2008
Im having a major problem. When i use the wiimote to hook up my guitar hero 3 guitar it goes to the microphone. what should i do
+1seth June 22, 2008
@josh.
you cant use the guitar hero controller on rock band bro.
+1Drew June 22, 2008
GH3 guitar doesn’t work…. but does the Nyko Frontman guitar work?
+1jon June 23, 2008
[quote comment="43737"]I mentioned this on another story but I made a legit playlist for this game (i’ve been getting really pumped).
thought i would share…
http://www.nutsie.com/member/v.....3837/quote
sweet Yo, good find.
+1Lauren June 23, 2008
Heyy, I just got Rock Band for the Wii, and so far I love it, but my family & I can’t seem to get the guitar to work? We’ve plugged everything in correctly, we’ve done everything the instructions said! But the guitar just keeps blinking (where the blue light should be in the 1, 2, or 3 column like on the Wii remote) Can you please help me in figuring out how to get it to work?! Please help me!
+3Oscar June 24, 2008
thanks dude.
[:
“You don’t collect money for new clothes and stuff, for obvious reasons.”
what do you mean?
-1what ARE those obvious reasons?
Brett Andrew June 24, 2008
thx it releives me that it doesnt require a wii mote to play the instruments
-1heidi a June 24, 2008
How do you use the guitar hero wii guitar on the rock band? Cant get it to work..
NeutralLink June 24, 2008
do u get to choose ur character since u can’t creat them and can u change their clothes and guitar?
-1Rob June 25, 2008
[quote comment="43950"]Heyy, I just got Rock Band for the Wii, and so far I love it, but my family & I can’t seem to get the guitar to work? We’ve plugged everything in correctly, we’ve done everything the instructions said! But the guitar just keeps blinking (where the blue light should be in the 1, 2, or 3 column like on the Wii remote) Can you please help me in figuring out how to get it to work?! Please help me![/quote]
Yeah, I was starting to panic over this one, too. Just make sure the dongle and the drums and mic are plugged into the USB hub, then Reset the Wii. It should pick it up; the dongle’s blue light will start to flash immediately after the Wii is reset. Then press the white button on the guitar and it should connect to the dongle near-instantaneously.
NeutralLenny Le Mon July 2, 2008
Can you use Guitar Hero 2 or 3 controllers from Xbox 360 with the Wii Rockband? I took the GH2 wired Controller and tried to plug it into the USB hub but the game wouldn’t register it as a controller? Is there anyway to make 360 controllers compatible with Wii RockBand?
-1Peenie July 3, 2008
Can anyone tell me if it is possible to use the wii Rock Band guitar with wii Guitar Hero III… has anyone made it work?? and HOW??
-1Jacob W. July 7, 2008
Yo, if the GH guitar doesnt work with rockband, i dont really think the rockband guitar will work with GH. But i might be wrong, if i were u, id ask around a little more! LOL :-)
-1Jacob W. July 7, 2008
[quote comment="43908"]GH3 guitar doesn’t work…. but does the Nyko Frontman guitar work?[/quote]
-2Whats a Nyko Frontman guitar???????
new2RB July 7, 2008
Just picked up Wii Rockband yesterday. Husband and I are already addicted. We’ve played GH a few times and dug it, just wondering how ‘committed’ we are to RB.
All the charts, comments and blogs I’ve read said we’re out of luck and only Xbox 360 has compatible equipment… so far. Any word on the upcoming GH4’s compatibility with RB guitars for Wii?
At $50+ a pop, seems like a waste to get 2 guitars for each game. If you’ve heard anything on this, would love the feedback.
-2mr.questions July 7, 2008
Is it really true that the GH3 controllers don’t work with rockband???
-2If that’s true, I’m in big trouble because I really want the game, just bought 2 GH3 guitars for it, and I don’t want to spend another $50 just to play the game…
Squirds July 13, 2008
Unfotunately, no guitars are compatible between RockBand and Guitar Hero on wii, only on the Xbox 360 version. I’ve had the Wii version of Rockband since the day it came out, and I have to say I’m rather disappointed. Considering the hype surrounding the game and what I had seen, I thought I would love it, but I actually haven’t played much cause I don’t really like it. I was really used to playing Guitar Hero 3, so when I got to RB, I didn’t feel comfortable on the guitar ; the part with the strum and whammy bar is fine, it’s the frets I had trouble with. They actually cover the whole neck of the guitar in width which makes it hard on expert to play without hitting other frets (on complicated parts of certain songs). Maybe it’s the way I play, but I’m a lot less comfortable with it then the ones for GH. I didn’t really like the interface of the game either, looking rather simple and ‘botched’ compared to the guitar hero interface (the designs of meters, where things are placed on screen, the design of the guitar neck where you see your notes go by, the design of the notes themselves, etc.). Still, I decided to play guitar first, since I was pretty good at GH, i told myself it would be the easiest way to unlock every song.
I started on hard, but since I played expert on GH, it was far too easy so I put it on expert and went through the whole set list in one afternoon. Then I tried a drum career. Since I’m a drummer, i put the setting to hard. But the songs I knew were missing a lot of the bass drum kicks (mostly) and other drum hits so i put it on expert. I didn’t do the whole career cause I got tired of it after 6 or 7 blocks of songs.
For a drummer, the drumming isn’t as intuitive as I hoped it would be. You play a lot less by feeling than by what you see on screen… even when you know the song you’re playing (all the drummers will understand what I mean when they try it). Maybe I’m asking for too much, but with each drum pad changing from hi-hat to tom to crash, it makes you wonder where they’re going to make you hit. Most of the times I missed, I really was following what was on screen in terms of rythm but my hand went for a different pad because it felt like ” that’s where the cymbal would have been if I had been playing a real drum kit “. But still, in terms of instruments, it’s the closest you get to the real thing since every beat is actually a pad you have to hit. So if you want to learn to play drums, you can learn how to move each arm and leg independently with this.
A big downside to the game : the lack of emphasis on the career mode and unlockables for the wii makes it less appealing to want to get through with it. I wasn’t enough into singing to start a career, although I did enjoy singing when I played with a bunch of friends. Plus, in my opinion, there aren’t any technical downsides to the singing experience in RockBand.
The really good part of the game is band playing. A lot of fun, no matter what the downsides of the game are, the multiplayer is really solid and a lot of fun compared to single player modes. But let’s say you can’t make much of a party night without hearing the same songs coming back over and over again.
All the instruments respond really well, and I had no trouble plugging any of them in (plus the white drums are really sweet), but it is a rather gimped version of the game. If you have the choice on which console to get this game, I’d recommend going for the XBOX 360 version since the gameplay experience is more complete, you can play with GH controllers, and all the donwloadable songs make it that much more fun to play, and there’s a lot of variety for every taste (even hardcore songs to download and scream your lungs to when you’re the singer… really hilarious). But all in all, if you’ve really enjoyed guitar hero and/or only own a Wii, I’d suggest waiting for Guitar Hero 4 with the drums and mic, compose your owns songs, create your characters, etc. It looks a little more promising for Wii owners then RockBand is. But for those who really like Rockband and want to stick with it, there’s a little hope for a better game since RockBand 2 is coming out this fall. Let’s just hope they’ve upped their game for the Wii.
+2Libbi M August 26, 2008
My daughter is 10 and wants an “electric guitar” for christmas. Since she’s never played guitar I thought a GH or RB game for the Wii would be neat. I don’t play the Wii and I am clueless about which game I should get for her. What do you guys recommend?
-2ren September 16, 2008
GH is fun but if she wants to play guitar, by all means, get her a real guitar and some lessons. Don’t do that to your kid. Tell her to practice every day for 15 minutes and you’ll get her a gift after a couple months, then get her GH for fun. DO NOT use it as a substitute for a real guitar.
+4vicky October 14, 2008
just brought rock band for the wii loving it lol
Neutralbit gutted cant use rock band guitar to play gh3 has brought the game cheap and decided to wait for rockband to come out if anyone does find out how u can use it would really appreciate it :D xx
Ryan Jones October 18, 2008
Has anyone in the world ran into a problem where the rock band guitar (Wii) doesn’t respond whatsoever? I put in fresh batteries, switch on the back is ON, and no LEDs flash, no response. I’ve looked for loose connections inside the guitar, different batteries, switch on and off, googled a hundred different phrases and haven’t found this issue yet. I’m so baffled that the guitar wouldn’t even at least flash a LED at me. I’m getting ready to chuck the POS. Any ideas or sites would be greatly appreciated!
+2Christy Myers October 23, 2008
i think rock band wii is a good game, the drums look so cool in white, also people said that the PS2 version of rock band was better just because of the band world tour but personaly the graphics on the PS2 version are pretty lame and the wii graphics look identical to the 360 and PS3 versions. Rock Band has just came out in britain so its really popular so yeah i would give Rock Band Wii a solid 4 out of 5 gears :D
Neutralty November 7, 2008
[quote comment="44009"][quote comment="43950"]Heyy, I just got Rock Band for the Wii, and so far I love it, but my family & I can’t seem to get the guitar to work? We’ve plugged everything in correctly, we’ve done everything the instructions said! But the guitar just keeps blinking (where the blue light should be in the 1, 2, or 3 column like on the Wii remote) Can you please help me in figuring out how to get it to work?! Please help me![/quote]
Yeah, I was starting to panic over this one, too. Just make sure the dongle and the drums and mic are plugged into the USB hub, then Reset the Wii. It should pick it up; the dongle’s blue light will start to flash immediately after the Wii is reset. Then press the white button on the guitar and it should connect to the dongle near-instantaneously.[/quote]
Hi i am having a simular problem. I got Rock Bank and just the WII wireless rock guitar PG-Wi093. All i get when i plug it in is the mirophone but it wont let do any thing with the guitar. Any suggestions….
Neutralthanks
Ty
katy November 11, 2008
Can the drums from rock band be used with Guitar Hero World Tour?
NeutralAriel H December 20, 2008
So i was snooping around, and i am getting rock band wii for christmas..
Neutralbut frum the sounds of it.. its not that amazing
just wanting some input of what people think
Tami December 24, 2008
Does anyone know if the dongle for PS2 Rock Band works with the Wii Rock Band guitars????
thanks
Neutralmichele December 25, 2008
[quote comment="43950"]Heyy, I just got Rock Band for the Wii, and so far I love it, but my family & I can’t seem to get the guitar to work? We’ve plugged everything in correctly, we’ve done everything the instructions said! But the guitar just keeps blinking (where the blue light should be in the 1, 2, or 3 column like on the Wii remote) Can you please help me in figuring out how to get it to work?! Please help me![/quote]
Neutralhow do you connect it we can’t get ours to work at all if you can please help my little boy is going crazy
michele December 25, 2008
hey i need help hooking up the rock band on our wii
NeutralBrianna December 25, 2008
[quote comment="53855"][quote comment="44009"][quote comment="43950"]Heyy, I just got Rock Band for the Wii, and so far I love it, but my family & I can’t seem to get the guitar to work? We’ve plugged everything in correctly, we’ve done everything the instructions said! But the guitar just keeps blinking (where the blue light should be in the 1, 2, or 3 column like on the Wii remote) Can you please help me in figuring out how to get it to work?! Please help me![/quote]
Yeah, I was starting to panic over this one, too. Just make sure the dongle and the drums and mic are plugged into the USB hub, then Reset the Wii. It should pick it up; the dongle’s blue light will start to flash immediately after the Wii is reset. Then press the white button on the guitar and it should connect to the dongle near-instantaneously.[/quote]
Hi i am having a simular problem. I got Rock Bank and just the WII wireless rock guitar PG-Wi093. All i get when i plug it in is the mirophone but it wont let do any thing with the guitar. Any suggestions….
Neutralthanks
Ty[/quote]
Im having the same problem!!!! its not working.
melissa December 25, 2008
I figured it out!! Go to remote control settings in the menu. That is where u add your remotes in the P1, P2 slots by pushing 1 and 2 button at the same time. Do them separately. Then the whole band should work> good luck
NeutralMiguel December 25, 2008
Hey i just bought guitar hero world tour i dont know if its better that rockband2?
NeutralDo u have too plug in a controler for each instrument like in guitar hero?
James December 28, 2008
[quote comment="43950"]Heyy, I just got Rock Band for the Wii, and so far I love it, but my family & I can’t seem to get the guitar to work? We’ve plugged everything in correctly, we’ve done everything the instructions said! But the guitar just keeps blinking (where the blue light should be in the 1, 2, or 3 column like on the Wii remote) Can you please help me in figuring out how to get it to work?! Please help me![/quote]
NeutralYou need to pair the guitar and the wireless usb connector. Press the button on the connector and then press the little white button on the guitar. They should be paired. Good luck and I hope this works.
3 Girls Band January 1, 2009
We cannot get our Rock Band to play guitar solo. It only lets you play the microphone solo. Any suggestions?
Neutral