Article by Edwin Millheim United States Editor Impulse Gamer

Ubisoft’s Rocksmith has been going strong since release here in the U.S. and then gained a few strides with the world release. Bass support expanded our rock-ability and the DLC, while feeling like it’s being rationed out has been inspiring at times and a cautious ok let’s try this out and hope we like it at other times.

DLC is keeping us all coming back for more and we hope, the coffers of Ubisoft trickling enough to continue support and more DLC. March 19th is bringing us The Cure songs DLC. Like them, Love them, or even if you do not know them, the song choices have an awesome beat and will make any Rocksmith owner happy puppies to be flinging some notes and serving up these tasty tunes.

As things drop back into drip feed mode for the DLC though, it’s leaving the fans antsy to say the least. We would all love to see Rocksmith bring its song catalogue up exponentially. With a few tweaks of the sort feature and a song search that remembers the list filter settings you set it on, rather than having to reset it every time after playing a song.

Saying there are blatant things wrong with Rocksmith in my opinion would be wrong terminology; some people say there are problems with lag. I am sure the reports are right, but it’s not everyone. We here at Impulse Gamer United States have both the Xbox 360 version and the PC version for testing out and keeping up with DLC releases, and with the setting adjustments we have not had any lag issues. So I would say a more fare term here is weak choice and strong choices, the filter and song review section made a weak choice when it came to having to reset the filters every single time after playing a song. Riff repeater should have been more friendly, players should have been able to access it from anyplace in the game. Also for a game that wants you to practice, the lives in riff repeater where a weak choice. Song interface with scrolling through everything in the growing album and songs accumulated over time and more to come is just tedious. We say weak choice with lack of easier interface to browse songs and album covers. This comes back to song filters, not having to RESET the filter every time would be a HUGE step forward.

There are several things that where strong choices for the game, among them being the onstage look and feel with a crowd that is just there enough to provide the inner rock fan in us all to feel like we are on stage…but not so well defined as to be a distraction to the note highway…another strong choice in our opinion.

There have been rumbling and speculation about a possible Rocksmith 2 coming. It makes sense to make another game version if some of the tweaks for the original are just too much code to patch.

Let’s face it now, even though the folks and reps at Ubisoft/Rocksmith and the new game coming from Realta Entertainment Bandfuse: Rock Legends have all been highly professional and civil in the public and press towards each other, they will be in competition for gamers hard earned money. While I think music fans may well have a go at both titles, in the end it’s going to come down to who has the most enticing DLC in songs, on what franchise brings in and keeps bringing in the gamers money.

So let’s take a crack at some things we would like to see for Rocksmith or Rocksmith 2 and then break down what we know and or garnered about the upcoming Bandfuse: Rock Legends.

For both of the games we want to see that nice variety of songs of course, and the DLC. To keep the customers happy Ubisoft needs to make sure that songs are exportable somehow. Because let’s face it, it would be a kick in everyone’s collective groin to have Ubisoft stop support for Rocksmith, bring us Rocksmith 2 and have all of those DLC songs and main songs that we love to play and spent the money on not be usable any more with the latest game. Exportable songs would be a BIG thing for Ubisoft to implement.

Either way you cut it, Rocksmith would need to step it up; they went in the right direction with the weekly releases for a while there. When it comes to music most of the times it’s good to release something, anything. Learning to play new songs or even your favorites is the draw here. As with any game you cannot please everyone. Just take a look at the Rocksmith Facebook and official boards, anytime something new is announced you get the mix of happy to see it, and then the people who have fits because it’s not THE music they like. Then you get the folks who counter into the negative comments with a back handed negative by saying expand your music tastes to something not so simple blah blah blah…no one ever getting the fact that all music is a wonderfully spectacular thing. My tastes may not be your tastes in music and that’s ok. Yours may not be my tastes and that’s ok too. I have been introduced to things I would never have even considered listening to for one reason or the other and found… wow this is pretty fun. Or thought provoking, or…queue some kind of thought or emotional response.

So from some of the responses on line to DLC; both good and bad, as with any game or product, you just cannot please everyone.
Stepping up on the DLC and releasing more and sooner would be a solid step. Watching the TWEETS there are things being worked on that cannot be announced yet it seems so who knows what is coming?

More DLC and maybe more five plus one packs would be welcome indeed.

Keep the on stage feeling, it’s less distracting than some Music video and crap exploding and huge number points flashing on screen or the note highway.

Give us a snippet of song previews before purchasing the DLC. Sure, most have taken to searching the internet to hear some of the song from online or music videos, but a customer should not have to do that.

Better game documentation, be it on disk digital manual or not.

Keep the dynamic difficulty, or at least tweak it for gamers to turn it off and on.

DLC, DLC, DLC….We have seen the massive offerings from other music games. We have all drooled over the catalogue listings of songs. I mean really, get it together. All the DLC so far has been great. But really bring us the stuff like KISS, Hall & Oates, Molly Hatchet, Bon Jovi, Faith No More, the list goes on really. We are all happy with what they have brought so far, but there are some real iconic songs and bands that are (No offense to the button mashing games) but wasted on those fake guitar games. These artists’ songs more than deserve to be played by the fans on REAL guitars.

Now snapping at the tails of Ubisoft Rocksmith, we have the upcoming Bandfuse: Rock Legends from Realta Entertainment. Both had a presence at NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants show), this is a good thing for both products since they are not JUST pitching to gamers only. Established musicians would find some value to either one of these products. Rocksmith continues to have a strong following, though it tends to waver a bit when the DLC (Yup that again) slows down to a trickle.

I cannot speak for Bandfuse in regard to keeping up with guitar practice and use as a learning tool. Rocksmith though, is an excellent keep up with practice; learn new songs and even a great teaching tool. Guitar instructors can use Rocksmith to keep students practicing and use it in their curriculum. Such things as teaching of motor skills may be firmly in the realm of an actual guitar teacher, at least for now.

If Rocksmith was the real guitar game that evolved from a one celled music gaming realm of button mashing musical games and take its first steps from the primordial ooze… to become the number one species in the music gaming realm, then Bandfuse: Rock Legends may well be set up to be the first of the species to take to the skies. Let’s go over what we know bearing in mind that by release something’s may change and or new things implemented.

Bandfuse: Rock Legends supports up to four people playing at once. Support for guitar, Bass, and vocals/Mic are there right off the bat. (Does not come with a MIC) though the last we heard there MAY be some kind of package that includes some kind of guitar.

Something that seems obvious to me anyway, Realta is making a newer sleeker game/learning tool for guitar and Bass. They are also making a new and more exciting Karaoke experience too. It’s karaoke on Rock fuel. Playing with real guitar and Bass and singing… sign me up pal. Karaoke night with friends has just jumped into a whole new realm of freaking awesomeness.

Because really, who has not seen other fake guitar game nights at bars and restaurants? Well it’s looking like with Bandfuse: Rock Legends it’s time to stop playing with plastic and making it a little more real.

While it is cool that several famous musicians are part of this game, we hope it’s implemented in such a way to be focused on the gamers experience and not a glorified tribute to the music stars. So far it’s looking good to be all about the player. These rock Legends, such as Slash, work with the players throughout the game to give them a few pointers and out and out teaching of techniques. Ok so the coolness meter is starting to go off here; so far so good.

Some of the features announced and what we have seen in press releases so far are making this look like a solid contender. With a built in Amp and Pedal mode so the player can change the tones and get the sound they are looking for and this is a major plus.

Some of the features that have been announced in press releases and these are taken direct from Realta Entertainments press releases are as follows.
Quick Play is the place to easily play your favorite songs in BandFuse. It enables players to play all 55 on-disc songs when they buy the game (as all games are playable right from the start in BandFuse). Players can play a guitar or bass, and can sing with scored vocals or karaoke. In multiplayer, players can play with up to two guitarists, a bassist, and a vocalist (scored or karaoke). When playing songs in Quick Play, players can save their scores to leaderboards in order to compete against their friends and players around the world. Players can play on six different difficulty levels, and even a Pro Mode that enables players to earn 2X score for playing with no visible notes on the Note Highway.

In Tour Mode players can play through 10 different tours, progressing from a new player to a seasoned rockstar who travels the world. Players can earn fans and cash as they play each concert based on how well they do, and can optionally compete in a series of challenges in each tour to earn more cash to help them unlock better tours. Each tour gets progressively more difficult and has a themed style to it.

In Shred U, players can learn to play their favorite songs, or learn more about playing guitar, the music industry, and other interesting things about being a musician in five different in-depth and intelligently designed Shred U learning modes: Skills Lab, Lick Lab, Backing Tracks, Legends, and Practice.

Want to tune your guitar? Fiddle with settings? Tune your guitar like Slash? Backstage is your pass to the deep BandFuse options settings, filled with useful and cool ways to tweak and improve your guitar gaming experience.

Once you’ve finished and mastered all 55 songs, download hundreds of new songs to be released at a regular cadence via the BandFuse Shop, including the selected song, video, and tune settings specific to that song.

Screen shots and video we have seen point towards things like singing AND playing guitar for added difficulty and skill building in the game. So getting a microphone and singing and playing at the same time is something that sounds like a blast. At this time it’s only known that you will need to provide a Mic of your own for this. I wondered how it’s utilized in the game and tried to get more information but got no answer from anyone by press time.
It’s been often said that Bandfuse: Rock Legends looks to be building on the foundation that Rocksmith built. It looks like it will be a good learning tool…time will tell as they say.

The interface looks very promising; no word once again as to if some of the screen interfaces can be customized, like flipping the guitar neck note highway over for Lefties or turning off the rather distracting music videos off.

Key announced features are more than a little promising:

• The Real Deal – Players strap on a real guitar and within minutes are playing along with the biggest rock songs of all time. BandFuse works with any guitar – use the included adapter to plug directly into your console.
• Multiple Instruments – Use your favorite guitar or bass to jam, or sing along with a USB microphone (not included) to every song.
• The Ultimate Set List – The biggest hits. The biggest artists. From punk to funk and rock to metal, BandFuse features a massive genre-jumping set list including: “You Oughta Know” (Alanis Morissette) – “Jessica” (The Allman Brothers Band) – “No Rain” (Blind Melon) – “Godzilla” (Blue Oyster Cult) – “Yellow” (Coldplay) – “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” (Fall Out Boy) – “The Bleeding” (Five Finger Death Punch) – “Hemorrhage” (Fuel) – “Barracuda” (Heart) – “Drive” (Incubus) – “Breaking the Law” (Judas Priest) – “Cult of Personality” (Living Colour) – “Sweet Home Alabama” (Lynyrd Skynyrd) – “Harder to Breathe” (Maroon 5) – “I’m Broken” (Pantera) – “Alive” (Pearl Jam) – “Jessie’s Girl” (Rick Springfield) – “Limelight” (Rush) – “Back From Cali” (Slash) – “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (The Clash) – “Stellar Revival” (The Crazy Ones) – “Reptilia” (The Strokes) – “Roundabout” (Yes).
• Animated Tabs – BandFuse animates real guitar tablature in a simple and intuitive format allowing you to take your music wherever you go.
• Create Original Content – Go beyond strumming top artists songs by creating your own original pieces, uploading to the BandFuse cloud and sharing them with friends.
  • Free Jam –jam to your heart’s content, creating all-original songs.
  • Jam Along – choose from a selection of backing tracks, then lay down your own riffs, rhythm and vocal tracks.
• Share Over Social Networks – Record and share your favorite tracks and re-recorded content with friends and fans over Xbox LIVE and social networks.
• Multiplayer – Form bands and play along with your favorite songs, or create original music in real-time with up to 3 friends. Rock hard and own online Leaderboards and Challenges.
• Sound Like a Rock Legend – Add authentic amp and pedal effects like distortion, reverb and chorus to sound like a pro without all the expensive gear.
• Total Song Control – Slow down songs to hear every nuance or loop your favorite segments as you jam along. BandFuse gives you total control of every song.
• Deep Career Mode – Progress through the phases of a rock career by going on tour from humble beginnings and working your way to become a worldwide Rock Legend.

We can only hope that the general silence we have run into does not bode ill for Bandfuse: Rock Legends. Even if it was a case of we are only commenting and releasing only so much information at this time. It would be nice to hear.

We do know this can lead to some exciting times for the consumer, as both games in competition can only bring out some of the best from both sides. Watch for our write up when the game comes out. Release was still reported for some time this year. 2013.

Have fun, play games, Get your music on.

Edwin Millheim