I played TB:RB on demo pod in HMV today (UK) - First Impressions

[The Giddy Man]

Hi all,

For those of us in the UK I don't think we have many (if any) shops that are likely to sell the game 5+ days early like our US cousins.

With this in mind I got extremely excited this afternoon whilst browsing the games section in my local HMV to find they'd been so kind as to put TB:RB on their Wii demo pod (unfortunately with only the RB1 instruments to play with).

For those who are fit to burst on Wednesday I just thought i'd share my first impression of the game - it should be noted i usually play RB/RB2 on PS3.

Firstly, i really like the new style of menus - it is a refreshing change from the style of RB1/RB2 which didn't really introduce a drastic change for us. Also Harmonix have obviously used the last 12 months to develop a few changes to what options they give the player at the menus - this was evident in options such as 'change difficulty', etc.

I played 2 songs from the setlist (prob the 2 i was most looking forward to). 'Twist & Shout' and 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (which included 'Little Help from my Friends'). I only played lead guitar, but my main observation was that the charting was alot easier than alot of RB songs - I got 100% on 'T&S' and actually quit out of Sgt Pepper about 15% through to increase the difficulty.

For the record I usually play on Medium guitar/drums mostly (casual player). However, I did find Medium difficulty bordering on boring for me, hence the mid-song increase to Hard.

Despite the apparent ease of the charting within the game, i definitely think the enjoyment from this game will come not from beating difficult songs, but from playing Beatles songs that alot of us have grown up with and will enjoy playing with our friends.

Finally, I found the general graphical style fo the game to be good and despite the Wii's limitations i was impressed - I look forward in playing the game in HD though when my PS3 bundle arrives on Wednesday.

That said, I hope those of you reading this found this of interest, and if you are desperate to play the game, check out your local HMV. I was certainly not expecting to play the game today, but am glad i did, I might actually pop down again for a game tomorrow if I find I have nothing better to do...! Hahaha...

[mva5580]

The "easier" charting of this game is going to do more for HMX than people realize.

There are going to be MANY people who buy TB:RB who have never played one of these games before, and this will be the perfect game for those people to cut their teeth on as A) they will absolutely love to play the songs/enjoy the game, and B) the easier charting of the easy/medium difficulty levels will give those people confidence to keep playing and then move on to Rock Band 2 because once they do that, they'll be good enough at the game as a whole to where they won't feel intimidated.

This game is going to be a massive win for HMX all-around. They'll gain the respect of main-stream people with the clear amount of love/effort that was put in to it. and first-timers will see it as a perfect opportunity to learn how to play the game.

[The Giddy Man]

I totally agree with your point there.

Incidentally, whilst i was playing the game there was another customer in the shop talking to a so-called sales assistant in the games area - this customer was querying whether TB:RB would be more suitable for her 9/10-year old kids who had RB/GH, but found the songs too "heavy rock orientated". The sales assistant said probably not, but didn't really know what else to recommend. Being the RB/GH geek that I am, I interrupted them and told the woman that she should wait for Band Hero and/or Lego Rock Band because the song lists were slightly more tailored towards a younger demographic (in my opinion).

My point being, I can't see TB:RB being the monster hit with young kids this christmas, but is alot more likely to be bought for peoples parents who will be familiar and enjoy the songs.

[varsas]

My point being, I can't see TB:RB being the monster hit with young kids this christmas, but is alot more likely to be bought for peoples parents who will be familiar and enjoy the songs.

I agree with this point. Lego RB will hit the lower age group, TB:RB will hit the older age group while RB1/RB2 continues to cater for the everyone else; it's just too bad that in the UK we still don't have RB2

[spikie]

Was this in the Gateshead store. I played a couple of songs

If you live near the metro centre you can play it there