Expensive Rhythm Games = The Genre's Death Nail

I have been wanting to rant about this since the confirmation of Guitar Hero 4 being a full band game like EA and Harmonix's Rock Band. Today, I finally got my Game Informer issue (pictured above) featuring the first official details and pics of Guitar Hero 4, which is coming out this fall. With Rock Band out, its competitors now want to have a piece of that pie and then nearly ripping off its ideas at the same time. I'll use Konami's recent announcement of their new rhythm game, Rock Revolution, as an example which is also a full band game being a Rock Band wannabe. Yeah, Konami and Benami pretty much started off the rhythm genre with Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Freaks, Drummania, and Beatmania, but returning to the genre is almost like a mistake with only having cover songs while your competition has now master tracks at this point due to their success and putting out another drum kit (pictured below) just to piss off consumers.

Back to Guitar Hero 4, the cover story on Game Informer pretty much announces the full band kit with a new drum kit (with a extra cymbal), a new guitar will likely be revealed at E3, and likely a new mic for vocals. I just don't know if originality would even exist in this genre now since Guitar Hero and Rock Band have taken over while over companies like THQ and Konami struggle to find their own rhythm game to compete. At least what separates Guitar Hero 4 and Rock Band (and maybe its sequel), is the opportunity to create songs. Mentioned in the GI story, Neversoft was aware of the mod community making their own note charts to various songs in the first GH games and wanted to make something that would cater to those peeps who do that. Even though vocals are not happening for these created songs, this could be something big if the competition does not rip it off within a year. Other than Create-A-Rocker, similar to what was seen in Tony Hawk's Create-A-Skater, a Band World Tour style career mode for all instruments (even bass), and a soundtrack of only mastered tracks that are not revealed due to the possibility that the competition will use it their own game, Guitar Hero 4 is looking pretty good so far even though they have to rip off Rock Band in some aspects.

With my thoughts on Guitar Hero 4 out of the way, let's begin the rant about these rhythm games being hella expensive. Assuming the full band bundles for Guitar Hero 4 and Rock Revolution being in the 150 - 200 dollar range when they are released, that is almost like buying a new console at this point if you are buying both (if Rock Band 2 is actually coming out this year with new instruments, this would be worst). I just don't know if the casual audience are ready to shell out more money for new instruments for their specific games. The same question can be raised for the hardcore audience specifically GH and RB fans, are they also willing to waste more money on new instruments? The whole compatibility issue between all these games is just pure BS and sooner or later, these companies have to eventually accept each other's instruments to be worked in the game to make fans happy. Then again, it all comes down to money and with EA and Activision especially, they just want as much of it as possible. If this trend keeps up of multiple full band games with separate band kits, I think this would be the death nail of the rhythm game genre.

Eventually, people like me will get tired of wasting money on more instruments of these full band games just because they want the money and the success that Guitar Hero and Rock Band had. The first Guitar Hero brought me to the rhythm genre and could possibly take me out of it. This is just another reason that gaming is expensive these days and publishers are willing to get back the money they spend on for developers to make these games. I guess I have to stick to one side rather than being on both (referring to Guitar Hero 4 and the inevitable Rock Band 2), but it will likely come down to the soundtrack that will be out on retail and the quality of downloadable content (which Neversoft claimed they will have a better strategy for DLC with GH4). Maybe I should buy a PS3 instead of wasting money on rhythm games this fall.

This demo's power level is over 9000!! (DBZ Burst Limit Demo Impressions)

A demo for Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit came out today on Xbox Live Marketplace and likely later on Playstation Network with the final game coming out on June 10 for 360 and PS3. It is less than 500 MB, so the amount of what's there to play is not much which is two fights from the Saiyan Saga (Goku vs. Raditz and Yamcha vs. the Saibamen - spelling??). Right off the bat, this game brings it back to the Budokai 1-3 style of game as I wasn't a fan of Tenakachi games because of the free-form movement. Sure, fighting games suck on 360 because of the awful d-pad, but since the DBZ fighting games are not as hardcore as Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive, it is more user friendly to attract even the causal fans of the anime. I used the left stick and yes, it plays like Budokai 3. Even though it is still about mashing the X and Y buttons for various punch/kick combos, pulling off the flashy stuff and avoiding attacks is not as easy as u think at first. Once the Ki meter is built up, you can pull off the crazy moves like the ping-pong punches and kicks after bursting (left bumper on 360). At the end of each fight, you will be ranked on specific challenges and how many dramatic cutscenes u ran into (Highest is Z rank, but I can at least get a S since these challenges want you to do nearly everything in a limited time. I'm happy that the gameplay is back to what it used to be in Budokai 3, but these fights on the demo tend to end pretty quickly.

It is also safe to say this is the best looking DBZ game now, but that seems obvious since it is on 360 and PS3. It is also to a point that looks better than the anime itself even though Budokai 3 to Tenakachi 3 had the style spot on. The glowing effects look great and the characters themselves look pretty accurate to the cartoon. As expected, the voice acting is from the U.S. version of the cartoon, so it is love and hate thing on which style of dialogue u like (If Vegeta says "Its over 9000!!!!" just like the cartoon, then I'm sold!!). Since this is not the show, the dialogue is different and mostly cheesy and the facial animations when they speak is a little poor, but what do u expect for a DBZ game.

After playing the demo, I would give DBZ Burst Limit a chance and it is okay that it only goes up to the Cell Saga just like Budokai 3. The gameplay has gone back to its roots, Budokai 3 mostly, and it is the best looking DBZ game out now. I don't know if I would buy it when it comes out next month, but a good rental at best. Hardcore DBZ fans should buy this in a heartbeat even though it is more of the same (with online play too) from the previous generation of DBZ games.

UPDATE - Its over 9000!!!

Platinum Games ready to return to critical greatness

Platinum Games, originally some of Clover Studio, has announced their slate of games with publisher Sega. One of them is MadWorld (pics above and below), exclusively for the Wii and perhaps the goriest game for the system taking over the title No More Heroes has. According to these screens, it has a Sin City vibe with the black and white along with red blood. This is made from the guy that brought us Okami, the best game no one ever bought even though it starts pretty slow which made me gave up on it. For now, it is like an action brawler (Their last similar game was the underrated God Hand for PS2, which I liked but didn't beat it). No gameplay footage has been revealed yet (wait till E3), but a trailer was leaked to YouTube before being taken down. I'm always willing to support what Platinum Games will do next (They have a PS3/360 game called Bayonetta coming soon and looks pretty good being a combination of Devil May Cry and Bullet Witch) like their past efforts as Clover Studio like Viewitiful Joe and Okami. For more on MadWorld and Bayonetta, check out 1up's preview for MadWorld as well as IGN's thoughts and the teaser trailer for Bayonetta on Gamevideos (below).

UPDATE - Post now updated with MadWorld trailer, its really that bloody.