Both “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero World Tour” have been available for a while now (especially in the US), so perhaps lots of people have already tried them. However, consider the situation in some countries, where the games have only been available for about 6 months.

This made me wonder if there were any people still thinking “should I get both, or just one of them?” I thought it would be a good time to offer my opinion, because we recently bought “Rock Band” after having played only”Guitar Hero World Tour” since its release in Australia.

Frankly, I prefer “Rock band”. Then again — It’s hard to say, because they are both fun in their own rights. But if you consider yourself a big fan of rock concerts, or if you always feel the need for more music, then you might also prefer “Rock Band” (RB) to “Guitar Hero World Tour” (GHWT). See my quick outline below for reference.

Points in favour of RB:

1. Character creation is more simplistic than GHWT, but for some reason looks more realistic.
2. Image quality is poor compared to GHWT, but again, it somehow looks more realistic.
3. The audience reaction is much more natural than GHWT. Also, RB presents a little musical history during loading times.
4. Musical notes are not as complicated as GHWT,but as the notes appear thinner, it seems to require more accuracy.
5. There is quite a large variety of tracks available for purchase, so you never get bored.
6. If you like to sing, RB’s special echo effect (vocal star power) will make you smile…

Overall:

Good for “Rock concert freaks” who enjoy more variety as well as people that like singing.

With similar “Rock concert friends” (so to speak), you can really have fun.

Points in favour of GHWT:

1. Character creation is far more detailed — you can make a more individual character. There are also more accessories on offer.
   

   GHWT

2. Image quality is clearer, and stages appear more dynamic than RB.
3. Unfortunately, the crowd is not so realistic, but the gorgeous, dynamic stages make up for that.
4. The arrangements are more complicated than RB (some consider RB to be the easier game), but as each note is a circle, it seems easier to hit the notes. In addition, the “beginner” mode makes it easy to have young children or non-gamers play, as it makes the gameplay quite simplistic.
5. Although songs are released for download on a weekly basis, GHWT can not compete with the lead that RB has (it was released in America a year before it came to Australia). Song preference is up to you (we prefer RB) — but the GHWT disk comes with quite a few more tracks on it than RB does (about 20 more in fact).
6. Star power (for guitar/bass guitar) is definitely much better than RB — more dynamic and activation is clearer.
7. The music creation tool.. Some people might think this is a good point. We found it compicated and boring, though.

Overall:

Good for entertaining a wide range of guests — including kids.

If you think of it as a party game, it is very good in this respect.

DECISION?

So if you’re still deciding which game to get, consider getting them both! We bought GHWT for PS3 first (band set), then we purchased RB later (software only). We thought everything was compatible (see this), but the drum set will only work with RB2… so we need to get that soon too!

[Updated!]See our poll below. Apologies for spelling error… and no answer 5… Still learning