Guitar Hero Cravings Satiated by Rock Band

I walked into Future Shop the other day, expecting to drop $100 on Guitar Hero 3 and browse some 42" LCD flat panels. Instead, I dropped $200 on Rock Band, browsed a very paltry selection of 42-inchers and lugged the mammoth Special Edition box two blocks back to my car.

I really wasn't expecting to find a mountain of Rock Band Special Edition boxes stacked up in the aisles. I had resigned myself to waiting another couple months before the supplies of the game normalized. In the meantime, I would be honing my guitar chops on GH3 so that when it came time to go on a rock band world tour, I'd just migrate the excellent GH3 over and use the RB guitar as the backup guitar for the bass player.

As it turned out, all the major retails chains are woefully understocked on Guitar Hero 3 and I supposed I just lucked out on this particular day. Two bills is a lot of money to spend on a single game. Fortunately, Rock Band is no mere game. It's the ultimate party game; the perfect synthesis of a casual game for the hardcore gamer. The wide appeal of it can be credited to any number of things, be it the wonderfully constructed peripherals (the drum kit is compact and light and avoids the feel of a cheaply made Fischer-Price toy), the dazzling song list (by my tastes, it puts the Guitar Hero 3 song list to shame) or the stylish presentation (the graphics are less detailed than those found in GH3, but the visual design is top-notch).

I'd chime in with a more complete review of the game, but really, does the world need another gushing Rock Band review? My only beef now has nothing to do with the game itself. Again, the technical issues with Xbox Live rear their ugly heads in the way I've been thwarted when I try to buy some of the extra tracks provided as DLC. I was all ready to buy "My Sharona", "Interstate Love Song" and "Buddy Holly" but all I got handed was the dreaded circular Xbox loading icon.