So while I played GH3, I did it on PS2 now that the GH:Aerosmith demo is out I was able to get a chance to give a proper comparison between it and Rock Band.
For one thing I'm really amazed at how much better the next-gen version looks. I mean, yeah, I could tell that the PS2 version was a tad clunky, but this is totally night and day even on an SD monitor. With that in mind the graphics are an odd area. The interface is definitely in favor of RB, hands down. The character designs likewise although the GH characters actually look more detailed... generally to their detriment, however. The animation is definitely worse in GH as well. The interesting thing is how much the rest of it largely works. It's brighter and looks more vibrant. It just... pops more. True, many of the venues in Rock Band are pretty dark and you have more in the way of lighting effects, but from a technical level it just sort of looks a bit better... that is, without doing a direct comparison. It still has a very artificial look and that's a bit more of a turn-off so it comes out weirdly balanced. Sort of like the characters: GH seem more detailed, but look ugly as hell while the RB characters look better, but seem a bit flat.
As for gameplay it's amazingly weird to go back to seeing the old round gems. I'm definitely preferring RB and, as others have said, it looks a bit classier and more adult with the subdued bars and the nice little particle effects. Hey, didn't I say I was going to talk about gameplay? The HO/PO feels decidedly looser. True, they tightened it up a bit from GH3, but it still feels a bit too loose. At the same time I'm hitting them far more reliably than in RB where I still tend to strum about half the time to be certain I'm hitting it. I could pull off much longer runs far more easily that I almost certainly wouldn't have made in RB. Maybe I'm used to the rigidity of the RB system, but hitting them so easily did make it feel maybe a tad too easy still. Perhaps another step tighter would be better. In general the buttons also felt a bit mushier as well. This is highly odd because I'm using the exact same FrontMan that I play RB with, but it just felt less solid when I was hitting notes. I'd mark this down partly to the interface, but something else feels like it's going on and I can't entirely explain it.
Overall it made me regret having picked up GH3 for PS2 in a way. At the same time I got a lot of play out of it and it helped to tide me over until RB. RB could learn a few things about the technical end of art direction from GH, but definitely not design-wise.
I expect that with GH:WT it'll be sort of similar: GH does a few things slightly better (looks like character creation will be more detailed, music creator will come first, but probably be inferior to RB's eventual system), but it looks like RB is a much better game and total package without the numerous gaffes that Neversoft have introduced into the formula.
On a similar subject I was thinking about the rumored Rock Band: AC/DC that was being floated around. I think what it might be is more of a themed package than a new game. If you put out a bundle with themed instruments, stickers, a t-shirt, and a voucher for a bunch of AC/DC DLC that's going up on the store anyway wouldn't that basically be the same thing? It'll highlight that they have AC/DC in the game and help to draw in the hardcore fans and the collectors who have to have everything, but it won't mess with the "RB is a platform" concept or screw over people who bought the plain bundle.
Speaking of AC/DC with AC/DC, Jet, and Airbourne does Australia have some sort of secret AC/DC training program or something? Is there a secret reserve of songs that sound like AC/DC songs in case they stop making incredibly similar songs (hey, I like them, but it's true)? I mean, of all the bands to sound like why sound like a band that has such a consistent sound? And they're all Australian bands to boot (though I doubt it's actually a bootable offense there, correct me if I'm wrong). My best real guess is that it's such a simple, basic hard rock sound that it's pretty damn easy to end up sounding like them, but still... it's the Australian connection that's really getting to me. When GH:WT comes out can will Johnkers be giving us an AC/DC soundalike track by default? Will the government force him to do so?
