Guitar Hero World Tour vs. Rock Band 2

The past 11 years have witnessed a dramatic evolution in the music gaming genre. Titles like PaRappa the Rapper and Frequency brought rhythm games out of the dark, and 2005’s release of Guitar Hero elevated music gaming to a whole new level. Since then, the genre has exploded, and Rock Band has become perhaps the most innovative music game to date–but there may be competition fast approaching: developers Neversoft and Harmonix look to keep the evolutionary ball rolling with their announced sequels to last year’s killer games, Guitar Hero III and Rock Band.

These announcements came within days of each other, and with that, the competition begins. Gamers have a hell of a decision to make come next Fall: will they want to give Guitar Hero a chance to even the score? Or will Rock Band have a continuous encore?

Both titles boast a slew of improvements and new features to their franchises, some of which have yet to be fully disclosed. Guitar Hero World Tour has offered more in depth info and coverage than Rock Band 2, so let’s dive into some of its details that could shape gamers’ decisions between the two.

Guitar Hero World Tour has been totally redesigned to incorporate some of the advancements that Rock Band has made. Translation: you can now sing and play the drums. One major improvement that Neversoft has implemented is a more realistic drum setup. Their rig will feature three velocity-sensitive drum pads, two elevated cymbals, a bass pedal–and it’s completely wireless. The microphone is almost identical to Rock Band, but there really isn’t much that can be improved here apart from the in-game effects. The guitar, though, has seen a massive makeover, as it now features a touch pad on the lower neck. The touch pad offers gamers more “improvisational’ freedom, allowing for slides, tapping, and extended creativity within the music creator.

That’s right, you read that correctly: Guitar Hero World Tour will also feature a music creator. Gamers will have the ability to create their own virtual guitar riffs, groovy bass lines and thunderous drummings. Although vocals cannot be added, this creator is extremely in-depth. On top of more instruments and a music creator, GH will also be adding a ‘World Tour’ mode, which allows players to form and fully customize their band and its rockers. Add all these components to an 85-song set list with online functionality, and you have one hell of a Rock Band competitor.

Confident in their accomplishments, Harmonix stands by their game and noted that they were the first to implement a lot of the “new” Guitar Hero features.

Although few major details have been released on the features of Rock Band 2, a few details are known. The biggest news on the Rock Band front is that downloadable content from Rock Band 1 will be fully compatible with Rock Band 2, this is sure to keep a large majority of the Rock Band community intact.

Harmonix also noted that Rock Band gave them a great stepping stone to build Rock Band 2 on, stating that they are looking to streamline and perfect the rhythm game experience. The Rock Band 2 set list claims to be a “who’s who” of Rock n’ Roll, with only a few songs rumored. One change that is known is the appearance of the guitar. Harmonix stuck with its Fender partnership and recreated its guitar controller to be wireless, larger and more realistic-looking.

It’s not fair to definitively say which game will be superior to the other at a time when details are still unknown, stay tuned for more updates after E3.