| Rock Band: Degraded

From a purely solo studio musician guitar players point of view, the guitar experience of RB is getting stale for me. I think the root of my problem is that the songs in the game are better suited to be played in a group/band format and are designed to be enjoyed as a party-style experience.

Sure, playing Eye of the Tiger was novel as the first song and got me fired up to play the game because I was eager for the experience of RB. Playing it again as a challenge set instantly became boring because (for me) it is mind-numbingly simple and repetitious. This simplicity problem spans almost all the songs I have encountered so far (I just played through the songs in Dublin and London last night).

There have been a few songs that are just so much fun to play despite their simplicity (Journey, Jimmy Eat World, for example) and I totally get into the song I forget it is actually boring from a gameplay perspective. The real problem is that so many of the songs are boring in their own right, that I can do nothing but focus on how boring they are to play and how much I wish the song, or my life, would end so I could stop.

I see the songs as 2 things: puzzles to figure out and conquer, or good-time simularockstar experiences. If the song sucks at both, then I am wasting my time.

AND ANOTHER THING, I d/l'd a few metal songs to sort of beef up my challenge level (All That Remains pack 01, Machinehead, Devildriver) and beat all of them on my first go at expert. I am not tooting my own horn here, I am just concerned that the game as a guitar game for me is possibly dead because these songs are rated 5 star difficult on guitar, and I didn't fail out on any of them.

All this being said, the story MOSTLY changes completely when looking at the game from a drum perspective. I have muted the drums somewhat and moved the kit to the garage so I can play at night. I think I will give the game one more night to impress and challenge me on guitar and if it is akin to grinding murlocs for a random drop, then I may hang up the axe and go all drum all the time.

I have been thinking about singing some songs too.... *shudder*