Rock Revolution PS3 Review

Rock Revolution

PS3 Review
Developer: Zoe Mode
Publisher: Konami

Konami in the past was the king of the music genre. Before we had Guitar Hero and Rock Band, we got our fix of music games from Konami in the form of Dance Dance Revolution, as well as Karaoke Revolution in North America, along with drum game sand such overseas. Konami is back once again to try and regain that throne with Rock Revolution.

Unfortunately for Konami though, Rock Revolution is not the game that is going to take away from what Guitar Hero and Rock band have managed to accomplish.

If anything, those who play Rock Revolution are going to appreciate Guitar Hero and Rock Band that much more.

An important mention is that for the purpose of this review, we tested out Rock Revolution with the Rock Band and Guitar Hero drum/guitars, due to the fact we did not have a Rock Revolution drum set to test them on.

The whole idea behind a music game such as this is to make the gamer feel like they are actually playing an instrument or are in a band. This does not happen in Rock Revolution though, not even for a moment. The whole layout of the game feels like a crappy game and nothing more.

Whether you play Rock Revolution on the drums, guitar, or bass, the game just doesn’t pack any type of excitement. Granted, it is most enjoyable on the guitar and bass, but even these seem like poor attempts at re-creating the fun Guitar Hero is known for.

The music on top of it is really not all that great either, as they are all covers. There are some decent tracks here though such as Magic Man from Heart and Kiss Me Deadly from Lita Ford, but not enough to really attract you away from the competition.

Rock Revolution fails further in re-creating this band experience as you never actually get to customize or create your own character. You get to pick a character from a pre-set list, name the band, and you are off into career mode.

The game plays in a similar manner to other music games but the notes are in 2D instead of 3D like in Guitar Hero or Rock Band. This makes them harder to read, as they come at you much faster. On top of that, the strings of notes are not put together well no matter what difficulty you are on.

The main feature in Rock Revolution is the career mode, as you start off in a band and try to work your way up. The career mode is challenging and if the game was more fun to play would be quite good, as it is put together well.

You can do a variety of things in the career mode, and will have to do more than just completing songs to move forward. This includes trying to get certain point totals, impress the crowd, etc.

One thing I have to mention that the game does well in terms of innovation is that it actually lets you get creative.

You can get creative during songs, and you can also create your own tracks, even though you do not get to actually use them in the game once they are completed outside of the jam session mode.

There is an online aspect to Rock Revolution as you are allowed to play with up to 3 people online, no vocals though as they are not included in the game.

The online mode is decent as you get to do a battle against another band of 3 people, but the fun does not last all that long.

Overall, Rock Revolution falters on many different levels and is clearly the weakest out of the 3 music games, far behind both Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Unfortunately, unless you are absolutely obsessed with rhythm music games, and love Konami, I have to recommend that you avoid this one. There is just too much competition out there to make Rock Revolution worth your time.

Graphics: 6.0 A decent looking game with nice band animations, but the crowds are rough.

Audio: 6.5 The cover songs featured are decent as the song list may impress some. The instruments do not sound very impressive at all though.

Gameplay: 4.0 Where the game falls apart is with how poorly it plays, it is just not fun.

Replay Value: 4.0 If you actually enjoy it you may play it for a good amount of time. I doubt you will be able to get that into it though.

Final Score: 5.0

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