Rock Band: The Greatest Game of All Time (Really!)

I have eight roommates: three boys, two wide screen TV’s, two Xboxes, and one Wii.

When I first moved in, I spent a lot of time watching the boys play game after game of Halo, while I longed to throw the video game systems out the window and watch Vh1. They even competed against each other from different rooms. Headsets were involved. I had no idea how I would last.

I appreciate video games, I really do, but I’m just no good at them. I didn’t play them growing up, except for one or two games of Mario Brothers at a friend’s house (I always died on the first level…those darn mushrooms!). I simply lack the hand-eye coordination and the patience to be good at them.

One day, I came home and stumbled, literally, into a mass of boxes, packaging, wires and…is that a drum kit? “It’s Rock Band”, my roommate exclaimed proudly. “It’s like Guitar Hero, but with bass, guitar, drums and vocals”. At that moment, my life changed forever.

Rock Band is the greatest game of all time.

There are four of us in the apartment, so we formed a band (I’m the singer, no hand-eye coordination required!), and each of the boys have their preferred instrument. Singing vocals is like karaoke to the max; not only do you have to follow the rhythm and words, but you have to be on pitch too. You can see where on the scale you’re singing relative to where you should be singing, and you get more points the closer you are to matching the melody exactly.

The game itself starts out by picking a home city, where your band is “based”. You start out performing small “gigs” (one or two songs at a time) to gain fans and earn cash. As you perform more, you get to participate in showcases with big rewards: a tour bus so you can travel around the country, a jet so you can go international, PR people, roadies, sound technicians, and, eventually, a spot in the hall of fame. The more you practice, the more songs are “unlocked”, so the game gets more challenging and varied.

You can also create your own character, which you can make look just like you, or, if you prefer, nothing like you at all. The money you earn from gigs pays for new outfits, haircuts, and tattoos, so you can look your best on stage.

It’s so amazing to see my whole apartment all participating in one activity, teasing each other about our performances, trying to improve, and just generally rocking out. I can honestly say it’s helped us bond—so for all of you girls out there who just aren’t into sitting by yourself for hours at a time blowing things up (or watching your roommates, boyfriends, brothers blowing things up), give Rock Band a try.

It’s bringing people together!