Adults Will be Kids

Imagine 15 30-something adults finding their inner Thom York, Charlie Watts or Richie Sambora till 2am on a Saturday. That's what you're in for if you purchase Rock Band.

Forget Trivial Pursuit, forget Catch Phrase, forget Charades. Rock Band just took the crown as best party party game ever.

Rockers can play lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and sing. You can even play the cow bell whilst crooning to various songs. You heard me, cow bell.

The drums are by far much harder to master than the guitar, but they're also the most fun and creative. In the middle of songs you get to unleash your inner drummer with "freestyle" sections. Anything goes when this happens.

Singing is fun and fairly easy. You have to match the pitch of the song in order to gain points. The pitch matching is questionable considering babies 1,000 miles away cry when I sing and yet I've mastered a few songs.

Comparing the guitar gameplay to Guitar Hero, it's pretty much the same. The guitar that comes with Rock Band is the superior guitar, however it's not wireless in the Xbox 360 version. The RB guitar feels more solid, the strummer is quiet and there are fret buttons at the top and the bottom of the guitar neck. There's also an effects switch to get your wah-wah's or your echoes out there. Like Guitar Hero, there's also a whammy bar.

It's nice to note that the Guitar Hero guitar works with Rock Band.

If you're considering purchasing Rock Band, get out there and do it. You won't regret it.

SONG LIST (keep in mind more songs are available each week to download via Xbox Live):
Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"*
The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Boston "Foreplay/Long Time"
Mountain "Mississippi Queen" (cover)
The Police "Next to You"
David Bowie "Suffragette City"
Black Sabbath "Paranoid" (cover)
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" (cover)
Sweet "Ballroom Blitz" (cover)
Rush "Tom Sawyer"*
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
Faith No More "Epic"
Pixies "Wave of Mutilation"
R.E.M. "Orange Crush"
Iron Maiden "Run to the Hills" (cover)
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"
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"