It seems like sometimes history repeats itself. Just when we thought that Rocksmith would be the final new hat in the ring, another company comes out of virtually nowhere with some huge names and lofty promises.
Think of BandFuse like the amalgamation of Guitar Hero, Rocksmith, and Guitar Pro. Why Guitar Hero? Because unlike Rocksmith, BandFuse, appears to have set difficulty levels. Whether the progression is easy, medium, hard, and expert remains to be seen but you won’t find any dynamic difficulty here.
One aspect of Rocksmith that BandFuse is clearly capitalizing on is the ability to use any electric guitar (and yes that does include bass) to play the game using a 1/4 inch instrument input adaptor. It would be nice if the RealTone Cable was compatible with BandFuse but we aren’t holding our breath on that one.
Which brings us to the final ingredient to BandFuse’s recipe which is it’s interface that borrows heavily from the tablature view of Guitar Pro.
The Setlist (So Far)
A music game seems to be only as good as the songs it picks so how does BandFuse’s initial selection stand up to the rest? Well it already has some metal tracks so that’s sure to pacify at least one demographic!
- “Alive” (Pearl Jam)
- “Godzilla” (Blue Oyster Cult)
- “Cult of Personality” (Living Colour)
- “No Rain” (Blind Melon)
- “Reptilia” (The Strokes)
- “Yellow” (Coldplay)
- “Sweet Home Alabama” (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- “Back From Cali” (Slash)
- “Breaking the Law” (Judas Priest)
- “Harder to Breathe” (Maroon 5)
- “The Bleeding” (Five Finger Death Punch)
- “You Oughta Know” (Alanis Morissette)
- “Jessica” (The Allman Brothers Band)
- “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” (Fall Out Boy)
- “Hemorrhage” (Fuel)
- “Barracuda” (Heart)
- “Drive” (Incubus)
- “I’m Broken” (Pantera)
- “Jessie’s Girl” (Rick Springfield)
- “Limelight” (Rush)
- “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (The Clash)
- “Stellar Revival” (The Crazy Ones)
- “Roundabout” (Yes)
- “Carry On Wayward Son” (Kansas)
- “Rebel Yell” (Billy Idol)
- “What I Got” (Sublime)
- “Infected” (Bad Religion)
- “Rock This Town” (The Stray Cats)
- “All The Small Things” (blink-182)
- “Been Caught Stealing” (Jane’s Addiction)
- “Rock Bandit” (Bootsy Collins)
- “Wicked Sensation” (Lynch Mob)
- “Overlord” (Black Label Society)
- “Pull Me Under” (Dream Theater)
- “Love Bites (So Do I)” (Halestorm)
- “Float On” (Modest Mouse)
- “Welcome To The Black Parade” (My Chemical Romance)
- “Are You Dead Yet” (Children of Bodom)
- “Here Comes Your Man” (The Pixies)
- TBA (Dream Theater)
- TBA (Modern English)
- TBA (Social Distortion)
- TBA (All-American Rejects)
- TBA (Tom Petty)
The Features
What does BandFuse offer that Rocksmith doesn’t? Well for one thing all those tracks above contain “separated audio stems” which means you won’t be “playing over” the original guitar track. You’re really going to hear every note you play on your axe.
- Multiplayer – Form bands and play along with your favorite songs, or create original music in real-time with up to 3 friends. Rock hard and own online Leaderboards and Challenges.
- Create Original Content– Go beyond the included set list of songs by creating your own original pieces.
- Free Jam – experienced guitarists can jam to their heart’s content, creating all-original songs by layering multiple audio tracks.
- Jam Along – intermediate players can choose from a selection of backing tracks, then lay down their own lead, rhythm and vocal tracks.
- Share Over Social Networks – Record and share your favorite tracks, collaborate on songs with friends and then share them with the world through the game and social networks.
Additionally the game features Slash himself as your guitar instructor along with others to be announced.
Slash, one of the most-iconic, Grammy®-winning rock guitarists and songwriters of all-time, will serve as BandFuse’s master guitar instructor; getting novices jamming in minutes and helping advanced players master their instrument. In addition, a number of the world’s most accomplished Rock Legends and new artists such as Five Finger Death Punch – the hard rock band with nine-straight top ten rock singles – will also be integrated into the game to mentor players, with numerous iconic rock idols still to be announced.
Previews recently have contested this game has “zero lag” in comparison to their competition, but we’ll take that with a grain of salt given the fact a majority of reviewers didn’t even set up Rocksmith properly last year.
- Total Song Control – Slow down songs to hear every nuance or loop your favorite segments as you jam along. BandFuse gives you total control of every song.
This one is a huge deal as Rocksmith doesn’t allow you to manually slow down a section outside of playing really badly in Accelerator. This is an often requested feature on Ubisoft’s forum and a constant platform for arguments on “how best to learn a song”.
- Deep Career Mode – Progress through the phases of a rock career starting from humble beginnings and work your way to become a Rock Legend.
That sounds familiar… Guess we’ll have to see how that works out. Do we really need a “story” in a guitar edutainment game?
So there you have it, BandFuse is a thing. Will it be a good thing? We’ll reserve judgment until we can play it for ourselves until then rest assured that there are some familiar faces behind the scenes on this project and you shouldn’t dismiss it as another PowerGig or Rock Revolution.
Platforms: Xbox 360 (Playstation 3 quite likely as well)
Available: TBA 2013
Rating: Pending
Developer: Realta Entertainment Group
Publisher: Mastiff Games
Is BandFuse the type of instructional guitar game you’ve been waiting for? Let us know!
I am playing Rocksmith since the release in Europe Q3/2012. Evertime when I use the loading window for jamming the game hangs up. This sucks most when I play an event…..
I really hope that Bandfuse will be released before end of June 2013….
Also there will be Zakk Wylde…Some Black Label tracks would be stellar!
How many songs are supposed to be on disc? I think i heard about 50?
I don't think the main setlist is confirmed but they are claiming there will be 55 DLC songs available at launch in addition to the on disc setlist.
the dlc will be a huge bonus. it better be out for the ps3 btw.
Me like bass. Please make for bass.
Rocksmith will support bass from october (via DLC, or included if you live in Europe).
To be very honest I think RockSmith will become the superior franchise. I like the interface better (I'm no fan of tabs) and I think it has a better setlist. The developers also actively patch and improve the game, and listen to the community pretty well. Bandfuse still have to promise itself.
To be very honest I think Bandfuse will wipe the floor with Rocksmith. I can't stand Rocksmith's dynamic leveling for starters.
From the picture that shows the Chorus line from Cult of Personality, hopefully it will have a separate audio stream for vocal's too so we can change the volume of them
Well here's my take.
Slash mentions Beginner, Intermediate, or Expert (about 3:35). Vid shows Beginner and Advanced… Of course that may or may not be what the different levels are called.
The videos that accompany the songs look cool… but I imagine they will get old after a while… Perhaps after 10 times playing a song give or take depending on your tolerance. No dynamic animation…
Also I imagine the videos might make the DLC become prohibitively large.
The runway… hmmm… Lightening bolts to show you're playing? Different from a definite flash you see in RB/GH/RS if you hit the notes correctly…
As for a training tool… I think the Slash vids would be fun…
One must ask… how does it represent slides, bends, tremolos, harmonics, and all the other stuff that RS does well in teaching you.
Oh, and a disappointment if it remains to be an XB360 as I only have a PS3.
Concerns for me:it needs different arrangements, authentic/select a tone and a tuner
I am confident it has all those features.
I'm starting to think that the music industry is reaaalllly desperate, can't blame em, bad economy means no money, nobody is buying cds, artists are throwing a hissy fit and found out that the music games are now their crutch, and everyone has already turned to piracy which is why the government is also desperate to push ACTA and SOPA….
Now we have another music game that we probably don't need as we have enough as it is, it's hard to keep track of the music rhythm games nowadays its really getting outta hand….well at least to me it is, there is so many out there. I'm gonna try and list the music games so bare with me and keep in mind I'm only covering the guitar based rhythm games….AHEM (I am also covering the bad titles)
Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Rock Revolution, Frets on Fire (a mod but it counts since it is widly popular), Power GiG, there is another Guitar game but I forgot the name it was involved in using the Wii mote as a guitar? idk, Rocksmith and now, BandFuse?….
I'm sorry so far that's all I can come up with I guess it's not really a long list, however if you throw in the other rhythm games such as DDR or DJ Hero, Lips and the sequals of GH and Rockband….the list gets huge…it's just too much to keep up with, everyone wants a piece of the pie that Guitar Hero and Rockband had. And now we get another rhythm game, it's getting rediculous and by the looks of it it it seems awfully similar too rock revolution or power gig's scroll style, only difference is it is a horizontal scroll and not a vertical one….I am seeing fail written in this game but I am not one to judge so it depends if people will enjoy it…anyway that is my comment sorry for it being too long lol…
giood article celery man
>Chapla worked at Underground
>Interesting.
Lack of Dynamic Dificulty or something like that is dissapointing. One of my favourite Rocksmith features. Might rent this when it comes out but for now I'm quite happy with Rocksmith. Plus, I don't like BandFuse's interface.
Srsly! The whole master thing also threw me for a loop. Uh, Rocksmith doesn't use masters? Last time I checked, there were no covers in Rocksmith. You're just playing along with the original track. What's the difference here? I'm not seeing it, and the lack of dynamic difficulty is a turn off for me. What about alternate arrangements? That's another feature I love about Rocksmith. I can play a rhythm arrangement for Hangar 18 and, you know, not die. Chord-only arrangements for some songs are great for beginners; I'd like to see more of those. All in all, I'm not seeing what this game offers over Rocksmith, and it's missing several core features that I really like.
Sorry I clarified the "masters" sentence what I meant was "separated audio stems" much like Guitar Hero, PowerGig, or Rock Revolution. When you miss a note you won't hear it.
The downside is many older tracks don't have that those available which slightly limits the type of songs BandFuse can get.
So I can use my bass? TAKE MY MONEY!
You can too with Rocksmith: the Bass expansion launches in October and all songs and DLC will be compatible. Additionally, if you're in Europe the Bass DLC will be included with the main game (at no extra cost) and the PC version launches as well.
Huh. This game uses original masters? And Cult of Personality is in the game? Guess this means that they've either they've found the original masters for the song or we'll be getting the GHIII re-recording, which then makes it viable DLC for RB. Either way, get on it HMX. Stick it on Blitz or something. I'm still a plas-tar player.
So Band Fuse gets Cult of Personality but Rock Band doesn't? What in the hell is going on!
Not going to lie, I thought the exact same thing