Isn't this where we PSP gamers came in?
Rock Band Unplugged is the first ever rhythm game on the PSP that focuses solely on rock music and its sub-genres. Hard rock, punk rock and heavy metal, you'll find them all here. Any rock fan should be interested in this game by now.
Unlike the console versions of Rock Band, the game requires no additional controllers. You have four instruments: guitar, bass, drums and vocals; and you have to play them all by yourself. This may sound difficult, but the game handles this really well, as I'll explain.
At the start of a song, you have four tracks which have notes running down them for four buttons: Left, Up, Triangle and Circle. Pressing these buttons in time with the notes coming into their designated areas results in the instrument being played. Some notes have to be sustained, meaning you have to hold the button down until the coloured line in front of the note vanishes. If you fail to play a note properly, the instrument will stop playing, which messes up the song, which in turn makes the audience unhappy. If you repeatedly make mistakes on an instrument, the instrument will fail and the band member will stop playing.
Now for how the game handles the four instruments. You have phrases - sections in which it is compulsory to hit all the notes. Once you play a complete phrase, the instrument will play automatically for a while letting you do the same with the other instruments. If you play phrases properly, this builds up your combo. When your combo is maxed out, Band Groove launches and you get more points for playing phrases. You are given stars out of five based on how many points you make.
There are special notes, coloured in white and yellow, which fill up your Overdrive bar. If the Overdrive bar is at least half-full, you can press X to launch the band into Overdrive. Overdrive more than doubles your combo, letting you get a lot more points, and a band member whose instrument failed can be pulled back on stage to start playing again.
There are solos in songs. Solos, as any rock fan would know, are times when one band member is the centre of attention. In solos, you have only one track to work with, and have to hit all the notes just like with regular tracks, except you get points for each note. Hitting 90% or above of the notes correctly results in an 'Awesome Solo' or 'Great Solo' while playing them all correctly results in a 'Perfect Solo.'
You can create a band and take them on a world tour. On tours, there are special types of shows which you can accept such as Double or Nothing shows (if you get 4 stars or more you get double the cash but if not, you get no money) and Benefit shows (you get no money but earn double the fans). Your band has to play different gigs and competitions to get better transport and play more shows in different areas.
Let's get onto the subject of the soundtrack. Since this is a rhythm game, the soundtrack is even more important than it is in other games. In this category, the game does well. The soundtrack has, on the disk, 41 songs; more can be downloaded from the PlayStation Network. There are songs by greats such as Bon Jovi, Motorhead and Judas Priest; also by newer, yet just as good, bands such as Bullet for My Valentine. I also discovered some good bands through this game. However, there were songs that I absolutely hated, such as Billy Idol's White Wedding, Part 1.
In the end, whether you like the soundtrack or not comes down to your personal taste. The game has a really good mix of all rock genres, but the exclusion of some of my favourite bands such as AC/DC and Sex Pistols, when awful bands such as No Doubt made the cut, was slightly disappointing. The soundtrack is still very good though. Don't let a few bad artists scare you off.
The graphics are excellent. The camera does a good job of focusing on the band characters and the screen sometimes changes its theme depending on a part the song, for example, it goes black and white in the opening solo of Lit's My Own Worst Enemy.
The presentation is very good. The menus are well constructed and have a 'rock' feel to them, from the tiger on the main menu to the animated small icon of band members playing in the short loading times. There are lots of customization options for your bands: their gender, hair, face, clothes and their attitude (either rock, punk, metal or goth). You can even pick a logo for your created band.
Overall, Rock Band Unplugged does a splendid job of bringing the series to handhelds. Any rock fan who enjoys rhythm games should check it out. The omission of some songs and inclusion of better ones would have made it a near-perfect game. As it is, however, it is still a great game.