Rock Band Rivals is Adequately Priced

When Harmonix announced ahead of Rock Band 4’s release that we shouldn’t expect new iterations year after year, many people scoffed and figured they would believe it when they saw it. Well folks, we are seeing it now, evidenced by their recent Rock Band Rivals release. For only 29.99, a ton of new content – modes primarily – has been added to the game, and this will get those playing the game less and less, on a more regular rock band schedule.

The entirety of what was added with Rock Band Rivals is features and modes, although those who preordered could have received 10-12 songs, depending on where they preorderd the title. If you didn’t, however, you still get great value for your money.

Those playing Rock Band on a regular basis are the ultimate, hard core fans. They chase the perfect scores, long note runs, and climbing the leaderboards. Harmonix smartly recognized this and has essentially tailored this new release for those looking for more of a challenge. That isn’t to say that casual players won’t find something to love in Rivals, because they will through the documentary style ‘show’ called Beneath the Tunage.

Beneath the Tunage documents your own bands rollercoaster ride to fame, through the ups and downs of any given rock band. This is an extra side to the regular career mode already available in Rock Band 4, but adds videos clips and sometimes laugh worthy commentary around each 3 song set. The competitive nature of this mode does come through, however, with players being given the option to wager on certain goals, for example, how many stars the band might get.

This is a great way to look at the competitive side of Rock Band Rivals, which I will save for a future article when we also look at the new peripherals from PDP packed into the “Band in the Box” set!