Rock Band: Best Rhythm Game For The iPhone

Rock Band iPhone_1

Rock Band iPhone_1

Rock Band [rating: 5/5]

The rhythm based music game genre has been going from strength to strength over the last few years from the monster cross platform selling Guitar Hero in it’s many forms to the iPhone touch classic of Tap Tap Revenge there is never a reason to not be rocking out and tapping along to your favorite tracks. And now the game that pushed this style of game on the consoles is now being launched on the iPhone/iPod touch by EA Mobile. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce to you the one, the only Rock Bank!

Everyone should know the premise of this style of game, you choose a song and in time with the music you tap the screen to build multipliers and ultimately the highest score that you can. The great thing about Rock Band though is you get four games in one with the option to play Bass, Guitar, Drums or Vocals, however it must be noted that with this version the vocal part of the game is not played by singing but also by tapping on the screen.

Rock Band iPhone

Rock Band iPhone

The handling of the vocal part of the game is pretty much the only difference in this immaculate port of this game. Playing the solo game allows you the Quick Play option but also allows you to take your band on Tour where your aim is to attract as many fans as possible, travel the world and most importantly unlock some of the 20 songs that aren’t initially available.

Talking of songs the is a good mix of tracks here including the Beastie Boys, Motorhead, Foo Fighters, Blondie and more. Just like the full version of this title there is also a Music Store to add additional content too. At present there are 6 music packs to download each containing 2 songs, one is a free pack while the rest will set you back 99c each. It remains to be seen if the music packs for the portable version of Rock Band will have a similar amount of content as the other versions.

Rock Band iPhone_2

Rock Band iPhone_2

For those of you that want to fulfill the true spirit of the game and rock out with friends there are options to connect locally over Bluetooth which works perfectly and is great fun or to connect via Facebook. The Facebook option is a little different with the band members not participating in real time but instead playing their tracks interdependently before you are updated via the in messaging to enable you to view your scores and how many online fans you have gained too.

So as you can see there has been a lot packed into this app and it’s all presented beautifully too with the same style, graphics and sound effects being utilized through-out the game it’s as if you’ve zipped up your console and placed it in your pocket.

Rock Band iPhone_3

Rock Band iPhone_3

The game plays as you would expect it too, the ‘beats’ scroll down the screen for the Bass, Guitar and Drums and while only the virtual buttons change all three over their unique take on each of the songs. The only difficulty I found was that as the buttons are virtual it can be a little easy at times to miss a note at a vital time.

The vocal aspect of the game plays horizontally across the screen and while it’s the same technique of tapping in time with the vocals this reviewer found it much more difficult than the vertical aspect of the three other modes.

Navigation system not only looks great but is also simple to use and as with the rest of the application if you are used to the console versions of the game you will find yourself perfectly at home here.

My recommendation is whether you are playing Rock Band on your own, over Bluetooth with friends or online via Facebook, plug in your head phones and rock out to the best rhythm game on the iPhone/iPod touch.

The Good

  • Perfect port of the console game
  • Seem less Bluetooth multi player
  • Great range of tracks (with the promise of more to come)

The Not So Good

  • It’s all good!

Reviewed By: Craig Willis

Video by: touchArcade.com

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