Rocksmith Preview

For all of the guitar players out there who share my frustration with current guitar games, Ubisoft is promising to help us out. Anyone who plays guitar, for obvious reasons, seems to struggle a bit with Rock Band and/or Guitar Hero. The problem being, one of the biggest parts of actually playing guitar is the feel of the guitar. Holding a little piece of plastic and tapping away mercilessly at buttons can get a little boring.

You lose the feel of playing a real guitar. Not to mention, the rhythms always seem a little off to me. If you play a song that you already know how to play on a real guitar it always feels like there’s something missing from the song, or it’s completely different from the way you know to play it. I’ve tried different difficulty levels and what it basically comes down to, is the fact that the guitar just doesn’t feel right. Now, there have been upgrades to the instruments in current guitar games. Rock Band has actually licensed a Fender Stratocaster, but the problem with that is that the guitar costs almost $300. I know it’s a real guitar, but am I actually going to use it for anything but Rock Band? Probably not, as I have a multitude of other guitars.

Enter Rocksmith……. I think Ubisoft has really hit the nail on the head with this one. They’re promising that you can plug any guitar into this game. That’s right, ANY GUITAR!!!! You can pick up one of your guitars that you regularly play, plug in and go at it. Not only are you getting the feel of a real guitar, but you’re actually playing a guitar that’s comfortable and familiar to you. Any guitar player knows that it’s much more fun to play a guitar you’re familiar with than picking up a shrunken down plastic replica.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zQGsHufM404

I think one of the best features that Ubisoft is presenting with this title is the ability to learn how to play. The trailer shows folks, of all ability levels, plugging in and playing along. The game will actually teach you the chord progressions and melodic patterns of the songs in the game.

I cannot wait for this game! Ubisoft has a release scheduled for sometime this fall and I can tell you that I will be sprinting to the store to buy this title. I think I can speak on behalf of all guitarists out there when I say that this is what we’ve been waiting for. With all of the music based games out there, this one will finally be tailored to musicians. I thought that would have been a target audience for this genre, but it’s looking like it may have been worth the wait.