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 There's few games I've wanted to get my hands on more than Rock Band. Getting to E3 without an invite for EA's game room I figured I could just try it out at Barker Hanger. Of course later on I learned the hard way that barely any of the "A" games were even on display there. Great, now I was faced with the prospect of flying cross-country sick as a dog and not be able to play the one game that I felt like I NEEDED to. Well fuck that, there's no way I was leaving Santa Monica without getting my grubby little mitts on Rock Band. So Friday morning I get to the hotel, ready to try and smooth talk my way into the EA suite. With business card in hand I pleaded my case, and with the blessing of the Gods got into the room. Before I knew it I was standing at the base of the stage where Rock Band was being shown off.
Now the people that know me can tell you I don't really do well in front of people. Public speaking, dancing, acting... these are all huge fears. So I was suddenly a little nervous when I saw that all the instruments were facing the crowd, and people were watching/staring. Oh boy. "Time to piss or get off the pot" I said to myself as I stepped up on stage. I'm a decent Guitar Hero player so I figured I'd cut my teeth there to get used to standing in front of people... not to mention I was dying to get my hands on that new guitar. 
The guitar is a lot heavier than the GH guitars, and feels solid. The buttons cover the entire neck of the guitar, and are modeled after the frets on a real guitar, so there's only a small bump between buttons. I lost my place one or twice but it's really just a matter of getting used to it. There's also the 5 new buttons at the bottom of the neck but I didn't see one person try them out, so I really can't comment on how they work. 
The strum bar has some weight to it as well, and felt a lot more legitimate when strumming. There's a few levers and knobs on the guitar as well but I didn't use them at all so who knows what they're for. All in all it's a high quality guitar, and dare I say almost makes the old GH guitar's looks like a kid's toy. So on guitar I played "Say It Ain't So" from Weezer and "Wanted Dead or Alive" from Bon Jovi on hard (I think I could've handled expert but didn't want to set myself up for a fall). Here's how fun the game is... I HATE Bon Jovi with a passion but I had a friggin blast playing the song. It helped that the guy signing was really into it. One of the cool things about playing the 4 player is that if no one is playing their instruments, there's no music. So during the Weezer song if you're messing up the guitar solo there's nowhere to hide. Next I tried out the drums, which all the Guitar Hero fans out there are looking forward to. I was surprised at how study and well built they were. I fully expect these to stand up to a pounding, which is good cause you're going to want to wail away on those pads. You play with real wooden drum sticks and the bass pedal has a little resistance to it, so you need to get that leg working to really nail it. I think I was getting a little too overzealous cause towards the end of "In Bloom" from Nirvana I was really stomping on that thing. Of course on a longer song like "Won't Get Fooled Again" but leg down downright tired and I changed feet during the organ solo. Even on easy those drums are tough. It's a totally different skill set than the guitar playing in the game so it forces everyone back to easy. I was able to hang on the drums on the easy setting, netting around 85% of the notes. I can't imagine how hard this game is going to be on hard or expert. But if you think playing the guitar in the game is fun, wait till you get behind the drum kit. 
Word of warning, you almost need a proper drum stool to really play the controller properly. You'll also need a place where you can crank the volume, as the sound of hitting the pads resonates and even in the loud room you could hear it. Minor complaint but it might have something to do with hitting those pads so hard. I didn't try singing (I have my limits) but looked to work much like Karaoke Revolution. Some people have complained that they don't see the point in this game when you could just go start a real band. That argument to me holds little water. Instead of buying a racing game why don't I buy a sports car, or instead of Madden go play football. Video games are at time about great stories but other times about escapism. Getting Rock Band and few friends to jam out together will be a blast, and people who cast it aside are missing out. There's no doubt that you and 3 friends are the best way to play this game, and that's admittedly a sadly small number of people that will be able to take advantage of the game to the fullest. But with a robust single-player campaign (which we really haven't seen much of yet) there's little reason to pass on the game even if you don't have others around to play with you. 
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