All I want to say is this: Activision took a big step from Guitar Hero III to Aerosmith to this. The charts were pretty random in Guitar Hero III, and I really felt like they made a big improvement with the songs in Aerosmith. If a developer evolves from their errors, then it's all the best I could ask for!

Sure, the game is not perfect, but if it at least plays the same as Rock Band, why can't it have at least around the same score? I mean, the fundamentals are there, and if he just wants to complain about extras, then I seriously want people to look back at Metroid Prime 2: Echoes reviews (the multiplayer hurt the score a lot). That's what I find ridiculous.

The difference I see is this: Neversoft is a game developer. Harmonix is a MUSIC game developer.

The Harmonix team has a definite feel for what makes a music game great, and then more specifically, what kind of songs fit that mold well. Neversoft inherited a powerhouse franchise, and hasn't really done much to make it their own. They put out an unremarkable sequel in GH3, and then Aerosmith, which may be better, but I really have no interest in owning or playing a primarily Aerosmith-oriented game. Now, they're basically "borrowing" the gameplay (to put it kindly) from Harmonix again, but haven't addressed the issues I would have focused on, which would first and foremost be making the songs feel like they play correctly. As I said, I've only played on song that overlapped between the games, but the GH:WT version didn't seem nearly as in sync with the tune of the song as I played it. That isn't really an "extra", that's a core mechanic of the gameplay, and it very well may not match up to the standards of the Rock Band games. The way it feels to me, when I'm playing the Rock Band games, I feel like I'm playing the songs. When I've played Neversoft's Guitar Hero 3, I just felt like I was playing a game. I'm not sure if GH:WT has done a whole lot to change that feeling I get, but I'll know for sure when I pick it up in the next day or two.

The Metroid comparison doesn't really hold much water. If there was a different game called Betroid Mime that played similarly, came out a year before MP2, and improved and expanded on everything from the original MP, then yes, there would be a comparison. If MP2 didn't match up to the additions of that imaginary game, then a harsh scoring would be completely justified. But, as it turns out, MP2 really only had MP1 as a point of comparison, as opposed to GH:WT and Rock Band, where one is basically mimicking the other step for step. Neversoft saw the huge problems people had with the first Rock Band, and could have avoided many of them, like the flubby band management, and didn't do so. That's either a result of trying to do too much, or just not noticing an obvious problem. Either way, it can hurt the end product.

The difference I see is this: Neversoft is a game developer. Harmonix is a MUSIC game developer.

The Harmonix team has a definite feel for what makes a music game great, and then more specifically, what kind of songs fit that mold well. Neversoft inherited a powerhouse franchise, and hasn't really done much to make it their own. They put out an unremarkable sequel in GH3, and then Aerosmith, which may be better, but I really have no interest in owning or playing a primarily Aerosmith-oriented game. Now, they're basically "borrowing" the gameplay (to put it kindly) from Harmonix again, but haven't addressed the issues I would have focused on, which would first and foremost be making the songs feel like they play correctly. As I said, I've only played on song that overlapped between the games, but the GH:WT version didn't seem nearly as in sync with the tune of the song as I played it. That isn't really an "extra", that's a core mechanic of the gameplay, and it very well may not match up to the standards of the Rock Band games. The way it feels to me, when I'm playing the Rock Band games, I feel like I'm playing the songs. When I've played Neversoft's Guitar Hero 3, I just felt like I was playing a game. I'm not sure if GH:WT has done a whole lot to change that feeling I get, but I'll know for sure when I pick it up in the next day or two.

The Metroid comparison doesn't really hold much water. If there was a different game called Betroid Mime that played similarly, came out a year before MP2, and improved and expanded on everything from the original MP, then yes, there would be a comparison. If MP2 didn't match up to the additions of that imaginary game, then a harsh scoring would be completely justified. But, as it turns out, MP2 really only had MP1 as a point of comparison, as opposed to GH:WT and Rock Band, where one is basically mimicking the other step for step. Neversoft saw the huge problems people had with the first Rock Band, and could have avoided many of them, like the flubby band management, and didn't do so. That's either a result of trying to do too much, or just not noticing an obvious problem. Either way, it can hurt the end product.