Faking the Band

Last holiday season, gamers looking for a virtual rock experience had a fairly clear-cut choice. Those wanting to focus exclusively on “shredding” on a plastic gee-tar went for Guitar Hero III. Those yearning a full-band simulation—guitar, bass, drums, mic—got their groove on with Rock Band. But the latest versions of both these titles make picking one over the other far more confusing: They’re now essentially the same game.

With World Tour, the Guitar Hero franchise has become a four-player party, complete with mic, drums and twin guitars (one for lead, the other for rhythm or bass). But World Tour does add some cool new features to its gear: Its drum kit comes with two cymbal pads, for more realistic skin-pounding, and the guitars feature a touch-sensitive control surface on the neck, allowing for Eddie Van Halen–style finger-tapping pyrotechnics. The game’s biggest innovation is its Music Studio, which lets you create playable tracks (using the guitars and drums and a rudimentary in-game music sequencer) to share online with others.

Meanwhile, the makers of Rock Band 2 seem content to refine an already successful formula. The Xbox 360 guitars are at last wireless, and the drums are now rubberized pads, as opposed to the hard plastic ones that made an annoying clacking sound when you hit them. There’s more of an emphasis on living through your virtual rocker, with a host of new design options, including the ability to create custom band logos that you can have printed on real-life T-shirts.

Ultimately, choosing between these two equally excellent games may come down to the tracks they come with. Rock Band 2’s 84-song set list includes cuts from Bob Dylan, AC/DC and what has to be the game makers’ biggest coup: Guns N’ Roses’ new “Shackler’s Revenge.” Meanwhile, World Tour features 85 tracks from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Eagles and Michael Jackson. Of course, online downloads are available for both; most impressively, the Guitar Hero folks snagged the rights to the entirety of Metallica’s new Death Magnetic album.

Really, a faux rocker can’t go wrong either way. In the spirit of the season, our advice is simple: Choose or lose.