Rock Band Blitz

Rock Band Blitz
Developer(s)	Harmonix
Series	Rock Band
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network), Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Release	Q3 2012
Genre(s)	Rhythm game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Rock Band Blitz is an upcoming rhythm game in the Rock Band series from Harmonix Music Systems as a downloadable game for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, due for release in the third quarter of 2012. Unlike previous iterations of Rock Band, Blitz does not use special instrument controllers, instead allowing the player to use a regular console controller to match notes in a song, using gameplay mechanics similar to Harmonix' previous titles of Frequency and Amplitude. In addition to 25 songs that will ship with the game, the title is capable of using any songs the player has downloaded for Rock Band 3.

Gameplay

Rock Band Blitz is similar to Harmonix' previous titles, Frequency and Amplitude, requiring note matching for each of the instrument tracks provided.

Rock Band Blitz is a note-matching rhythm game fashioned similarly to Harmonix' previous titles, Frequency, Amplitude, and Rock Band Unplugged. The game presents up to five instrument lanes to the player corresponding to lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals, and keyboard that run through the streets of the fictional "Rock City"; if a song does not include tracks for one or more of these instruments, they are not shown on the field. Each lane consists of a number of markers on the two sides of the lane, representing the notes played by that instrument in the song. Unlike other Rock Band games, there is only a single difficulty level.

Using a standard game console controller, the player uses the buttons to match these notes on one track at a time, scoring points for each successful note hit. Hitting multiple notes in succession will build a scoring multiplier for that lane, up to a specific multiplier cap for the specific section of the song. Depending on the player's performance in a section, the multiplier cap may increase when moving onto the next section. Thus, to maximize their score, the player is encouraged to switch between tracks and build each lane up to the cap. Missing notes while in a lane will not penalize the player beyond the lack of impact on their score. The player has the ability to configure the controls to their liking.

Certain sections of tracks will be marked with white notes, representing Overdrive sections. Successfully completing these sections will fill the player's Overdrive meter. Once full, the player can activate Overdrive, releasing special power-ups, such as the Bottle Rocket that clears all notes down the current track for a certain length, and the Bandmate that will have a computer-controller player work clear another track alongside the player for a brief period. At times, there will be singular purple notes on the tracks. Hitting these notes will release special power-ups, such as a pinball that can clear notes as it travels across the lanes as long as the player keeps the ball in play, or a small detonation that clears all notes near the note.

On completing a song, the player is given a star ranking, ranging from 1 to 5 stars or 5 gold stars for high-scoring performances. Their score is ranked on online scoreboards. Through these, players can compete with friends and issue challenges on specific songs, as well as receive recommendations of other downloadable songs they may want to purchase based on their song choices.

Development

Project director Matthew Nordhaus stated that the game is a departure from the past Rock Band titles, "instead of having the focus on musical authenticity, and performance simulation, it’s an arcade game", and thus at times may be "fast, and loud and silly and a little over the top". The game is based on a prototype that Harmonix was working on around the time that Viacom sold the company in 2010, and recently revived by the company. They had experimented with various mechanics, such as having three possible notes per lane, or making the drum lane more complicated, but fell back to having two notes per lanes as it would make it very easy for the player to assess what notes were coming up and make quick decisions on what track to jump to next.

The game itself performs the conversion of the standard Rock Band tracks into the note paths for Rock Band Blitz. As of its announcement, Nordhaus said that Harmonix was still fine-tuning some of these conversion aspects, such as how to handle the vocal components.

Though the game's formal announcement was tied to its premiere at the 2012 Penny Arcade Expo East convention, the game was shown to members of the press during the 2012 Game Developers Conference.

Soundtrack

See also: Complete list of downloadable songs for the Rock Band series

The game will come with 25 songs new to the Rock Band series. In addition, the game will work with all of the songs the player has previously downloaded for Rock Band 3, including those from the Rock Band Network, as well as the previous Rock Band games. The 25 songs included with the game can be exported as playable songs for Rock Band 3 as well. All future downloadable content for Rock Band 3 will also work with Rock Band Blitz. The following songs have been confirmed for inclusion with the game.

Song title	Artist
"Always"	Blink-182
"Jessie's Girl"	Rick Springfield
"Metal Health (Bang Your Head)"	Quiet Riot
"Once Bitten, Twice Shy"	Great White
"Pumped Up Kicks"	Foster the People

A song by Iron Maiden has also been confirmed to be in the game by Harmonix through their podcast that was released on May 18, 2012.

External links

Official website