Rock Band Blitz: A hardcore Rock Band players review.

[FairwoodStudios]

I am loving Rock Band Blitz, I was original only buying it for the songs but I've stayed for the actual game. I can't tell you how amazing it is, one of my favourites this year. But there is one problem...I remember some HMX member on the forums (can't remember who, so won't point fingers) said that when you first launch Blitz all your DLC has to be changed to Blitz songs once and that's it. I booted up the game for the first time, took like 10 minutes to get all the DLC done then it asked me to download the Soundtrack so I exited the game from the menu and went to the Dashboard, downloaded the soundtrack quick and booted the game again. I had to do the DLC thing again! So I've to do it everytime? If so, then that HMX guy was lying. It's such a pain in the ass too. That's the only gripe I have, and it's a big one.

Maybe it's cause I didn't play anything and went straight back to the Dashboard, but I doubt it.

(It's just creating a cache, not doing any conversion. That happens on the fly.)

You will always get that 'finding downloaded content' message, just like you always get it with RB3. But it shouldn't take very long after the first run. Things might've gotten odd with the timing of the soundtrack download and any sort of behind-the-scenes caching or any sort of funny stuff like that. Point is, you shouldn't see long start-up times every time.

[abynormal]

I loaded up my Xbox live account with enough points to download the game the day before it came out, and then hurricane Isaac took out my power Wednesday morning and I have yet to get it back. What's really maddening is that every block around my apartment complex has power.

Downloading Blitz will be one of the first things I do with my Xbox once power is restored.

[RickXTN]

I think the thing that is going to surprise people this week is the mental aspect.

In many previous rhythm games, the primary driver of success was your skill in timing and dexterity. While those are still important, there is much more of an emphasis on strategy and decision making. It is a very complex balancing act juggling between ranking up multipliers, collecting powerups, using overdrive, and playing note-dense sections.

Aside from some of the most difficult riffs, the actual playing of the notes is almost of secondary importance. Sure keeping a combo is important, but it is equally important that the combo is on the right instrument for the situation.

Agreed! Blitz is definitely more "video gamey" with a lot to juggle while playing... but it's "video gamey with a beat". :-) I find that on songs I normally hate when playing RB3 there's a certain enjoyment in Blitz.

[abynormal]

Finally got to play a few songs today (thank you siblings with power!). So far it's quite a lot of fun. I only wish I could somehow get my Rock Band characters involved (like having them cheer from the sidelines or something). I didn't five star anything yet so I still have quite a ways to go.

[Bront20]

Agreed! Blitz is definitely more "video gamey" with a lot to juggle while playing... but it's "video gamey with a beat". :-) I find that on songs I normally hate when playing RB3 there's a certain enjoyment in Blitz.

Yes, a lot of unpleasantness is mitigated by Blitz charting, and there are ways to avoid the unpleasant tracks in the game as well.

[CharityDiary]

I'm glad you liked it, Doc! I can't wait to play it, even though I am kind of afraid that I won't be playing it long after I beat all of the songs like Rock Band 3 :/

Yeah, I'm bored with it already. I've gold-starred all the songs, I've gotten all the achievements, and on every song I've played (300+), I've gotten a score near the very top of the leaderboards -- I have many #1 spots on DLC songs, and I had a few number #1s on the base songs, including Bang Your Head and Moves Like Jagger. And I don't even use Jackpot. It's a VERY simple game, once you figure it out.

It was worth the money, I guess, considering I've played 300 songs on the game. But I wouldn't give it the review this guy did... It's an okay game, it's just really simple, and it pretends to be really complex.