Yeah singing games suck. Even Rock Band 2, praised in my last post for it's singing portion, sucks. A lot.
In case you don't care to read my last blog entry (though if you don't want to read that one, you probably won't want to read this, either xD), I ranted about how karaoke games like SingStar and UltraStar needed to allow more people to sing songs they don't know, because they show the lyrics and the pitch, but there's no way to know which word goes with what pitch unless you actually know the song. I went to show a video of a Rock Band 2 vocalist, saying that this was the perfect "display", as it does show which words go where.
[yt]JxbghxRNV0U[/yt]
Wonderwall by Oasis ~ Rock Band 2 DLC
Well I got a microphone for Christmas yay! and after some playing I found the horrible truth: Rock Band 2 singing sucks as much as in any other game. Balls!
But why? This display shows the pitch AND the timing of every single word! Anyone with a decent voice could get a 100% on songs they don't even know! Well that's wrong. Yeah the vocals scroll, but that's the very problem: you can barely get the words. Sure, theyre there, but it'd take some fast reading to actually read what they say. On most songs I didn't know, I found myself humming with the right pitch because I couldn't read a thing!
You're such a crybaby, you might think. You don't like any singing game, so quit singing! Well, I was never into singing in the first place lol Anyway, going through the Vocals options of the game, I found that it can be played with the scrolling vocals above, or with a more SingStar-ish display.
[yt]PEFDyWTeiig[/yt]
Not my favorite song, but it shows the "Static" display
So after about a minute or two of deep thought, I got bored and started studying for my Social Studies test (yeah I go back to school on wednesday
) and I read about the Great Compromise. Regardless of what it was (yeah I have lots of studying ahead lol) it made me remember that when two things have their pros and cons, but neither is good enough, the best solution is to blend their pros into something new!
So imagine this: you have the usual scrolling vocals (video on top), but you also have the entire phrase properly written below, like in the static vocals.
This is how Rock Band 2 is supposed to be
It's El Scorcho by Weezer, half-assedly photoshoped by me
So this way, you can see the entire phrase below and read from there, AND you can see the timing and pitch of every individual word! Ain't I awesome with my awesome ideas
Well that's it for now, see you in my next post... or maybe not. I think I'm done with the vocals issue, so I'll just play for a while and see wiich display fits me best... though Harmonix would do well hearing my ideas! Expect in the near/far future my exclusive Fakin' Reviews, reviews covering great would-be games like The Legend of Zelda: The Hero of Time, a retelling of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask in a massive story-heavy game; Super Smash Bros. Crusade, a Smash game that's all about story and character development (and has a decent online mode!); and Rock Band: DLC Groove, a $15 Rock Band game that's all about the DLC (an idea by IGN). Stay tuned... or not.
*note: by "suck" it is to be understood "something that isn't that good but should be", as opposed to "dude this is sh**". In that context everything Nintendo sucks except Zelda and Mario. Yeah that includes Wii even though I own one lol
In case you don't care to read my last blog entry (though if you don't want to read that one, you probably won't want to read this, either xD), I ranted about how karaoke games like SingStar and UltraStar needed to allow more people to sing songs they don't know, because they show the lyrics and the pitch, but there's no way to know which word goes with what pitch unless you actually know the song. I went to show a video of a Rock Band 2 vocalist, saying that this was the perfect "display", as it does show which words go where.
[yt]JxbghxRNV0U[/yt]
Wonderwall by Oasis ~ Rock Band 2 DLC
Well I got a microphone for Christmas yay! and after some playing I found the horrible truth: Rock Band 2 singing sucks as much as in any other game. Balls!
But why? This display shows the pitch AND the timing of every single word! Anyone with a decent voice could get a 100% on songs they don't even know! Well that's wrong. Yeah the vocals scroll, but that's the very problem: you can barely get the words. Sure, theyre there, but it'd take some fast reading to actually read what they say. On most songs I didn't know, I found myself humming with the right pitch because I couldn't read a thing!
You're such a crybaby, you might think. You don't like any singing game, so quit singing! Well, I was never into singing in the first place lol Anyway, going through the Vocals options of the game, I found that it can be played with the scrolling vocals above, or with a more SingStar-ish display.
[yt]PEFDyWTeiig[/yt]
Not my favorite song, but it shows the "Static" display
So after about a minute or two of deep thought, I got bored and started studying for my Social Studies test (yeah I go back to school on wednesday
) and I read about the Great Compromise. Regardless of what it was (yeah I have lots of studying ahead lol) it made me remember that when two things have their pros and cons, but neither is good enough, the best solution is to blend their pros into something new!So imagine this: you have the usual scrolling vocals (video on top), but you also have the entire phrase properly written below, like in the static vocals.
This is how Rock Band 2 is supposed to be
It's El Scorcho by Weezer, half-assedly photoshoped by me So this way, you can see the entire phrase below and read from there, AND you can see the timing and pitch of every individual word! Ain't I awesome with my awesome ideas
Well that's it for now, see you in my next post... or maybe not. I think I'm done with the vocals issue, so I'll just play for a while and see wiich display fits me best... though Harmonix would do well hearing my ideas! Expect in the near/far future my exclusive Fakin' Reviews, reviews covering great would-be games like The Legend of Zelda: The Hero of Time, a retelling of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask in a massive story-heavy game; Super Smash Bros. Crusade, a Smash game that's all about story and character development (and has a decent online mode!); and Rock Band: DLC Groove, a $15 Rock Band game that's all about the DLC (an idea by IGN). Stay tuned... or not.
*note: by "suck" it is to be understood "something that isn't that good but should be", as opposed to "dude this is sh**". In that context everything Nintendo sucks except Zelda and Mario. Yeah that includes Wii
even though I own one lol
