Fake Plastic Rock

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Rhythm games.  They have been popular for a while now, even from before the 2006 smash hit Guitar Hero appeared.

Reviled by some, under critique by many, enjoyed by the rest; one can’t deny the appeal of living the fantasy of rock stardom from the comfort of home, without the risks of overdosing on illegal substances.   Really, the only things missing are the groupies and the money, everything else is there.

Guitar Hero is an update to a somewhat less known game called Guitar Freaks, that debuted and is currently only available in arcade form in Japan and Asia, with a catalog of anime, j-rock and J-pop songs, with the occasional heavy metal melody thrown in for good measure.   The original game for arcades feature a mock up guitar with 3 buttons on the “frets” a “strum bar, and tilt detection that is required as input for some sequences.    Guitar Freaks follows the tradition of Beat Mania games, in that pressing the buttons is rated along with the precision in which they are pressed, for an overall ranking.

Guitar Hero broke from this mold -programmed by the folks at Harmonix- in the context to which the button presses are important, and what the tilt detection does.   2 more “fret” buttons were added for a total of five, and the tilt is now used to activate what is called “star power”, a mechanic where all button presses give double score.    I think the most significant departure of Guitar Hero from Guitar Freaks is in the “rock” meter: it represents how wooed the audience is by your performance, and it can be increased by star power; so in essence, Guitar Hero makes you “feel” you are performing a piece, against just pressing buttons accurately.

The second feature that sets both games apart prominently, is the song selection.   Guitar Freaks, being an arcade game designed to make you spend your quarters as fast as possible, is very unforgiving and lets you play a set of 4 songs at most if your performance is good enough, and only if the arcade operator enables it, else you are stuck with 3 songs for each play.    Since Guitar Hero is a game designed to be played at home, it instead denotes your rise as the “guitar hero” in an up and coming garage band.  

It is important to describe this, as it’s the only thing that makes you have to willingly suspend disbelief: You are an ace guitarist in a band that rises to fame performing covers of famous rock songs.   This small detail flies over the head of many critics of the game; it’s never intended to be taken seriously; you are just in for the ride.

As such, the game chronicles your rise to fame within your home city; starting from a concert in a basement, through a local bar, etc; until you reach stardom and are taken on a national tour.   The second installment of the game, has you travel the whole country from the beginning, and ends in a concert at Stonehenge, where you are abducted by aliens after you finish performing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “free bird”.

After a seemingly petty dispute over what to do next, Harmonix is bought by MTV, and publisher Activision buys fake plastic guitar manufacturer Red Octane; and keeps the rights to keep developing and publishing “guitar Hero” games.   Harmonix ups the ante and bets all their chips on a new project: a full band fake plastic band experience: Rock Band.

Really the only logical step in the progression so far.  Guitar Hero offered head to head competition in guitar duels, Guitar Hero II introduced cooperative play: two players can go through career mode playing main and rhythm guitar, or lead guitar and bass.   Rock Band is just that: a full on band experience.  By adding plastic “drums” and a microphone, 4 players at once can tackle classical hard rock songs.

Critics (most of the time, musicians) deride the nature of the game, pointing out players are just following set patterns on the screen, and that there is no room for improvisation, or that the time invested mastering the game can be better put to use in learning to play real guitar.   They fail to acknowledge the appeal of the setting.

Players are no longer just listening to music, they are, in a way; experiencing it in a whole new level.   Even tough hardcore gamers take pride on beating “difficult” songs and look down on more melodic or soft music; no one has ever claimed to be a virtuoso guitarist for beating a rhythm game.

The end line is that these games, novelty aside; allow people to experience music under a new perspective: that of the performer.   I’d dare anybody to pretend it’s not somewhat exhilarating to finish a set piece, with the virtual crowd roaring, and not feel smug about it in the least.   These games offer a fantasy that shooters, adventure games or RPGs can’t offer.    And that’s what games are bout in the end.

As a product it has proven itself marketable, selling already in the ammount of millions of pieces; a new scheme for micro transactions known as DLC, or Downloadable Content, allows players to buy separate songs to add to their catalogue, wich assures the games will not get stale fast.   Only time will tell if it’s a fad like many others, or if this new marketing model is what could save the music industry.  For now it’s another option to people that like rock, and gaming.  And it’s damn good at what it does.

Rock out.