Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero World Tour

Rock Band for Wii came out on Sunday, and it’s a long-awaited title for Wii owners who are music simulation fans. Rock Band combines the fun guitar action of Guitar Hero with drum and vocal tracks, so you and your friends can form a virtual band and jam along to some great songs. However, the next Guitar Hero release, Guitar Hero World Tour, which for now is scheduled to come out on October 27, 2008, will also include drum and vocal simulations, and in many ways looks to be even more comprehensive and have more features than Rock Band. The instruments for each game are not mutually compatible, so your Rock Band instruments won’t work on the new Guitar Hero game and vice versa. With each bundle sporting a hefty price tag and taking up a lot of storage space, you may only have room for one of these games in your collection. So should you spring for Rock Band now or hold out for GH4: World Tour? Let’s compare the two.

Price:

Rock Band bundle retails for $169.99
Guitar Hero Band Kit pre-order retails for $189.99

Instruments:

Rock Band Drums

Rock Band Guitar

Guitar Hero World Tour Drums

Unlike Rock Band, this kit includes cymbals and is being hyped as a more realistic drumming experience.

Guitar Hero World Tour Guitar

This guitar will also include touch pads to alter notes.

Rock Band instruments do not need to be connected to Wii remotes in order to work (but they do come with other wireless connectors that you have to plug in).

The Guitar Hero World Tour instruments will need to be connected to Wii remotes in order to work.

Downloadable Content:

This will not be included on Rock Band (additional content will need to be purchased on “Track Pack” discs). It also does not include online play.

There will be DLC on Guitar Hero World Tour, and it looks to be extensive. Not only that, users will be able to create their own tracks and share them online. However, with the Wii’s limited storage capacity, it may be necessary to store content on memory cards.


Track Lists:

Rock Band songs include the following:

Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"
The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Boston "Foreplay/Long Time"
Mountain "Mississippi Queen"
The Police "Next to You"
David Bowie "Suffragette City"
Black Sabbath "Paranoid"
Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"
The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"
Deep Purple "Highway Star"
KISS "Detroit Rock City"
Molly Hatchet "Flirtin' With Disaster"
The Outlaws "Green Grass & High Tides"
Sweet "Ballroom Blitz"
Rush "Tom Sawyer"
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
Faith No More "Epic"
R.E.M. "Orange Crush"
Iron Maiden "Run to the Hills"*
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Nirvana "In Bloom"
Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline"
Weezer "Say It Ain't So"
Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock"
Radiohead "Creep"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
Hole "Celebrity Skin"
Garbage "I Think I'm Paranoid"
Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun"
The Hives "Main Offender"
Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow"
The Strokes "Reptilia"
Jet "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
OK Go "Here It Goes Again"
Nine Inch Nails "The Hand That Feeds"
Pixies "Wave of Mutilation"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Dani California"
Coheed & Cambria "Welcome Home"
Fallout Boy "Dead on Arrival"
The Killers "When You Were Young"
New Pornographers "Electric Version"

The Guitar Hero World Tour track list is not yet known, but artists are rumored to include Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park, Sublime, Billy Idol, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Muse, Korn, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, and the Foo Fighters.

Rock Band includes some cover versions, while Guitar Hero World Tour will have all original artist versions of the songs.

Customization:

Rock Band does not have Mii support or character creation.

Guitar Hero will have character and instrument customization options.


Verdict:

While there are still some mysteries surrounding Guitar Hero World Tour and it will be a bit more expensive than Rock Band, it looks to be a much more extensive and well-crafted game, with many more opportunities for creativity and fancier instruments. Plus, it will have the crucial elements of DLC and online interaction. Unless you absolutely can’t wait to bang on some virtual drums, I would hold out for Guitar Hero World Tour.