Take a look at the Official Rock Revolution Website to see the drums and other information.
- Title: Rock Revolution
- Publisher: Konami
- Developer: Zoe Mode
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Music/Rhythm
- Pros: $10 cheaper than Rock Band or Guitar Hero; high score focused “arcade” gameplay
- Cons: Tracks are all covers; gameplay interface is awful; poor drum design
Rock Revolution is Konami’s attempt to get a piece of that sweet, sweet, music/rhythm genre pie that Rock Band and Guitar Hero have been enjoying for the past few years. It features guitar gameplay just like the other games, and all of the Xbox 360 guitars already released are compatible. Konami decided not to release their own guitar, and I would have to say that this was a wise decision considering that most of us already more guitars than we need. Rock Revolution also has drum gameplay that is compatible with both the currently released drums on the market as well as special drums built for the game. Konami’s Rock Revolution drums have 6 pads and a kick pedal, but the layout of the drums is surprisingly complicated and seems to be very hard to use. While GH and RB’s drums make you feel like you are really playing, Rock Revolution’s drums never let you forget that you are playing a videogame. Unlike the other recently released games in the genre, there is no singing feature here.
As far as modes go, Rock Revolution offers everything we have come to expect. There is quick play, career, multiplayer, and a studio mode. Everything is pretty straightforward. The studio mode isn’t nearly as in depth as the one in GH: World Tour, but it isn’t too bad.
Gameplay
The gameplay itself is also suspect due to the interface. Rather than coming at you from a ¾ perspective where you have a lot of time to see the notes, the note highway in Rock Revolution is completely vertical, similar to the way the arrows move in Dance Dance Revolution. This only gives you a tiny amount of time to see the notes. Another problem is that the note highway itself is very narrow and kind of hard to see. Similar to how the drums constantly remind you that you are playing a game, the note charts don’t always seem to correspond to the actual music being played. Kind of like how DDR isn’t anything like real dancing. The game likes to use triple notes like they are going out of style. So the charting, the visual look of it, and the interface itself all combine to make Rock Revolution a pain in the butt to play.
One aspect of Rock Revolution that I have to admit I do like is the scoring system. You can easily score a million points in a song, and because of the way the combo and multiplier system works it really feeds that arcade-style “I have to get the highest score possible” OCD-thing that exists in the back of all gamers’ minds.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Rock Revolution is an okay looking game. The characters onstage and the venues you play at look fairly decent. The gameplay interface is pretty bad, as I mentioned above, however. It is hard to use, quite frankly. Even stranger is that the high score as well as the audience and star power meters are located in the upper right corner of the screen while the gameplay is mostly happening in the lower left hand corner of the screen. User friendly, it isn’t.The sound is pretty poor. Like I said, the quality of the covers is pretty bad, which just seems odd when the music is supposed to be pretty much 100% of the appeal.
Bottom Line
