Fanboy wars are nothing new to gamers and the industry. On what seems to be a daily basis, gamers, developers and hardware manufacturers engage in a virtual “my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours” where one product is lauded and competing products are described as inferior, outdated, or homosexual. And surely, one of the larger points of fanboy hysteria this holiday season will be surrounding the influx of music games releasing in the next month.

Looking over the schedule, the fall will have seen the release of Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Revolution, Wii Music, and innumerable SingStar/Karaoke-style games. With so many publishers turning to the genre, it’s no surprise that music games are surpassing the sales of sports titles. So let’s take a look at the two major contenders: Rock Band 2 and GH:WT. And surprisingly, they might as well be two different genres.

Rock Band 2 is a music game. GH:WT is a game about playing music.

You may say to yourself: “Ok asshole, now you’re just splitting hairs”. But there is a strange delineation between the games that appears as you play the games.

Song Selection: One of the major changes in the latest version of Rock Band is the new Song Listing screen. Album art is displayed, as well as year of release. The list is sortable by just about any dimension you could ask for (Artist, Decade, Source, and so on). Also important, difficulty is broken out by instrument. Finally, all songs are listed in one list: Downloads as well as on disc and imported content.

Guitar Hero’s list is much improved. Artist and year of release are displayed, but no difficulty rankings are listed. Downloadable content is relegated to a separate list, so players need to know where the song came from. This seems like an oversight and I hope it’s addressed in a patch.

Worthy of mention: Both games will allow you to create a setlist of songs to be played in one sitting, without going back to the music list. While Rock Band 2 does not seem to have a limit on number of songs, GH:WT will limit you to a six song set. I guess you’re an opening act, kid.

Note Charting:  Neversoft took heat for the charting on some songs in Guitar Hero 3. Charts were substantially more difficult than in prior GH entries, and certainly more difficult than Rock Band’s guitar tracks. Fans quickly chose sides: Some chose the more “natural” feel of Rock Band’s charts, others preferred the more “challenging” Guitar Hero tracks.

In the latest iterations, both companies seem to have addressed concerns, albeit in radically different ways. Harmonix decided to include songs of odd rythms, intricate guitar lines, or just stupid fast (Bodhisttava, Panic Attack, and the craptacular Visions). These are songs that are incredibly difficult to play on a real instrument, and the difficulty translates over well.

Neversoft has also addressed criticism. Guitar tracks early in GH:WT feel easier than the prior game, and follow a more realistic depiction of guitar lines. However, Neversoft does throw in a bunch of “difficult for the sake of being difficult” parts in songs. A quick comparison of “The Middle”, a song common to both games, shows the difference in philosophies. Rock Band’s chart follows the chord changes fairly religiously, where Guitar Hero throws in changes to the note pattern while the same chord is being played. The design philosophy of “This is a game” or “This is a representation of the song” are evident throughought the note charts.

GH:WT also introduces multi-note sustains. This works as such: You will be required to fret and strum a green note, which will sustain for 10 seconds. You will then be required to hit other open notes, or to sustain and drop other notes during that time. Guitarists: Think of this as a hammer on and hold. It’s an interesting mechanic that is, unfortunately, not always used in situations where it matches the music. When it does line up and “make sense”, it’s a neat effect that brings a new (yet not necessarily better) feel to the game.

Finally, GH:WT also brings along solos for use with the touch pad, indicated by a purple line connecting the notes, and the notes themselves being translucent. As my living room is starting to look like a recording studio for the Fisher Price set, I won’t be picking up the new guitar, so I can’t comment on using the track pad.. Using this with the older generation allows for a hammer-on fest throughout the notes, not dissimilar from Rock Band’s solo modes. The difference being that any guitar can hammer on these notes, not just the specialized solo buttons. Again, a neat trick, but something you’ll likely continue playing like a normal line of notes.

Characters: Both games feature create a player modes this year. Harmonix seems to be content with the creator from Rock Band 1, as only a few handfuls of new clothing seems to be added. Neversoft has adeptly aped the feature, tweaking the selections along the way.

Of note in Guitar Hero, real “Rock Stars” make appearances during your set. If you’re the kind of person who gets off on seeing a digitized version of that guy from Blink-182, your $60 may not be better spent this holiday season. Again, this reinforces the difference of methodology between the games: Rock Band feels like you’re a touring band playing setlists. Guitar Hero feels like some rock fantasy where Billy Corgan comes on stage and says “I love playing in a band with _____”.
 
Worthy of note: The dumbass spawn of one of the Hungry Hungry Hippos and wrestling legend The Ultimate Warrior, also  known as the singer in GH3 (pictured), does not appear to be a character in GH:WT. I’m sure some idiot has already started an internet petition somewhere.   

Venues: Venues in the games stay true to prior iterations. Rock Band venues feel like plausible, lived-in bars and amphitheaters. These venues are sometimes interesting, sometimes dull, but always grounded in reality. Guitar Hero features highly-stylized, impossible to implement architecture with wacky, cartoony touches. The game goes over the top at times in a way that would match a story roadies would tell to get in a groupie’s pants. Overall it’s fun in a “suspension of disbelief” way.

Setlists: Both games come out of the gate with strong, diverse setlists that will simultaneously please and piss off prospective owners. I know I could have done without any Paramore songs on either game, but I’m sure I’m in the minority of pre-pubescent goth emo teens. If I was a pre-pubescent goth emo teen.

It’s worth noting that Rock Band has been steadily releasing downloadable content to the tune of at least 3 songs a week. GH3 was supported by infrequent downloadable content over its lifetime.

So, who “wins”? Now that each company has a game under their belt, it’s easier to make inferences about their design goals.

Rock Band 2 is a game that is incredibly faithful to the music being played in it. One gets the impression the developers at Harmonix look at their plastic guitars and think “We have 5 buttons on this thing, how do we map how the song is played to this interface?”. The game seems to be reverent to the music included in the game, and faithful to the recreation of that music in the context of its controllers. 

Guitar Hero: World Tour is a game about the fantasy life of a rock and roll band, with a killer soundtrack. I can see Neversoft’s devs looking at their plastic guitars thinking “We have 5 buttons on this thing, how can we make a killer gaming experience out of it?”. While the music is just as good as Rock Band, the focus is on making a game experience first, then implementing the music as an asset.

With both sides approaching the problem (non-musically inclined people playing a game) from different philosophical angles, it’s easy to see that fanboys will have a strong argument for their flame wars, and both sides will be confident that their product is better.

Which would I recommend? That depends. Do you want a music game, or a game about playing music?

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