rock banana 4

it's happened

Okay, before we get into the songs:

The character creator is fucked. There are almost no options for hair and shit. No beard between "paedophile" and "lumberjack". There are two body types: annorexic male and annorexic female.
There's no option for "pale" either.

So, for example, when I made Yellow and Teal as characters, they looked very near to exactly the same (since Yellow is canonically a ginger).
UPDATE: I found a more Yellow-like hairstyle for Yellow in the shop. $100 well-spent
At least I can give Pink a ponytail this time.

don't worry you can tell who is who by the colour of their t-shirt

As in Rock Band 3, my main band is:
GREEN on guitar
YELLOW on bass
PURPLE on drums
HONEY on vocals

I liked Honey better in RB3, honestly. I really wish RB4 had all the options RB3 had.


I did the freestyle guitar solo tutorial, but turned off that whole thing in the options menu. I'm here for the pure experience of each song at the moment.

Since the Xbone doesn't allow you to adjust to the size of your screen, hahaha I can't see the pass/fail meter

Features I liked that are gone:
Practice mode
Rating songs so random playlists won't give you shitty ones (in this case, it's putting four shitty songs in the "play an encore?" screen)
Sorting songs by which game they were in originally

Legit gameplay improvements:
You can now see your progress toward gold stars mid-song
The game gives you a gold wreath for your song if you FC it (you don't get one if you get 100% but break combo)


Tour mode is fucking stupid.
If you fail a song, you don't get to retry. You just skip it. Fuck you. If I fuck up, I want to try again. I don't want to be passed to the next level. Fuck off with your casual baby mode bullshit.
The structure of it all is better than RB3, but not as good as RB2. I miss RB3's cutscenes, though.
But at least money is tied to the band rather than the character, so you can buy clothes for everyone.

The "RPG" shit they talked about is like a Telltale game: "choices" that don't really matter in the slightest. All roads lead to the same place.


I imported all my DLC, RB1 songs, and RB2 songs, plus I bought the RB3 export.
It's when you don't have the RB3 songs that you realise that RB3 had a fucking amazing set of tracks.
SHAME THAT LEGO ROCK BAND HAD SO MANY EXPORT PROBLEMS AND I COULDN'T DO IT BEFORE THE EXPORT EXPIRED
They really should relicense as many of those songs as possible and offer them as their own pack, or even individual DLC. I'd fork over at least $10, if every song was $2 a piece.

All that DLC you bought that they can't sell any more? Well, it isn't on RB4. The song I miss most? Tell Me Baby.
You know that The Doors three-pack they gave you if you bought and played RB3 within a week of release? It doesn't come over to RB3 unless you buy the songs again. Shit. R.I.P. Touch Me

The game (or the Xbone) didn't import ALL my DLC, so I had to go back through the list manually.
Tell me, WHEN DID THEY ADD FROM OUT OF NOWHERE
THE THIRD-BEST FAITH NO MORE SONG AFTER EPIC AND MIDLIFE CRISIS

All in all, the game/Bone/whatever missed around 200 tracks. Oof.
When all was said and done, I had 549 tracks, including the ones on the RB4 disc. I didn't export LEGO, Green Day, or Rock Band Track Pack 2, for various reasons.

U2/"I Will Follow": B
Chords over a good song. Decent enough start.

The Black Keys/"Fever": A-
Some decent HO/PO action here. Better than I'd expected from the second song in the game. One of the better songs from Turn Blue, even if that's not saying much.

The Outfield/"Your Love": A+
I don't care if it's mostly chords. This is the best song in the game.

The Cure/"Friday, I'm in Love": A+
I don't care if Monday's blue, Tuesday's grey and Wesnesday too; oh, Thursday, I don't care about you. It's Friday, I'm in love.
Also, this is the best song in the game.

R.E.M./"The One I Love": A+
I don't care if it's in GHWT. This is the best song in the game.

Fleetwood Mac/"You Make Loving Fun": B
Christine McVie sings this one, right? She's a passable singer. The chart itself is probably the best so far.
Okay, this song is a definite grower. I seem to like it more every time the game forces me to play it.

Cake/"Short Skirt/Long Jacket": A+
This is a song that I believe only works in the context of this game. It would be boring as sin to actually listen to, but in-game it's great. Best chart so far, definitely.

Scandal/"The Warrior": A+
Stupid fun. And it doesn't end retardedly like in RT80s.

Lucius/"Turn it Around": C+
This is a song that's just kind of there. It didn't bother me to play it, but I'm not going to remember it by the end of the day.

Mumford and Sons/"The Wolf": B-
Same sort of deal as the last song, but it's a better song, so there's that.

The Warning/"Free Falling": C-
Not a good song, boring chordy chart. The lady who sings could not be any more flat or emotionless without becoming the guy from Cake.

Brandi Carlile/"Mainstream Kid": F
Antibodies-lite. Except Antibodies was a far better song.
You can tell that this song was chosen because of its guitar part. Its guitar part that is horrible and not fun to play. The vocals sure as shit aren't any good.
First bad song of the game. First song I didn't five-star, as well.

White Denim/"At Night in Dreams": A+
Listen, everybody. THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT
If you are going to pick a song for its guitar part, MAKE IT A SONG LIKE THIS
10/10 fun, and a pretty good song to boot. Best chart in the game thus far.

Heart/"Kick it Out": A
Great song, fun chart. All you can ask for, really. Now if only we could get Magic Man.

Benjamin Booker/"Violent Shiver": B+
No complaints. Good song, good enough chart.

Brad Paisley/"Start a Band": D+
Not a good song. The concept is tired within one verse/chorus, and there are four. The solo isn't very fun, either.
Second song I didn't five-star.

Aerosmith/"Toys in the Attic": A
First song I failed, but it felt like it was because I sucked rather than some bullshit.
That riff is super-fun, but the solo isn't friendly. Non-five-star number three.

Heaven's Basement/"I am Electric": B+
Great song, subpar chart. G-G-B-G-G-O repeating isn't very hand-friendly.

Scorpions/"No One Like You": A-
Not the best rerecording in the world, vocally or instrumentally.
Original > RT80s cover > this

Van Morrison/"Brown-Eyed Girl": A
A great song, and a fun one. About time we got some Van Morrison.

The Protomen/"Light Up the Night": A+
The best song in the game.

Gin Blossoms/"Follow You Down": B-
Drags on a bit too long, but it's decent enough. Not the song I was thinking of when I started it. Completely different genre, and the singer of this song is a dude.

Arctic Monkeys/"Arabella": B
Album filler, but decent in-game. The riff works a lot better in this context than in a listening-only context.
The ending solo is also pretty neat.

Dark Wheels/"V-Bomb": B-
Maybe the most average song that's ever been in one of these games, song-wise and chart-wise.

Slydigs/"Light the Fuse": B-
Maybe this one is more average. Who knows?
First big rock ending of the game, by the way.

The Both/"Milwaukee": C+
Some really awkward chord changes, but a nice guitar solo. Didn't five-star this one.

As a note, as part of the story, I replayed Friday, I'm in Love here. It was my first FC of the game, at this point right here.

Imagine Dragons/"I Bet My Life": F
INCREDIBLY ANNOYING SONG
I HATED IT LONG BEFORE IT WAS IN THIS GAME
FUCK THIS SONG

Live/"All Over You": B
The first "OH THIS SONG" of the game. As in, I knew the song but not the name/artist. This time it's because I didn't care much for the song. It's fine.

Foo Fighters/"The Feast and the Famine": F
Listen, if I am a River didn't happen, this would be the band's worst song, far and away.
The vocals range from annoying to potentially off-key, and that opening riff is one of the worst I've ever heard.
Two questions:
1. Why did the band record something so tonally retarded?
2. Why did Harmonix put THIS song in the game?
If we need a Foo Fighters song (and there's probably a quota or something you have to hit), they should have used Big Me. It's like their biggest song they haven't used yet.

Eddie Japan/"Albert": A-
This is the shit I like to see. Never heard of it, but it's a pretty good song, and pretty fun.

Halestorm/"I Miss the Misery": A
Female-fronted metal band that ISN'T total ass, and a fun song to boot. I'm legitimately surprised.
I always confuse this band and the similarly-named Alestorm, for the record.

.38 Special/"Caught Up in You": A-
THAT SOLO THOUGH
This is one of those songs where you're just like "why is this devil horns tier it's sooooooooooo easy" then the outro solo comes in and you're FUCKED
I'm a paranoid piece of shit, though, so I had the not-star power to get through it.

System of a Down/"Spiders": B-
Average in every way, so it's the best SOAD song put into one of these games by default.

Elvis Presley/"Suspicious Minds": A+
Exactly the sort of song I love in this game. Simple, but that riff is really fun.

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars/"Uptown Funk": D+
As far as pop music goes, they could have done a lot worse on all fronts. This isn't a bad song.
It's just that the guitar part is sparse and not very good when it is there. It also sounds really weak after the big "DON'T BELIEVE ME JUST WATCH" line.
The ending of the song just goes on forever, too.

Grouplove/"Tonguetied": B
Decent enough song, better chart than the "literally whos" we get from Neversoft.

Van Halen/"Panama": B+
More fun than you'd imagine, but it's still just Panama. For the record, B+ is the same rating I gave it in GHVH.

Rick Derringer/"Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo": A+
As fun as it was in GH2, but a bit harder, somehow. Also, I think Wavegroup's singer is way better than Rick.
This song will always be a GH2 song to me, honestly.

Spin Doctors/"Little Miss Can't be Wrong": A
Some really fun little licks thrown around in there. Perfect song for the game, really. Tier five is a bit high, though.

Jack White/"Lazaretto": A
This is another song that is much better in-game than out of it. It's very fun to play, but I would never just, like, listen to it.

St. Vincent/"Birth in Reverse": B+
Kind of awkward to play, but not in a bad way. I didn't five-star this one.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones/"The Impression That I Get": B-
A better song to listen to than to play. And, looking now at my Band Hero review, I gave this song the same score then, too. Damn, I am consistent.

Paramore/"Still Into You": B
I get why it's in the game, and I'm not opposed to it. Chart's fine.

Queens of the Stone Age/"My God is the Sun": A-
Almost the entire song is strumming at a steady rhythm, but it's actually interesting for once.

U2/"Cedarwood Road": B+
Surprisingly, the song from the new album is better in-game than the classic.  That one riff is pretty neat.

Four Non-Blondes/"What's Up?": F
and i say hey-yey-yey-yeah hey-yey-yey-yey-yeah what's goin' on
why did they put this garbage in the game
at least i got the fc

Fall Out Boy/"Centuries": F
i have always hated this song
that has not changed and it will probably never change

Rush/"A Passage to Bangkok": A
A fun song. Nothing more to it, really.

The Who/"The Seeker": B
Better to listen to than to play.
Notably, Harmonix charted a different guitar part than Neversoft did in GH3. It's better this way.

Avenged Sevenfold/"Hail to the King": C+
That intro is Snow-lite. Luckily, they give you an easier part to play as soon as they can. The intro repeats throughout nearly the entire song, so Harmonix could have been complete shitheads. I didn't five-star it, but I'm happy that I still have all the bones in my left hand.

Johnny Blazes and the Prettyboys/"Cold Clear Light": F
Musically unremarkable, and unremarkable in-game. The band itself, though, oh boy. This band is why this game is rated T for teen and why children should not play this game.
I'm obligated to give this an F.

Disturbed/"Prayer": B+
Say what you will about the band, but the chart is pretty fun. Also the easiest Disturbed song in one of these games by a lot.

Soundgarden/"Superunknown": A+
One of the band's best songs, and it translates beautifully to this game.

Tijuana Sweetheart/"Pistol Whipped": B-
Formerly Vagiant. Fuck the Kells and Seven were better songs, but this one's chart is pretty interesting. The score might get higher as I get used to that weird riff.

Duck and Cover/"Knock 'em Down": A-
A Harmonix band SUPERGROUP
It's mostly the Acro-Brats with a token Bang Camaro member on bass.

Little Big Town/"Little White Church": F
i put this one off as long as i could
i chose CENTURIES over this song for fuck's sake
i just hate this song
a less autistic version of all the single ladies

Gary Clark Jr./"Ain't Messin' 'round": C+
Average in every possible way.

The Killers/"Somebody Told Me": B-
A better song than chart. It's not the band's best song, either. On just the discs of these rhythm games, you've got both When You Were Young and All the Pretty Faces, which both heavily outclass this song. The song is good enough, but it's just kind of "there".

Ozzy Osbourne/"Miracle Man": A-
Not the most fun chart I've ever seen for an Ozzy song. The solo's pretty neat, though.
four stars because of all those damn trills

Jeff Allen and some friends/"Recession": C+
I still don't know what just happened, musically or gameplay-wise.

Lynyrd Skynyrd/"That Smell": A+
Absolutely great. The guitar solos are tough, but certainly doable. This is legit a 10/10 song on guitar for one of these games.

Soul Remnants/"Dead Black": C-
Fun chart, to start.
Horrible, horrible song.
It started off well enough, but then the vocals happened. Why do bands think those vocals are something anyone would want to listen to? Then those fucking drums. The fucking bass pedal-ass seizure on a drumkit.
BASICALLY:
Keep the guitar
Keep the bass
Change the drums to remove the seizure bits
Remove the vocals entirely or get a singer who actually can

Dream Theatre/"Metropolis Part One": A
Not as fun as Panic Attack, I'll say straight-up. However, this song does have some really neat moments, and is probably the band's second-best song. Two guitar solos you can't get through without not-star power, and a third just to get you nervous.

Judas Priest/"Halls of Valhalla": B+
For a "song from the new album", it's pretty good. The guitar solos are appropriately nuts, and there are some fun bits. The riff I assume to be the main riff is a bit awkward to play, though.
Barely even got four stars on this one.

Lightning Bolt/"Dream Genie": F
People were comparing this song to Visions from RB2, but I don't get the comparison.
This song is FAR more listenable than Visions in every sense, and it's not really hard, it's just awkward. Four stars, sure, but I never really felt like I was in danger of failing.


Overall, the setlist isn't up to par with RB2 or RB3. I still enjoyed this game a lot, and I hope Harmonix continues to support it with more and more songs and shit as time goes by.

DEFINING SONGS:
RB1: Black Hole Sun, Cherub Rock, Creep, Electric Version, Foreplay/Long Time, In Bloom, Mississippi Queen, Reptilia, Vasoline
RB2: Alabama Getaway, Alive, Any Way You Want It, Carry On Wayward Son, Drain You, E-Pro, Eye of the Tiger, Master Exploder, Night Lies, Painkiller, Panic Attack, Peace Sells, Rock'n Me, Spoonman
LRB: Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Fire, Ghostbusters, Ride a White Swan, Two Princes, Valerie
RB3: 25 or 6 to 4, Been Caught Stealing, Before I Forget, Bohemian Rhapsody, Break on Through, Cold as Ice, Crazy Train, Crosstown Traffic, Heart of Glass,  Here I Go Again, I Feel Good, In the Meantime, No One Knows, Radar Love, Rainbow in the Dark, Roundabout, Sister Christian, The Power of Love, Whip It
RBB: Cult of Personality, Metal Health, One Week
RB4: Friday I'm in Love, Light Up the Night, Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo, Superunknown, Suspicious Minds, That Smell, The One I Love, Your Love




Here's something I've tallied out of curiosity that I figured I'd post:

BANDS WITH MULTIPLE GAME APPEARANCES
NOT COUNTING HARMONIX BANDS

5 (1):
Foo Fighters (RB1, RB2, LRB, RBB, RB4) [Learn to Fly, Everlong, Breakout, Walk, The Feast and the Famine]

4 (2):
Avenged Sevenfold (RB2, RB3, RBB, RB4) [Almost Easy, Beast and the Harlot, So Far Away, Hail to the King]
The Who (RB1, RB2, RB3, RB4) [Won't Get Fooled Again, Pinball Wizard, I Can See for Miles, The Seeker]

3 (10):
Bon Jovi (RB1, RB2, LRB) [Wanted Dead or Alive, Livin' on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name]
David Bowie (RB1, LRB, RB3) [Suffragette City, Let's Dance, Space Oddity]
Elton John (LRB, RB3, RBB) [Crocodile Rock, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, I'm Still Standing]
Fall Out Boy (RB1, RBB, RB4) [Dead on Arrival, A Little Less Sixteen Candles, Centures]
Paramore (RB2, RB3, RB4) [That's What You Get, Misery Business, Still Into You]
Queen (LRB x2, RB3, RBB) [We Will Rock You, We are the Champions, Bohemian Rhapsody, Death on Two Legs]
Queens of the Stone Age (RB1, RB3, RB4) [Go with the Flow, No One Knows, My God is the Sun]
Rush (RB1, RB2, RB4) [Tom Swayer, The Trees, A Passage to Bangkok]
Soundgarden (RB1, RB2/RBB, RB4) [Black Hole Sun, Spoonman x2, Superunknown]
The Police (RB1, LRB, RB3) [Next to You, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Don't Stand so Close to Me]

2 (34):
Aerosmith (RB1, RB4) [Train Kept A-Rollin', Toys in the Attic]
Beastie Boys (RB1, RB2) [Sabotage, So What'cha Want]
Blondie (RB2, RB3) [One Way or Another, Heart of Glass]
Deep Purple (RB1, RB3) [Highway Star, Smoke on the Water]
Devo (RB2, RB3) [Uncontrollable Urge, Whip It]
Disturbed (RB2, RB4) [Down with the Sickness, Prayer]
Dream Theatre (RB2, RB4) [Panic Attack, Metropolis Pt. 1]
Faith No More (RB1, RB3) [Epic, Midlife Crisis]
Fleetwood Mac (RB2, RB4) [Go Your Own Way, You Make Loving Fun]
Iron Maiden (RB1, RBB) [Run to the Hills, The Wicker Man]
Jane's Addiction (RB2, RB3) [Mountain Song, Been Caught Stealing]
Joan Jett (RB2, RB3) [Bad Reputation, I Love Rock and Roll]
Judas Priest (RB2, RB4) [Painkiller, Halls of Valhalla]
Lynyrd Skynyrd (RB3, RB4) [Freebird, That Smell]
Metallica (RB1, RB2) [Enter Sandman, Battery]
Nirvana (RB1, RB2) [In Bloom, Drain You]
Ozzy Osbourne (RB3, RB4) [Crazy Train, Miracle Man]
R.E.M. (RB1, RB4) [Orange Crush, The One I Love]
Ramones (RB1, RB3) [Blitzkrieg Bop, I Wanna be Sedated]
Red Hot Chili Peppers (RB1, RB2/RBB) [Dani California, Give it Away x2]
Smashing Pumpkins (RB1, RB2) [Cherub Rock, Today]
Spin Doctors (LRB, RB4) [Two Princes, Little Miss 'Can't be Wrong']
Stone Temple Pilots (RB1, RB3) [Vasoline, Plush]
System of a Down (RB2, RB4) [Chop Suey, Spiders]
T.Rex (LRB, RB3) [Ride a White Swan, Twentieth Century Boy]
Tears for Fears (RB3, RBB) [Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Shout]
The Cure (RB3, RB4) [Just Like Heaven, Friday I'm in Love]
The Hives (RB1, LRB) [Main Offender, Tick Tick Boom]
The Jimi Hendrix Experience (LRB, RB3) [Fire, Crosstown Traffic]
The Killers (RB1, RB4) [When You Were Young, Somebody Told Me]
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (RB2, RB4) [Where'd You Go?, The Impression That I Get]
The Muffs (RB2, RB3) [Kids in America, Outer Space]
The Steve Miller Band (RB2, RB3) [Rock'n Me, Fly Like an Eagle]
Tom Petty (LRB, RB3) [Free Fallin', I Need to Know]

U2 also appeared in RB4 twice.

FREQUENCY OF COMBINATIONS:
1/2: 5 [Beastie Boys, Metallica, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins]
1/3: 4 [Deep Purple, Faith No More, Ramones, Stone Temple Pilots]
1/4: 3 [Aerosmith, R.E.M., The Killers]
2/3: 6 [Blondie, Devo, Jane's Addiction, Joan Jett, The Muffs, The Steve Miller Band]
2/4: 6 [Disturbed, Dream Theatre, Fleetwood Mac, Judas Priest, System of a Down, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones]
3/4: 3 [Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ozzy Osbourne, The Cure]


As odd as it sounds, Weezer only appeared on the RB1 disc.

A couple things about this game right now:

First, ALL of the features I missed from RB3 are back. That being:
Practice mode
Rating songs so random playlists won't give you shitty ones (in this case, it's putting four shitty songs in the "play an encore?" screen)
Sorting songs by which game they were in originally
So that's nice.


Since the game came out, there have been several updates and weekly DLC.

The first big update was "brutal mode", which basically hides the bottom 75-90% of the note chart while you're playing. You can see the notes for a second long before they get to you.
Passing a song you know well isn't too hard. However, they added an achievement for getting gold stars (now crimson stars) on a song in this mode.
It's all about song choice, and not in an obvious way. My first idea was Charlene, since it's only about a minute long and it's super-easy. The problem is that everything's so spread-out. I had way more success with Hungry Like the Wolf, where I relied almost entirely on muscle memory. After five tries, I got it. I don't know how to explain it; the chord changes and everything just came naturally, but when I tried to think about what I was doing, I fucked up.



The other huge update was a paid update called Rock Band: Rivals. Ho boy.
I didn't buy it, I'm just gonna say. There are two "big" features:
1. "Rockudrama"
A VH1 Behind the Music-style documentary about your band, like a second career mode. It has live-action interviews with Harmonix employees talking about "your" band. From what I've seen, they try to be funny and fall flat on their face. The built-in career mode is better.

2. "Crews"
You can form a crew to meet weekly challenges or whatever. It doesn't matter. According to the game, a grand total of zero of my Xbox Live friends have this game.

So, basically, you get nothing for $25.
Then the updates came. They recorded a new glam metal song for the game, exclusively for Rivals. $25 for one song? Fuck off. More character creation options? Fuck you.
They're adding good shit to Rivals so I'll waste $25 on $2 worth of content.


Not to mention the DLC being absolute shit.
The genre died because normies don't give a shit any more, so of course all the DLC panders to normies!
HA
HA
HA
HA
HA

Fuck you, Harmonix.
thanks for danger zone though