Rob is an awesome Harmonix fan we met at PAX that has been writing pieces on his blog about Rock Band Blitz. He was kind enough to write something just for us! We'll be posting these Power-up Profiles for each Power-up over the next few weeks. For more information about how the Power-ups work, visit our YouTube channel.
Patrolling the mean streets and note highways of Rock City is the ultimate Power-up duo. They slide across the hood of their patrol car, generate massive points and high scores, shakedown criminals, and even take the time to help out a stray puppy or two. These two officers are Johnny “Jackpot” O’Dynamite and Danny “The Doubler” Steele; and both share a passion for serving/protecting the registered voting populace.
While they are out there knocking down perps from the leaderboards and busting up points, you are their Police Chief, keeping tabs on their performance, giving commands, and threatening to take their badges if they cross the line just one more time.
On one side we have Jackpot O’Dynamite. Always playing by his own rules, Jackpot doesn’t always understand the risks of a situation before diving head first. His goal is to get triple the points generated when he is active. All he needs is just enough Overdrive in the meter to cross the line and he can be activated and called upon to jump into action. He can even wait until the meter is even fuller and get more initial time to rack up points, but since he can extend the time in which he is active by picking up more silver notes along the highway he’s happy no matter which technique is used.
Jackpot is a Power-up where precision is key when he is in action. Any missteps and he’s out of the game. No points and nothing to show but a partially used Overdrive meter. If there is still enough meter to summon him again, all it takes is another activation to start another try. But when he is active, you have to decide how to handle the note highway. Switching lanes is risky but easier with Blast Notes and Synchrony. Jumping too early and just missing a note by a mere millisecond can lead to a lost triple multiplier and if you’ve been keeping a streak going for thirty seconds and a big number is about to get added to your score, everyone’s heart breaks a little when it’s all lost.
You can use Jackpot along with any other Note Power-up, but he’s best used not in correlation with things like Runaway, Flame, or Pinball. They are great at getting points but trying to balance hitting the Pinball or chasing down Runaway can be VERY risky when trying to keep from missing a single note. Also, the best places to send Jackpot out are on songs that you personally feel confident about conquering or have simple but intense sections. Songs like “My Best Friend’s Girl” by The Cars and “Times Like These” by the Foo Fighters provide great repeating riffs that are due up for some triple multiplying risky Jackpot action with minimal risk.
Then there’s the guy who plays by the rules, “The Doubler” Steele. Formally known as Point Doubler, this Power-up is simple enough. Send him into action when you have enough Overdrive and no matter what you do, he’ll still provide a solid double score for that amount of time. You can feed him more silver Overdrive notes and keep him in action longer.
He doesn’t clean notes off the highway so you will have to worry about finishing combos but pairing with Blast Notes can help some. Point Doubler can even double your combo bonuses at the end of your run if you have him active. So it is a good idea to save just the minimal amount to activate at the last second before arriving at the end of the song. He will work with pretty much any other Power-up since he doesn’t require much more work than just generating points. Put him into action on a song with lots of note-heavy and score generating sections like “Runaway” by Bon Jovi.
While they both do the same thing in many ways, both of these Power-ups have their own signature styles. If you like to not stress too much about missing notes but still like points, buddy up with the good cop, Point Doubler. If you want to weigh the risks of losing everything and winning everything, then take the bad cop Jackpot for a spin. Either way, you’re keeping Rock City just a little bit safer for all of us.
