The original Amplitude and Frequency were cult hits but didn’t even come close to matching the critical and commercial accolades that Guitar Hero did. Now the team at Harmonix are working under the different but an arguably more successful banner of Rock Band and they’ve been given the chance of introducing their old concept under a new name to a wider audience.
The concept in theory is all to familiar even for Guitar Hero or Rock Band players. Hit the notes on the various charts in time but unlike you’ll just be using the face buttons instead of having a behemoth plastic instrument taking up room or a ghastly looking grip that hugs the system. No, Rock Band Unplugged keeps it simple.
Here you ride across numerous note tracks that are naturally, in Rock Band’s case, Drums, Vocals, Lead Guitar & Bass. Once you’ve successfully played a part of one track you’ll move onto another part and there is a lot of back and forth in between to keep all tracks progressing at the right pace. Frantically jumping between tracks is the norm just to keep your meter out of the red. It’s really just Amplitude without the soundtrack you would really hope for.
Obviously with this being part of the Rock Band franchise it comes with a Rock heavy influence. A mix of new and old for the franchise makes up the complete set list. Although not as family friendly as Lego Rock Band’s prospective song choice, Unplugged definitely has a casual nature to it. With the Jackson 5, Weezer, The Police and more making up the approachable soundtrack but appearances by System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age and Audioslave will appeal to the more rock centric half of the audience. They have chosen a good mix of songs but nothing can really compare to the original Amplitude and Frequency soundtracks luckily Freezepop does make the only welcome return to this bastardized sequel.
Unplugged follows the straight and narrow road of the previous incarnations of Rock Band with it’s standard customizable band maker that then has you playing through a series of gigs all around the world in the World Tour mode. Meanwhile new modes consist of a welcome freeplay mode called Band Warm Up and a free-for-all panic where all parts of the song have to be consistently played in Band Survival Mode.
Rock Band Unplugged is one worth getting excited for even if you’ve never played Amplitude or Frequency. Sure the idea of Rock Band without the instruments might sound terrible but the multiple track scrambles that occur offer enough excitement for this game to be worth it. It’s hard to have any reservations against the title as even the concept makes sense on the PSP it’s self. My only slight complaint is that this isn’t a true sequel to the originals but the spirit is definitely still there.
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