As a huge fan of the Rock Band series, there was always one thing that really got me upset when I played it, the cost of the game. Not the cost in the sense of paying for the instruments and the downloadable content but for the fact that I would often get fined by my Strata for noise complaints. Thankfully with the PSP release of Rock Band Unplugged those fines will disappear. In what is a fine complement to the Rock Band series will be loved by most PSP owners, but does the one grand omission prevents it from being a truly remarkable game?

Gameplay

A lot of people have been comparing Unplugged to Harmonix’s other titles Amplitude and Frequency in terms of gameplay, but chances are only a small fraction can actually say they’ve played either or both titles. In order to compare how Unplugged actually plays, it’s best to compare it to those performers who spin plates on sticks.

It might seem like a weird comparison, but that is exactly what you need to do in Unplugged. You control the bass, drums, vocals and guitar. Your job is to keep all four tracks playing smoothly. To do so, you need to complete musical phrases. You will play a certain amount of tracks and once you successfully complete a section, you can move on to the next instrument. You shift using the left and right Buttons and listen to both the music and the visuals on the screen to know when you need to move to a specific track.

Each ’instrument’ has its own highway that you’ll have to maintain

Controls are defaulted to the Left and Up buttons for your left hand the Triangle and Circle buttons for your right hand. This set-up works perfectly and feels extremely comfortable, but the ability to adjust to your preference is there. While this differs for the guitar and bass which used five frets, it still works well for the system.

The balance in difficulty is perfect. Most experienced music players can right away begin with Medium and feel extremely confident that they can jump to Hard. I would suggest that even if you find Medium to be easy in the beginning to stick with it as there is a significant difference between it and Hard.

There are 41 available on the disc when you first pick it up. These are mostly tunes from previous Rock Band games with only a few exclusive tracks. Fans will automatically recognize the tunes and feel right at home. These songs do have to be unlocked and you will do that playing Tour mode.

Tour feels the same as it did in previous Rock Band Games. You create your band and try your hardest to make it big. With its similarities to the consoles, it also has the same problem where players will be playing the same songs over and over again before they unlock the full catalogue. Forty-one tracks might seem a lot, but in the beginning, you only have 10 songs available and you will have to play a few more than once before you really open up the rest of the library. This essentially forces you to either endure the repetition or purchase songs.

At the time of writing, there are 19 tunes available to download, but these songs are fairly expensive at 1.99 each. While this price is on par with what PS3 owners pay, for a PSP title it seems a bit steep. A more reasonable price would have been 99 cents or at least offer better bundle deals.

Create the next great portable band in Tour Mode

Other than the minor problem of repetition in Tour, it is a great mode that will appeal to most Rock Band players. But it is overshadowed by the biggest omission from the game, multiplayer.

What makes Rock Band so popular is the social connection it has. You can call over friends and spend hours playing your favourite songs or falling in love with new songs. Unplugged is a strictly single-player affair, which feels weird. Even with the set-up of the game, there are certainly ways to include a multiplayer aspect. You could have two PSPs dual in a head-to-head or even a co-op where you need to work together. Heck, there are even single, pass the PSP games that could have also been implemented.

Graphics and Sound

The same quirky look from the console versions is on hand here. You have the ability to do quite a bit of customization with your band as there are a boatload of available clothing and instruments to purchase and use. The musical highways look really good and even include some nice ‘explosions’ when you hit notes. Rock Band has never been about the look, but thankfully this uses the same palette to ensure you know what you are playing.

Even though there are only 41 songs available, each and every one of them sounds absolutely fantastic on the PSP. All the tracks for the game are original recordings and play really well on the system. You can still play the game using the PSP’s speakers, but most will want to absorb the songs with headphones.

A great touch as you play is that the music fades in and out depending on your performance. Since you are playing to keep the music playing and not to fail, if you begin to neglect a track, the sounds from that instrument begin to fade away. This is a great cue to shift back to that instrument and gives the impression that all four instrument tracks was recorded individually to help with this.

Value

Although the Tour mode will take a good chunk of time to complete, the fact that there is absolutely no multiplayer really hurts its longevity. Yes, you can download more songs to play with, but once you complete Tour mode, there is no reason to come back. If there are plans for a sequel and the promise of carry-over, you might have some incentive to buy songs, but I would still recommend not doing it unless there is a song you have to have.

There is also the ability to unlock all the songs and the famous Rock Band ‘No Fail Mode’, but I would suggest not using this unless you absolutely have to play a song you love. This option works well for the consoles, but with no multiplayer, you will only do this to avoid repetition.

Conclusion

Looking at Rock Band Unplugged as a music game, it is absolutely incredible. Looking at it as a Rock Band title, it feels like it could have been so much more. You will certainly get a lot of joy and challenge playing through the game on your own, but when you will be craving some interaction with friends, you will return to the console versions. Had they held off from releasing this until later in the year and added even a basic multiplayer mode, I would have said to buy this without a doubt. But since there is no ability to play with friends, it is probably better to try before you buy or hold off until we get a follow-up that includes multiplayer.