Whenever I heard that Rock Band was coming to the PSP, I actually mentally dismissed the title. I figured it would be yet another edition of a music game that I would have to buy peripherals for and my PSP (which I love) is bulky enough without an add-on. It wasn’t until I got message from our very own Evil J that the title went from ’something I didn’t care about’ to ’something that I had to own’. It was explained to me that this version left out the peripherals and the multi-player and instead opted to take on a control scheme and play style akin to that of Frequency and Amplitude on the PS2.
Can you say, ‘SHIT YEAH!’? I knew you could.
Back before Harmonix burst onto the scene with Guitar Hero, they worked with Konami to make Karaoke Revolution, but before that they made Frequency and Amplitude for the PS2. If you didn’t play those games or even know of their existence, I feel for you. They were music games that featured some superb Techno/Trance/House soundtracks and had simple and challenging game play that I thought I would never see again because the titles just didn’t sell anywhere near as well as they should have. The gameplay for those titles finally sees a resurrection on my PSP and I would love to rap my knuckles with Harmonix for bringing it back and hopefully getting more people to experience the sheer fun that play style has.
Visually, there is not a large difference in what you are going to be seeing on your PSP version of Rock Band compared to what you would see on any other version. Instead of 3 tracks of music coming at you there will be four and instead of five notes for the bass and guitar segments there is only four. Notes need to tapped out in tune to music and vocals and the button mapping is very nicely done to allow for easy and quick input of those notes. The left and up button on the d-pad activate the two left notes and the triangle and circle button activate the two right note while the X or down button can be used to pull off your star power. Once you play about 2 measures worth of music the instrument or vocal portion you were playing will play itself for awhile so you can move onto to another instrument with a press of the shoulder buttons to repeat the process. As soon as you have all the instruments and vocals fully activated another instrument is usually ready to be played again and you will constantly be keeping those fingers flying in an attempt to get the song you are playing to continue uninterrupted. It works wonderfully well on the PSP.
You can make up a band of your own, take them on tour, and earn your rock star status like in other versions of Rock Band OR, if you just want to jam, you can go right to a cheat menu at the opening screen and unlock all songs and make it impossible to fail a song (either or both at the cost of the ability to save any data until you restart the game again). The level of difficulty is variable due to being able to pick the level before each song and this makes the title accessible and enjoyable to pretty much any type of player out there. Easy is incredibly easy and Hard will punch your face and steal your lunch money. Absolutely no form of multi-player is available in this version of Rock Band, which I don’t really feel is a negative thing, personally, however a series that is known for being a party game to have a single player only experience might throw a curve to some people out there so it does need to be mentioned.
Of course the meat and potatoes gameplay mode is World Tour mode that takes your band from humble beginning to legends of rock status. Unlike previous entries in the series, you work to earn money as well as fans and you can hire staff to promote your band. Staff can affect the number of fans or cash you get either positively or negatively and can be switched out anytime between songs. Occasionally a random show will ask you if want to play this gig as a private party for heaps more cash and less fans, a charity event for no cash and triple the fan base increase, or other such events. Keep on getting that cash to unlock more stuff for you band, but don’t forget your fans are the only reason you are famous at all, so give them love too.
The soundtrack is awesome, as is the norm for anything with Harmonix, and the game also features the ability to download more songs off the PSN. Songs are not transferable from any version of the PS3 version of Rock Band to the PSP version despite the PSP version having many of the same songs available. It may make some people upset, but when consider the gameplay is so different it makes sense. You will find some songs making multiple appearances in the World Tour mode, which can be a little disappointing. The game features 41 tracks, all master recordings, and it just seems odd to have them reappear as often as they do. The set list is wonderful, as I said, but if you have been playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band for a while now you will see a great many of the same songs you have played in previous titles reappear here. To be fair, the play totally differently and are still great songs, but it is something that needs to be mentioned. Oh, and the game rightly advises you to play this title with headphones on. The PSP is a fine machine, but you definitely want to be able to hear that music as best you can and the little PSP speakers just can’t compare to a nice set of headphones.
To sum it all up, Rock Band Unplugged marks the return of gameplay I know and love and more people need to experience, it has a wonderful soundtrack, is accessible and enjoy to people of levels of skill, and is a damn fine experience on the PSP. Unfortunately you will repeat tracks in World Tour, the great song list is primarily composed of much music that appeared in the previous console version of the game, and you better have a pair of headphones to get the most out of the title. All that said, it is a damn fine game that I hope to see take off so more people can experience the addictive and fun play style that Frequency and Amplitude had.
