Rock Band Unplugged

PSP game review.

Finally, the Rock Band franchise came to the PSP and I've finally gotten my hands on it. This was the game responsible for lots of my sleepless nights last month even though I was well cramped with my workload. Haha.

 Rock Band Unplugged on the PSP is much much different from playing it on consoles with the accompanying instruments. This version lets you play all the instruments at a time with your handheld console. The screen is familiar, notes of blue, green, yellow and red still streams on the center view of your screen as you play to the beat. A phrase indicator lets you know if you're building up the multiplier stack for a higher score. There is still the four-levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert. I've played all the songs using the hard mode and I've gotten pretty adept with it, the expert mode is a little tricky for me still. The instrument indicator also lets you know the level of difficulty for each instrument is.

The tour mode lets you pick which gigs to play and what cities to play them in. Each gig has it's own rewards in terms of star and fan points. Sometimes a gig gives you extra bonuses if you finish with the asked pre-requisites like a four-or-five star finish, if you do it will unlock extra gigs or extra items.

 

 You can also choose to hire managers for your band. Each one offers something a bit different depending on which areas you're currently completing. As an added treat, you can also customize your band's name, the band's logo, their look and their attitudes on the customize band screen.

 A quickplay mode in the menu lets you practice the difficult songs before proceeding on tour. There's also an option to play just your favorite instrument, I think this is particularly great if you're fumbling a lot with an instrument for one particular song.

 I've recently completed the Endless mode (playing all 41 songs included in the playlist nonstop) with a lot of help from Druce. Playing it for several hours really does take toll on your ears and eyes. We swapped playing after every 3 songs or so. After completing that...oooh boy. I still can't get enough. Talk about being really addicted.

There are available downloadable songs in the PSN if you want to expand your playlist, or you can register your UMD at the official site to get the bonus playlist.

This is one great game that a PSP fanatic must try. It's perfect for destressing or for passing extra time. (at least it worked out that way for me)