It was inevitable: The phenomenally popular rhythm game Rock Band has jammed into the phenomenally popular iPhone. Indeed, the mobile version shows loyalty to the console title, delivering elegant graphics, flashy animations and, of course, a store to purchase more tunes. But the iPhone game is loyal to a fault, because the Rock Band experience just doesn’t translate very well onto the handset’s touchscreen interface. Plus, it’s too expensive.
Rock Band for iPhone retains the interface in which colorful “notes” scroll down a screen, requiring you to match them once they reach the bottom. In the iPhone version, you tap the respective color for a note to play it — same gameplay for each of the four instruments: lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and microphone. You heard right: even for the microphone you’re tapping notes to sing; you don’t actually get to sing into the iPhone’s microphone (which seems like a missed opportunity).
The gameplay sounds easy, but those skinny, rectangular bars representing the notes are pretty difficult to see on the iPhone’s screen as opposed to a large television. It’ll take some time — lots of missed notes and failed “performances” — getting used to the game, and bottom line, it just isn’t that fun. (Disclosure: I speak from the perspective of a Rock Band enthusiast who plays expert mode on all the instruments for the PlayStation 3 game.)
Playing guitar is especially rough. In the console version, there are many incidents where you must hold multiple frets and strum to play a chord. The iPhone’s touchscreen is too small for these gestures. It creates an ergonomically awkward experience, which isn’t anything like the joy of shredding a plastic guitar for the console system.
And then there’s price. The Rock Band Music Store (right) sells songs in packs of 2 for $1. For the console version, tracks costs $2 a piece, which seems like a reasonable amount to pay to entertain a living room full of guests. But $0.50 per track to tap around to songs on your iPhone? Over time, including the cost of the game ($10), you could be spending a pretty hefty amount.
The result of Rock Band for iPhone unfortunately appears to be the case where a big software developer (Electronic Arts) believes its game is so popular that it needn’t be modified much in order to attract mobile customers. We think it needs some adjustments in gameplay and pricing to be a compelling iPhone game. Currently it’s no. 3 in Apple’s list of Top Grossing apps in the App Store, but we doubt this will stay popular over a long term.
We’re willing to bet most iPhone customers will stick with Tap Tap Revenge, which demonstrates a smarter understanding of how to create an enjoyable rhythm game for the iPhone. For notes, rather than squint-inducing rectangles, Tap Tap Revenge displays glowing dots, which are much easier to see and tap on the iPhone’s touchscreen. The latest version, Tap Tap Revenge 3, is priced at a reasonable $1 and introduces a music store charging 50 cents per track as well.
Update: Corrected an error about song pricing for Rock Band.
Product Page [Electronic Arts]
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It responds fairly well to your concentration levels.
Some may find the game boring after the novelty wears off.
The $80 price tag is steep.
