Guitar Hero: World Tour Vs. Rock Band 2: Which is Right for You?

For an individual wanting to break into the rhythm genre, more specifically the ones that involve instrument peripherals, it can be rather daunting. After all, a complete band set can run almost $200, which is a lot to invest in one game if you don't know what you are getting into. So how do you decide which one would be more suited for the experience you wish to have? Well, that's where I come in. As a proud owner of both Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2, I will break down the pros and cons of both and hopefully make your life as a consumer just a little bit easier. Before we get into it, let's look at a little background on these two games first.

History

Both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games' origins trace back to the same developer: Harmonix. As the creators of such games as Frequency and Amplitude, Harmonix were no strangers to titles based on music and rhythm. In 2005, they took the world by storm when they first released Guitar Hero on the Playstation 2. The game was published by RedOctane and quickly became one of the top selling games for the Playstation 2 at the time. Its success was soon followed by Guitar Hero II in 2006 and Guitar Hero: Rock the 80's in 2007. Prior to the release of Rock the 80's, Harmonix was bought by MTV Games, and went on to create the game Rock Band.

Meanwhile, with Harmonix no longer in the driver's seat, publisher RedOctane placed Neversoft in charge of the Guitar Hero series. Neversoft, well known for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of games, would go on to create Guitar Hero III: Legends of rock. While Guitar Hero has traditionally been a guitar only game, with the success of Rock Band, the latest releases have been updated to also include drums and a microphone. Since then, Neversoft and Harmonix have been fierce competitors, one always looking for opportunities to outdo the other.

Instruments

It's easy to overlook just how much the peripherals you use to play these games impact how much you enjoy your experience with them. For some people, the instruments they choose to play the game will be determined by whatever comes in the box of the title they choose. For others, those that may not have the money to fork over in one purchase to cover everything, may prefer buying the game and all the instruments separately. It's important to note that all the Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour instruments are cross compatible with one another (something that consumers were concerned about when it was discovered that Rock Band guitars didn't work on Guitar Hero III).

First and foremost, let's discuss the guitars. The Rock Band 2 guitars resemble the Fender Stratocaster model of guitars and have fret buttons located on both the upper and lower parts of the neck. This is ideal for people with smaller hands as it allows them to reach the fret buttons a little bit easier. Also, the Rock Band games have songs that feature solo sections that allow you to just hit the lower fret buttons without having to strum, thus giving a slight advantage over the Guitar Hero guitars for doing these sections. However, the thing I don't like about these guitars is that they really do feel like the cheap plastic knock offs they are. The strum bar is really "spongy" and the whammy bar always feels like it's in the way. Also, the fret buttons click when pressed, which is kinda distracting.

The Guitar Hero World Tour guitars are my personal preference when playing either of these band games. They closely resemble the Gibson Les Paul guitars in their look and they just feel nice to hold. The fret buttons stick up a little bit, certainly making them look a little more like toys compared to the RB ones, but it makes the buttons easier to find when you're trying to pull off tricky chords and solos. There is also a fret bar located on the lower part of the neck that allows you to slide your finger across to nail notes that are strung together by a purple line. There's also a large button located just under the strum bar that allows you to activate "star power" without having to rock the guitar, which is convenient.

The drums are a little tougher to compare, as I don't have much experience with the Guitar Hero drums. Just at first glance though, you can see some huge differences in how they are laid out. The GH drums have three drum pads and two cymbal pads that are positioned above them, as well as the foot pedal. The Rock Band 2 drums have only four drum pads laid out in front of you and the foot pedal on the floor, but they have a port in the back that allows you to attach three additional cymbals to them. There are also more expensive drum kits out there that can run hundreds of dollars in themselves, but I won't get into those here.

There's not much to say about the microphones other than they do exactly as advertised: You sing and the mic picks it up. In fact, you can use any USB microphone with these games as well as any headsets you may have (such as the Xbox Live headset), though results may vary. One cool feature of the Rock Band 2 microphone is that it has the controller face buttons built right into the microphone.

Gameplay

The developers at Harmonix have been quoted as saying "we are musicians first, and video game developers second." I believe this to be true. One of the fundamental differences I've noticed between Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 is that the "note highways," even for the same songs, are very different. The ones in RB tend to more closely resemble the actual notes for the instrument you are playing, while the ones in GH seem to have very convoluted clumps of notes that serve to make the game more difficult for the sake of challenge. Aside from this, the games themselves are virtually carbon copies of one another, minus a few details. However, a few of these details may be deal breakers for some people.

For one thing, if one person fails a song in Rock Band 2, the other band members can use their star power to bring them back into the song up to two times. In Guitar Hero World Tour, if a band member fails, the whole band fails. It's also very difficult to determine if someone is failing in GH also, since the placement of the band meter is in a very inconvenient location. And since all the band members in GH share a pool of star power as opposed to having their own, any greedy band mates you may have could potentially lead to the downfall of the entire band.

While the way the guitars play in these two games are pretty much identical, the same cannot be said for the drums and mic. For the most part, the experience you're going to have playing the drums is going to be based on the specific drum set you have. However, the way you activate "star power" is very different. In Rock Band 2, all you have to do is complete a drum fill ending with the green note to activate it, though you can only do it when a fill section is coming towards you. In Guitar Hero World Tour, you can use your "star power" anytime just by hitting the two cymbals (or the yellow and blue pads if using RB drums). The issue with this is that it does not always register so you may lose your multiplier before it goes off.

When singing, the fundamentals are very similar between the two games. Rock Band 2 uses an arrow to track your pitch, and there will be gold sections that require you to say anything to unlock "star power", though you are limited to when those sections come up. Also, there will be tambourine and cowbell notes that have you tapping the microphone to the rhythm to gain more points. Guitar Hero World Tour uses a bouncing dot that creates a trail across the highway showing you where your voice goes. I honestly have no idea what causes "star power" to go off since it seems to happen at random. You're better off using the controller for this. There are also blue sections with waving hands that require you to yell anything to acquire "star power," as well as squiggly sections that supposedly require you to sing anything to the pitch of the song, though I don't fully understand how that works either. GH just seems to have trouble picking up pitch overall, so singers prepare to be frustrated.

Songs

There are a number of songs that are the same in both games, so if you're basing your decision on the setlist, you really can't go wrong either way. Full setlists can be found on many different sites for both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour, though I guarantee that either side of the fence you end up on, there is something for everybody. One key advantage that Rock Band 2 has in this department is that owners of the original RB can import the majority of those tracks into the sequel (only if you own the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 versions). There's also a music store in RB that has an arsenal of well over 500 songs available to purchase and download, including a number of albums. GH also has a music store and while it is not as varied, it is slowly growing week by week. If you're into user generated content, you can create your own music tracks in GH, which can be uploaded and shared with other users if you so choose.

If you do decide to make your decision based on songs, be sure to keep in mind which instrument you prefer to play. There are going to be a number of songs that have heavy emphasis on just one or two instruments, such as Rock Band 2's "Master Exploder" by Tenacious D (the drummer and bass player have little to do). Guitar Hero World Tour seems to have a large percentage of songs that focus heavily on the lead guitar (it is called Guitar Hero after all), so keep this information in mind as well.

Conclusion

If after reading all of the above, you can only remember one thing from that whole block of text, then let it be this:

If you want a party game that's effective at simulating a true band experience, as well as one that you can get drunk with your friends and have a good time with, then get Rock Band 2.

If you're more concerned about challenging gameplay, and want to play a rhythm game that will truly test your mettle and earn yourself bragging rights, then go out and get Guitar Hero World Tour.

Honestly though, no matter which one you choose, I guarantee you are going to have a blast. In fact, if you have already spent all the money on plastic instruments to litter your living room with, why not just get both?