subject: Music Games Overview [print this page] If you've paid any attention to the console gaming world in the last five years, you're probably familiar with the endless onslaught of music games that have been flooding the video game market. What began with Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution has spawned Rock Band, DJ Hero, Karaoke Revolution, and numerous sequels. Music games are an excellent way to enjoy casual gaming with your friends while honing your musical skills.
Rock Band 2
Rock Band was the first game to reach beyond the one-man-with-a-guitar music game format and allow multiple players to play multiple "instruments" simultaneously. This opened up the music game to a whole new audience of gamers, and made music games synonymous with party games. Rock Band 2 expands on the original with more songs, tighter game play, and smoother graphics. Players can choose to play drums, guitar, bass, or vocals while jamming on songs from Metallica, the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam, Mastodon, Foo Fighters, Bob Dylan, and more.
Guitar Hero 5 is the latest installment in the amazingly popular Guitar Hero series, the franchise that brought music games to the mainstream. As with all of the Guitar Hero games, GH5 requires players to strum and fret notes as they appear on the screen in a scrolling bar. The game can be played in a range of difficulty settings, allowing total novices and seasoned veterans to enjoy the action and listen to the excellent music. The song selection in Guitar Hero 5 features pop, rock, and punk favorites both old and new, with featured artists from Iron Maiden, King Crimson, and Jeff Beck to Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, and My Morning Jacket.
DJ Hero
DJ Hero is a unique music game from the makers of GH5 that focuses on the art of turntablism. DJ Hero allows players to scratch, cut, and mix along to their favorite tracks from famous hip hop and electronic artists like Daft Punk, Eminem, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, and DJ AM. Players get to spin a virtual record, press buttons to create beats, crossfade between songs, and scratch the track to create new, interesting remixes and score points. Cooperative, career, and head to head multiplayer modes are included. DJ Hero is available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.
Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution is a popular music game for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS2, and PS3. In Karaoke Revolution, players sing into a handheld microphone along with popular songs from artists like Amy Winehouse, Supertramp, Lady Gaga, Incubus, Pat Benatar, Lily Allen or more. Players are scored based on their singing skill, which basically comes down to matching the pitches in the song. Karaoke Revolution will automatically adjust to different octaves, in case a song is out of a singer's range. The game is perfect for parties, and makes a great replacement for an old karaoke machine.
Any of these dance games provide an entertaining, educational experience that will test your reflexes and musical abilities while you have a good time with your friends.
