To further explain the Review Summary, it must be explained that this game will appeal to a limited base. Rock Band players who wished they could try Pro Mode but were scared off by the obscene pricing of the Pro gear will find this worthwhile, as will the more persistent Guitar Hero players. In fact, the only negative peripheral will be the guitar they choose - you hook up the guitar YOU provide in order to play. Since the game features the actual chords from the songs, guitarists who scoffed at the fake guitar controls of the past will finally have an excuse to play. I'll try to review the game based on the rating parameters Best Buy uses. STORYLINE What story is there? It's the same story used by music games the world over. You start off playing in the boonies as a nobody, and eventually your fame builds to bigger and better venues. I rated it as "Average" because it doesn't seem fair to neg a game for something its genre was never meant to have. CHALLENGING GAMEPLAY The game adapts to how well you play. It starts off simplistic, but it carefully watches how well you perform. Each section of the song, called a "phrase" is individually scored. If you do well on that playthrough, the game will add more notes/chords to that section next time you play it. If you're doing really well, notes/chords can sometimes be introduced as the song is playing. It's not like RB/GH where any fret was used just for the sake of playing along. The notes you begin with are the notes you will end up using (either in faster streams or as part of chords) when you eventually master a song. Even as a well-versed guitar player, I found some of the songs challenging. The beauty of Rocksmith is that it adds just enough to get you out of your comfort zone, but tones itself back if you start having too much difficulty, creating a playing field that is both challenging and yet never overwhelming. As a guitarist, I found this part especially neat because I have run into my share of songs that were simply too difficult and I never went back to them. GRAPHICS Your attention will be mostly on the notes, so I did not consider graphics too big a selling point for the game and this review. The note highway and hit zone are easy to see and once you become accustomed to the way the notes approach you, it's easy to see what's coming up next, which is a MUST in this game genre. Some of the audience CGs look like they could have been improved for this console generation, but still enough to recognize you're playing on a PS3. I did not rate this as a 5 because of a known issue with lag between the audio and video. Other music games offered Lag Calibration options, Rocksmith does not. It is not so much Ubisoft's fault - this issue is known to happen with HD TVs and gaming. Depending on your TV, you may not notice a lag at all - I didn't on my Samsung. If you have external speakers or headphones, the lag issue goes away. Again, it's not Ubisoft's development, but at least they could have offered an in-game option to compensate for it. AUDIO The most critical part of any music game. The audio quality is awesome, even if played through a TVs default speakers. A little more emphasis was given (rightfully) to the guitar tracks which is a great help in learning the song. The song list is not as diverse as other music games, but supposedly Ubisoft is planning to remedy that with Downloadable Content. It's not bad either, but just a few more songs from other genres would have been appreciated. As of this review, Nov. 2nd, there isn't any DLC. OTHER STUFF This game does NOT require an Electric guitar. If you have an Acoustic/Electric or an Acoustic with the audio jack, then you can play. If you happen to have a guitar without an audio jack, they are not expensive to have installed on a guitar you may already own. I have not had the opportunity to try Multiplayer, so I cannot comment on the Multiplayer mode or how it functions other than it is supported in this game provided that the second player has a guitar and the audio cable. There are several complaints against the price of the game for including the Audio Cable to hook your own guitar up to the console. Considering how much money people threw into the peripherals for RB/GH, a cable is not asking for much. Any guitarist will tell you that the type of cable needed, as well as the length provided, is more than covered by the extra $10-$15. That being said, the game can be expensive for someone without a guitar. True, some copies of the game come with Guitar Center coupons, but I highly recommend that you purchase a decent quality guitar. Any distortion of sound, warped necks, and other common problems with cheap or preowned guitars can cause problems for you in-game. If your guitar cannot make the correct sound by playing the E string, for example, the game (based on the sound you just played) will register that as another note. Therefore, it is extremely important that your guitar is able to produce clean sounds. If you have dull strings or a warped neck, then expect to compensate for those problems as you play. The minigames are addicting while teaching important skills at the same time. For example, there is a Duck Hunt-like game in which you have to play a string on the correct fret to shoot the duck. If you don't do it within a certain time limit, the duck gets away. Another, Attack of the Chordead, does the same except with chords rather than just a fret. You must play the chord shown on the screen in order to shoot the approaching zombies. OVERALL I think that one of the weakest points of Rocksmith may also be its strongest. While it may only appeal to a dedicated base of gamers, the appeal is strong and the game has enough to keep one occupied longer than most games out on the market today. If you were seriously considering getting the Pro gear for another music game, then perhaps investing in a real guitar and a copy of Rocksmith may be worth your money.

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