1. buddashak

   10

   I've spent roughly 10 of the last 30 hours playing Rocksmith , have over 10 songs with over 85% mastery, mostly songs I'd never heard before, and can now say that this game is the bee's knees for anyone that plays guitar for fun regularly. Don't listen to all the people that say this is more of a tutorial than a game... at higher levels of play it's really just like playing guitar hero with your actual guitar. Regarding the auto-difficulty: At first I didn't feel like the difficulty was amping up fast enough, but then I realized after listening to some replays that this was because of my sloppy technique. For me this usually comes from missed palm mutes, missed harmonics, half-pressed barre chords, and brain farts. Once I got dialed in and actually started playing with precision the game would ramp up the difficulty and mastery level pretty fast. To all the reviewers complaining about the difficulty not going up fast enough (*cough* joystiq *cough*) I'm pretty sure its because you're not as good of a guitar player as you think you are. Rocksmith only gives you what you've earned. You wouldn't expect a mario game to give you access to world 8 just because you can half-a$$ your way through world 4, why should Rocksmith be any different? The lag when the ps3 audio is hooked straight to your stereo is equal to a good latency midi setup, meaning you can sense it if you're really trying hard but it's not enough to effect your playing. The interface is nice and easy to read when not cluttered... when you get to the higher levels of mastery it's another story, but if you're capable of getting to the higher levels then you're no doubt relying on your ear and memory more than what's on the screen, so it doesn't really matter The one thing that sucks is the total lack of streamlining. For example, I prefer to have my songs sorted by artist, but every time you go to the song list it resets to being sorted by title. This wouldn't bug me if you could change the sorting with a button press, but it's not. Also, whenever a song finishes the game automatically loads up the replay, thereby unloading the song. This means if you want to play the song again you have to wait for the replay to load, and then pick "play again", and then wait for the song to load up again. In other words, you end up doing a lot of waiting. Also, the two rap-rock songs are really bad.… Expand

   • Helpful? 6 of 6 users said Yes.
2. GreatBlumpkin

   8

   As many have done already, I'm not rating this as a game. If I would it would be a low score but as a guitar instructional method that is FUN, I gotta give it a very solid rating. In fact its the game portion that sort of ruins it for me. For example I want to learn the 3rd solo of Free Bird for example. I have 5 tries to nail it in practice mode, then it boots ya out and ya have to go back through a menu process that is a real buzz kill. The actual interface with the guitar is SCARY good. People have complained about lag, especially through HDMI, but mine sounds perfect and inside the once-again cumbersome menu there are adjustments that could be made if one felt it was needed. The preset tones of the different artists is great as well. Supposedly these tones, as well as user changeable virtual effects, cabs and guitars are available, but I haven't been able to figure out where an open 'jam area' exists to play around with this. The game doesn't force, but it annoyingly tries to make sure you take a linear path that they've laid out for someone learning guitar. Its a good path and one I'll probably explore myself, but for those of us who are not complete beginners we'd also like a little more freedom with choices (or at least the path to those choices could be clearer if they do indeed exist). For instance if there are 4 degrees of difficulty I'd like the ability to choose expert right away, rather than have to 'prove myself' to the software's ear before it lets me move on to a more challenging rendition. There are onscreen notes that encourage and coach (I'm guessing) but poor placement makes them impossible to read if you are still trying to play the song. I don't want to sound too harsh because I am overwhelmingly AWESTRUCK by how this whole thing works and think the sky is the limit for musical games or tools through a platform that otherwise fails to develop too much practical, real-world skill. It's been a while since I've played (guitar that is- I've wasted **** of time on games) so I worked up a couple of blisters and had to step away for a few days, but I'm ready for round 2 with this baby and think it will be something I'll come back to fairly regularly. Even though I'm not crazy about the song choices, more should be available later and its nice having the whole 'band' to play along with. I know my playing would be light years ahead if I'd played with other musicians because I'm not motivated enough to practice on my own. Rocksmith is the next best thing to playing with another human and I can't recommend it enough for beginners and intermediate players. Someone complained that the chords appear upside down to tab readers, but there is a setting to flip chordshapes over, which really helps I have found. The mini games doing the drills are also a nice touch, but overall I would have liked to have this not be an identity crisis, dump the 'game' gimmick altogether, and focus on being the awesome tool it can be.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
3. faircritic

   7

   For guitar players with some level of experience,this is a very entertaining choice and course complement for their daily practice but contrary of the box advertising say,those enthusiasts who don't know anything or too little should be warned.The game itself is somehow hard for newbies and begginers and difficult don't help out,beside you have to watch the tv screen to see the positions when actually is easier to practice while watching the fretboard.In fact if you don't know, learning guitar take sometime and can't be done in the period of time you end playing Skyrim. Beside this game , should be a complement of other courses,there isn't a complete method to learn guitar anyway.Ubisoft noticed this so they have to release a bass adon what is in other words a game to play an easier instrument.
   In my case that I'm beggining to learn but have some basics,I wouldn't waste my money there,because If you find playing guitar difficult,then jump out to bass,then if you found playing bass difficult,then jump out to another instrument until you feel comfortable at the end with a tambourine?Non sense.But like every course that is productive like in this case playing electric guitar should definitively dererve some merit.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
4. fuchikoma

   2

   First off, Rocksmith is a great game with a few rough spots (technique challenges that are almost impossible because they require high-level mastery of other techniques not being tested. ie. Hammer-ons & pull-offs requires perfect, fast, frequent shifting without glancing at the guitar at all.) Overall though, it's a great way to push you forward to try harder techniques at a fast pace and make breakthroughs in ability, as well as keep practicing regularly.
   
   However... it's really irrelevant how well planned this software is when the PS3 version doesn't even function. It will lock up every 10-15 minutes of play, presenting a loading screen that never ends. This problem is well known and infamous on their forums, but Ubi's support staff basically take any open support tickets on it and declare that they have nothing to offer, and close the ticket as "solved." In other words, "it's really too bad you just spent $200 on this, but we got our money so you can buzz off now!" In a half hour session, this game will crash more than any other game I've played since PS3 launch has ever crashed, added up across all sessions I've ever played. It's broken. It's useless. It's buggier than an anthill. Stay away! The PC version is fairly decent, but the PS3 version isn't fit for an alpha test.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 2 users said Yes.

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