As many of you know, I started playing music games less than 6 months ago. I was introduced to Rock Band and Guitar Hero III on the same day, and went out and bought both of them plus Guitar Hero II all in one fell swoop because I couldn’t decide on a favorite at the time.  Since November, it’s been interesting to watch the marketplace battle between the two gaming giants with downloadable content being released mostly by Rock Band and new games being announced by the GH franchise (Guitar Hero:IV, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith).  First round goes to Rock Band.

However, I was excited about the new Def Leppard pack that came out today as downloadable content.  Two awesome older songs and the release of a new song sounded promising so I downloaded today and gave them a shred.  Here’s my take:

So, first, for those of you who have bought a song or two lately on Rock Band (there have now been over 8 million songs sold), you know that its nice to be able to pick and choose which songs you want, or buy a pack (or now an album!) at a discount.  I had forgotten that the same isn’t true for Guitar Hero - you have to shell out the 500 Xbox points for the pack.  (The fact that I hadn’t downloaded songs in such a long time that I had FORGOTTEN is not a good sign).  But, not so bad in this case because I wanted all three, yet a reminder nonetheless of the lack of flexibilty they’ve offered in that area.

You get three songs in Guitar Hero:III’s Def Leppard pack:

Photograph                               Watch Video
Rock of Ages                            Watch Video
Nine Lives (their new release)   Watch Video

Last week in addition to the Classic Rock Pack, Rock Band released Motley Crue:

Saints of Los Angeles               Watch Video

I’ll start with the new songs.  With Rock Band’s release of Motley Crue’s new single Saints of Los Angeles coming out last week and then this week having GH release new Def Leppard, I kinda wondered if either of these bands could make themselves relevant again.  My verdict is in. 

Rock Band: I heard Saints of LA on the radio today in the car and I found myself beebopping my head and tapping my steering wheel after having played this once on Rock Band.  Catchy, generic rock that’s easy to like.  My Vote:  Good to go.

Guitar Hero: I played Nine Lives today and found myself thinking, not bad.  Not great, but not bad.  Sounds like all other Def Leppard stuff, but it didn’t grow on me the way Sts of LA did in the first play.  My Vote: A little boring and repetetive, but since you always have to buy a pack, I can at least potentially justify the purchase by doing the math in my head and allocating the points between the two other songs, right? 

Well, that brings me to the review of the two older Def Lep songs, both of which I really liked and can sing all the words to from the endless heavy radio play they got in the 90s.  And therein lies the rub.  These two songs are the LIVE versions of the songs and sound quite different from what you memorized on the radio.  Not exactly sure why they did that, but not a good choice in my opinion.  I realize this is not “Lyrics Hero:” and the guitar is all that should matter, but hey I learned these songs by hearing the radio versions and you get used to it!

Overall, I’m disappointed with the Guitar Hero purchase - and you know why that is?  The price isn’t worth it!  I don’t wanna pay over $6 for songs that are mediocre and could have been much much better.  Guitar Hero:  Man up my friend.  Let’s get some rocking songs out as DLC for GH and let’s work on our pricing plan for them so we gamers have some flexibility.  I may or may not have bought the new song as a stand alone from the other two, so it was smart to force the pack, but at least make the two existing songs completely rock!

I did buy Saints of LA as a stand alone and had no problem with that one.  The price was only 99 cents (normally $1.99 for established songs) and I wasn’t forced to buy two somewhat bland versions of two older Crue songs. Pleased and feeling like a fantastic bargain shopper over my Rock Band purchase.

Rock Band releasing new 80’s/90’s band material (Motley Crue) versus Guitar Hero (Def Leppard)?  Round two goes to Rock Band.