53 out of 60(88%)reviewers recommend this product.
Product Reviews
Overall rating
1/ 5
Gameplay
1/ 5
Graphics
3/ 5
Sound
5/ 5
Lasting Appeal
2/ 5
mysticole928
fromRenton, WA
My Rocksmith Disappointment
PostedMay 5, 2012
I've played Rocksmith off and on for a couple of months. At first, I was in love with it. I wanted to learn to play guitar and I love playing games. It seemed a perfect fit. After playing the game for a couple of months, I've had a change of heart. When I first played it, I was hopeful and optimistic, but now I'm frustrated and annoyed. It's angered me to the point where I've not even opened the case for the game in a month. Though, I'm considering it, because some of the downloadable content has me curious.
My first frustration came from the interface. Granted, it can be customized to reflect the strings as they are on the fretboard (with the bass notes on top) or reflect how guitar tablature works. (With the bass notes on the bottom.) However, what you can't change is how the the music comes at you on the screen. It has a type of forced perspective where the notes are coming from a small point in the distance and expand towards you as you need to prepare to play them.
The problem? While the strings are color-coded, the forced-perspective can make it hard to tell which fret is to be used. You can be sure that it's the third fret you're to have your finger on, but then you realize that it's the second. Then, when you play the wrong note, you are penalized. Not cool.
I tried to put this behind me and learned some songs in the game mode. After you complete some music to the game's satisfaction and standards, you get to play in a "venue." This is a chance for you to show off what you've learned. However, if you play three songs to get to a venue, by the time you've gotten to the venue, you're skill level might have increased and now you have lots of new notes and musical styles that were introduced that you never got to practice. And, for the time it takes to get good enough in the third song, you've forgotten when you knew about the first one.
How on earth are you supposed to feel comfortable "showing off" in a venue if the target of excellence keeps moving?
Yes, you can go back and practice the songs you've learned, but, you have to remember it's name and band because there is no way to filter the songlist other than alphabetical. So, you may remember it's a tune by the Black Keys, but, to get the exact title, you have to go back into the game mode to look it up.
Also, you are shown the strings to play and the fret to hold down. That's great. However, you've never told which finger (or fingers) might best be suited to use. While I can appreciate the game letting me use my judgement, I'd like an expert to (at the very least) give me a hint.
There are a number of "challenges" that you can play. These are not songs as much as they are games to teach you the mechanics. They're as much fun as learning songs. (At least, the idea of them is as much fun as learning songs.) In some ways, I like them more because they teach me finger patterns. While there's a rehearsal mode for the songs, there's not a rehearsal mode for the challenges. So, if you're trying to figure out the finger patterns in the Hammer-On and Pull-Off Challenge, it goes by so fast that it's nearly impossible to see them. If you try to skip a note so that you can see them, the notes are removed because it assumes you need more practice. If they'd remove one or two notes, that'd work, but they remove so many that you can't really figure out the pattern.
Some challenges I've played nearly spot on (the Slide Challenge) but I've had a score of zero. I'm still trying to figure that one out. "Ducks," is a game that acts like a Space Invaders style shooter. When I first played it, the notes were all wrong. I read the FAQ and took my guitar (a gently used Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro) to be intonated. Done. It seemed to work, but only for a while. I still have times where I'll play the correct note and it will display incorrect information on the screen.
The songs are rather eclectic but enjoyable. However, if you're practicing a song, get through it to get to the next one, if you want to go back and practice it, the number of hoops you have to jump through to do this is mind boggling complex. Not only that, but the songs are presented to you in alphabetical order. So, if you don't remember the song title, you're out of luck.
Then, I got to the point where I couldn't get a score high enough an individual song to get to the venue. It turns out that, to get the high score, you actually needed to get through some more of the challenges. However, in the song, I'm having to bounce up and down the fretboard. Yes, this is called anchoring, their little anchoring challenge did little to prepare me.
In defeat, I thought I'd try to go to the forums hosted on Ubisoft's website to seek the assistance of other users.
I created a logon on the website only to find out that I'd had one from another game that I'd played. It turns out that you can't change the logon name, so I created a new account. When I tried to log on, I got this message:
"Something went wrong, please try again later. If this problem persists please contact our administrators."
Hmmm.... I navigated through their maze of online help and found the place to create a helpdesk ticket. I was told that this was a known issue and I'd be contacted when a solution was found and the helpdesk ticket was closed.
Closed!
Closed as in "fixed."
I waited a day, then two days, and then three days. No fix. I created a new ticket. I was told not to do this and it was closed as a duplicate ticket. The original incident was opened on February 2nd, 2012. It's now May and I still get the error and I can't log in to ask others for their help.
I spent a nice chunk of change on the game. Granted, this included that nifty guitar cable (that works with my Mac and Garage Band/Logic Pro) so, I understand the cost. But, I also picked up a (new to me) used guitar, and bought some XBox Live points. I've invested my time, money, and effort into this endeavor based on their promises and I've come away disappointed.
I really feel that this game had promise, but, I also feel that I've been treated very poorly and gotten the worst customer service ever.
I've heard that there's another game out coming like this from a different publisher. I hope to give them a shot. Right now, they can't be any worse in my mind.
1 of 7 found this review helpful.
Overall rating
5/ 5
Gameplay
4/ 5
Graphics
5/ 5
Sound
5/ 5
Lasting Appeal
5/ 5
jcraff
fromhampton, nh
This game is perfect for:casual gamers
BEST GUITAR GAME EVER!
PostedMay 3, 2012
WARNING!! do NOT practice guiatr hero before this game lol it messes with your finger and hand coordination, trust me...i always wanted to play the guitar but didnt want to spend the money on lessons and a guitar if i never got good at it, i just bought a sweet Ibanez acoustic and been playing for a week and can already tell i can do so much more.. i can only imagine how the people who have prior experiance is doing, peopple that alreayd know notes and chords etc will become pro in 2 weeks GAURENTEED! only draw back so far is i finally unlocked the "chord" technique but iv only been taught full chords, they have many more but to be taght them, i havent seen much of that yet..a dozen other techniques i ahd no idea about that i know how to do, and since the i found out a billion inside things about guitars and strings etc it rocks! feels good to play something with some meat on it and not guitar hero
3 of 3 found this review helpful.
Overall rating
5/ 5
Gameplay
4/ 5
Graphics
4/ 5
Sound
4/ 5
Lasting Appeal
5/ 5
Phearce
fromUpstate NY
This game is perfect for:casual gamers
Loving this 'game'
PostedMarch 20, 2012
This is one great idea: a guitar game where you actually learn to play. I've messed around with a guitar before, trying to learn basic chords, but always got bored. Rocksmith goes at things differently -- it starts out super-easy and takes you through an entire song just strumming one or two strings with minimal fret changes. But it's watching your progress the whole time and as your timing and accuracy improve it ramps up the complexity of the music it presents. You'll quickly be providing meaningful accompaniment to real music. I suggest setting aside just 30-40 minutes a night at the beginning until your fingers get used to the strain of playing. PS - saw a review complaining about audiolag: this is controlled in options.
Overall rating
5/ 5
Gameplay
5/ 5
Graphics
5/ 5
Sound
5/ 5
Lasting Appeal
5/ 5
AwesomeAbe
fromNew York, NY
This game is perfect for:casual gamers
Awesome!
PostedFebruary 24, 2012
It's really fun, I don't have the money for a guitar teacher and for one payment of 80 bucks this is a really good deal when you think about it! Too bad there's no Beatles songs, I'm counting on those coming as d/c soon, hopefully :)
