Rock Band preview Xbox 360

This month, we've gone hands-on with Rock Band, due out on Xbox 360 this spring, the rock music sim that's taken the PS3 by storm. It's your chance to headline a massive stadium gig from your own living room - the rush you'll get when it all comes together for you and your bandmates is enormous. With Guitar Hero already out there, anyone who, like us, is a fan of that game will definitely want to get their hands on Rock Band. Find out more in our hands-on preview now!
Click here to read our Rock Band preview for Xbox 360 now!

Rock Band preview for Xbox 360
There's one big problem with Rock Band - though developers Harmonix certainly won't see it as such. You see, if you're anything like us, then you're probably a big fan of Guitar Hero. And yet, once you play Rock Band, it's unlikely you'll want to play Guitar Hero again. Little wonder that Activision kicked up such a fuss when it emerged that punters in the US were buying their game purely to get an extra guitar to play bass in Harmonix's game. The incompatibility issue - thanks to Activision's refusal to allow a patch for the GH peripherals to work on Rock Band - is only a problem for the PS3 version, meaning that Xbox 360 owners will be able to enjoy the full four-player experience as it was intended, as soon as it reaches the UK. Hurrah.

And what an experience it is. Quite simply, Rock Band is streets ahead of any other game in recreating the raw, sweaty atmosphere of a live music performance - and not only because, with three friends, you genuinely feel like an actual group, as opposed to just a single cog in a well-oiled rocking machine. Take the guitar mode alone, for example. The developer clearly has the total understanding of what it takes to play a musical instrument - here, even on the lowest difficulty setting, you rarely feel as if you're playing random notes which contribute to a performance, but simply a slightly moderated version of the full tune. If that means that playing in Expert mode is noticeably easier than on, say, Guitar Hero III, then at least you never feel like you're doing too much work.

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