Ups and Downs of LRB on Wii

[Rich T.]

Just bought Lego Rock Band for Wii, took it home after work and spent some time having a blast with it. So far I've played story mode through the Ghostbusters challenge and on to the Pirate ship, and I think I can make a decent judgement of how the Wii version fares...

First things first: Lego Rock Band is a wonderful, funny, charming, incredibly fun game. Its humor and good nature fill every moment, starting with the RB loadscreen silhouette parody and the awesome Lego version of the RB tiger. The story mode, with characters, pieces and objects constantly unlocking, is very hard to stop playing.

I love this game. Even on Wii...

For any curious Wii owners out there who haven't bought LRB yet, here's a rundown of what to expect from this version...besides the fact that Wii's edition is a standalone game with no DLC available.

The Good News: The game's creators took a look at what Wii can and can't do, and did a decent job of prioritizing to make sure we got a solid version of the game.

1) It plays great.
2) The Lego customization features are all present, and work perfectly.
3) The band and all characters look terrific.
4) Lighting effects in place.
5) Presentation's solid, with one weird exception (see below)...

The Bad News: (And it's not that bad) Stop watching those youtube videos of the 360 and PS3 versions. Pretend they don't exist, okay? This is the compromise we make for getting to play LRB on our Wii Sports Resort/Wii Fit/New Super Mario Bros. machine. The note highway looks awesome. The Lego Band looks great. The crowds...not as crowded. You did expect that, right? The venues themselves...Ugh. This is the part that took the biggest hit to keep the game playing smoothly. Blurry, grainy, fuzzy.

Your band's animations don't have the high frame rate you'll find on the other consoles, either. In the Wii version, gameplay animation looks a lot like stop-motion ala Nightmare Before Christmas. Considering they're Lego people, it actually looks rather natural....

That's about it, really. Not so bad. Oh, except for that thing I mentioned above--A weird glitch in the presentation: Each performance begins with dead silence. You see the venue, you see your band, you see the cheering crowd, and you hear...nothing. No sound at all until the song actually starts playing. Then all the crowd and ambient sounds come rushing in with the music. Blurry venues aside, this is the only thing that really bothers me. I can live with it: The game's still great (and at least the crowd sounds don't shut off when the song ends!) Still, I wonder what the issue was. RB2 and The Beatles have no problem at all in this department.

All in all, it holds up pretty well. Can't wait to play it some more: It's a keeper.

[GNFfhqwhgads]

You didn't mention how you get no DLC in the game and it doesn't export.

[ArchangelZero]

I still say Pi should have developed it instead.

[Boondocker]

You didn't mention how you get no DLC in the game and it doesn't export.

He did mention the DLC. I'd also argue that anyone who's stepped onto the forums knows that it doesn't export by now.

[Rich T.]

I still say Pi should have developed it instead.

A collaboration between Pi and TT would have been awesome. TT brought their Lego franchise expertise, and it shows: The humor in this game really makes it fly.

Still, one can't help but wonder if Pi would've made DLC possible and cleared up that weird sound issue at each song's start...

[ArchangelZero]

A collaboration between Pi and TT would have been awesome. TT brought their Lego franchise expertise, and it shows: The humor in this game really makes it fly.

Still, one can't help but wonder if Pi would've made DLC possible and cleared up that weird sound issue at each song's start...

That's exactly what I mean. Pi be the main developer, but have TT co-develop, that way we get the best Lego RB game possible.

[JRJathome]

The lack of DLC makes this essentially a track pack, but they want to sell it for the same price as the other consoles. It's a rip off and I refuse to buy.

[Rich T.]

The lack of DLC makes this essentially a track pack, but they want to sell it for the same price as the other consoles. It's a rip off and I refuse to buy.

I'm bummed about the lack of DLC too, but this is far more than just a track pack: It's a full-blown, lovingly-made Lego-tastic rock music comedy adventure. If you're at all a fan of the Lego universe, you'll have a ball. I just put another hour into it, and it's 100% entertaining, despite being hobbled in the DLC department.

Totally understand your pain, though.

[Finnulf]

I held out in hopes that they were going to try and knock our socks off with some kind of "don't be so negative" one-two punch... alas, all of the rumours are true. I am disappointed to miss out on the tracks in this game, but I refuse to spend one shiny Canadian penny on this insult. Clearly TT did not have their finger on the pulse of the Wii/RB fanbase.

[InsanityEx]

I'm sorry Rich T. Even if the game is "funny" and "works great on Wii", it's still missing so many core elements that made Rock Band a great series. Take a look at RB1, it "works well" and "plays well" but it was missing DLC and online therefore lots of people didn't get it. Now RB2 and TB:RB are sequels that IMPROVED over RB1 which is something that should happen. How can L:RB take a HUGE step backwards into the Wii RB1 period?! If I wanted a game on Wii that "works" and "looks good on Wii" with no online or DLC, I'd rather get Metroid Prime Trilogy.

And like someone else said before, let Pi make the Wii games from now on and NEVER let TTGames touch RB ever again!

EDIT: Having said that, I'll probably get the game just for the songs and the possibility that it might be exportable to the future "RB3". No rush, I'll get it when I have time and cash and might wait for a price drop or pick up a second hand copy.