Music sim titles have been making a resurgence lately, especially with the announcement made by developer Harmonix about their comeback title, "Rock Band 4," and the more recent statement of big-name Activision that they would be releasing "Guitar Hero Live." The two premiere music rhythm titles will be making their way to fans and casual players this fall.
Since both games are the latest installments in their respective franchises, how would the two compare against each other?
Gameplay
While there are no concrete details about how updated the gameplay will be for the new titles, fans expect the two to still provide a full musical experience. However, while "Rock Band 4" is intended to simulate a full band with a multitude of instrument controllers, "Guitar Hero Live" is concentrated more on solo guitar gameplay.
"Guitar Hero" will also change its design gameplay. In the upcoming title, the colored lines depicting frets will be gone and will be replaced instead by a minimalist design of black and white rows with three buttons. However, instead of this design making the game easier, it will make control more challenging during gameplay — gamers will have to press multiple buttons at the same time more rhythmically than in previous "Guitar Hero" titles with five-button rows.
Music Library
One feature that separates a good music sim from another is its number of songs. With the two upcoming titles, a vast music library will be one of the deciding factors for gamers. In addition, the developers shifted their strategies in terms of updates. Now, they intend for gamers to purchase new songs for "Guitar Hero Live" and "Rock Band 4" instead of releasing new installment titles in the future.
There has not been any detail on how big the music library of "Guitar Hero Live" will be upon its release, but it would need to keep up with its counterpart in order to compete. In its developer video showcased after the title announcement, Harmonix revealed that their upcoming "Rock Band 4" will have over 2,000 songs, with new ones to be added in future updates.
