Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour Revisited: What should you Buy?

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This is a follow-up to a blog I wrote some time ago here at Gameriot on the battle of plastic musical band games.  Guitar Hero World Tour is due out next month and Rock Band 2 hit the 360 this past week.  The full bundle for RB2 won't be out till next month when it comes out for the PS3 as well.  With both games heading in to the home stretch it is time to see how they both stack up.

Two music sets clogging up your living room or bed room, is that really necessary?  Thankfully this time around it isn't.  The biggest news is that Sony and Microsoft are making these two rival games play nice together.  That means cross compatibility and cross game compatibility means we all win.

On to the games:

Guitar Hero World Tour


Pros:
- Track creation mode for beginners and high end users alike
- 3 drums, 2 cymbals
- Quieter than RB drums, also pressure sensitive drum pads
- New guitar with touch pad keys
- All characters from GH2 & 3, plus more (Hendrix, Ozzy, Nuggent, Sting)
- Massive custom character & instrument creator
- Online & offline band career mode
- Room for 100 custom tracks, can download 200 custom tracks and upload five at a time
- Set list including Tool, Ozzy, Bob Seger, Jimmy Hendrix (over 85 songs)

Cons:
- Creation lacks ability to use vocals
- GH3 downloadable songs not compatible with GHWT
- GH3 DLC came in a slow stream, will it improve for GHWT?
- Guitar Hero games are usually harder than RB, could be a + or -


Rock Band 2


Pros:
- Nearly all RB1 songs can be ported to RB2 for $4.99
- Improved instruments, less noise
- Old RB instruments will work with RB2
- Band World Tour online
- Massive library of DLC already, 207 songs, and is backwards compatible
- Rumored solo mode for various instruments
- Full album downloadable content
- Songs include The Who, AC/DC, Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam (84 songs)
-  Ion drum set is bad ass but costs a fortune (see below)

Cons:
- No user created track mode
- Instruments feel more cheap than Activision's
- No confirmation of wireless 360 guitars (yet)
- Delayed release for PS2/PS3/Wii, 360 first, others later



That Ion drum kit is pretty killer eh?  Too bad you have to sell your first born to afford it.  The default drum kit for Rock Band 2 is largely unchanged.  They are now wireless and a bit quieter, other than that there aren't many big changes.  The Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit has 5 inputs and the bass pedal.  When playing with this kit on Rock Band 2 you will presumably just not use one of the cymbals, or either cymbal will be used interchangeably. 

The guitar is greatly improved in Rock Band 2; quieter according to tests and less "clicky".  Though the Guitar Hero guitars have always been superior and this generation is looking like more of the same.  The guitar is longer which I feel is a plus and it now features the touch bar on the neck for tapping sections of songs, a longer whammy bar and a "less noise" strum bar.

So what is a gamer to do?  The choice is pretty easy for me.  I am not interested in the Ion drum kit, yet I want the most music possible.  I am going to buy the complete Guitar Hero World Tour kit next month for the superior instruments and then snatch up the Rock Band 2 disc only.  Rent Rock Band 1 and get all those tracks too with the song port feature. 

If you are on a budget and have one game already you may want to stick with what you have. 

If you are looking to make your first entrance into this music genre and the amount of music is a concern than Rock Band 2 is the easy choice.  If you would rather have quality hardware and library of tracks that should start expanding this fall than Guitar Hero World Tour is probably the best choice. 

Already owning Rock Band 1 you can get away with spending $120 and shovel up an elephant sized dump worth of music by buying both new game discs.  If you need to get at least one music kit you are looking at $250 for both new games (1 full set and one game disc). 

I plan on going with the best of both worlds but the choice you make should depend on your situation.  Not having both music sets clogging up your living space is still the best thing to come out of this generation of these music games.  All songs being master tracks is probably a close second.  Glad to see the music acts coming around to providing masters and realizing the value of exposing their music to brand new ears. 

Harmonix and Activision competing like this is only gives us gamers bigger and better.  More music, more DLC, better instruments, more mainstream acceptance by the music biz; these key points in the latest generation of these games.  Now if only that competition can bring the price down.  $189.99 for bundle?  Ouch!  Can someone get me a review model?   

See you guys online shredding like a wannabe Slash and probably playing more like Hanson.