Rock Band

Rock Band was created by Harmonix, the same people responsible for the original Guitar Hero. That’s a seal of quality for music games, and Rock Band on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 has proven a huge hit.

The core gameplay has been translated quite faithfully to the Wii. You still play along to famous rock songs using a plastic guitar and other instruments, strumming and bashing along to symbols on screen. The instruments themselves are almost identical to other versions, though you should be aware that the pack containing the guitar, microphone and drums must be purchased separately from the game, so it’s significantly more expensive than most other titles.

You get a generous 63 songs with Rock Band Wii, and this is including five extra tracks that were only available as downloads to other consoles. Trouble is unlike the Xbox and Playstation editions there is no way to download any more tracks, in fact Rock Band Wii lacks any kind of online functionality.

You can’t hop online and play with other bands or individuals and there’s no online store for download tracks. This is a pretty big chunk of the game missing, but it’s not the only thing absent from Rock Band Wii – you don’t get the World Tour feature either, a game mode that allowed you to create and run a band.

It compares  very poorly to other versions in terms of visuals, as well. On the Xbox you’ll see your band playing along on stage as you do, but the Wii lacks the power needed to drive this and so the only thing you ever see is a heavily compressed pre-rendered video.

Verdict: 73%

The core Rock Band gameplay is still intact here and it’s just as much fun to play. If you’re happy with this and don’t want to download any more tracks then it’s shortcomings won’t matter. It is disappointing if you’ve played other versions though, with a lot of extra features cut down or removed completely.