The Death of Music Games
If I had to pick one genre of games to save from an oncoming apocolypse, it would definitely be rhythm-action games. Since being introduced to the obscure Gitaroo Man by a friend, I’ve been consciously seeking out any and all music-based games I can find. So it’s with a heavy heart that I find myself staring into the future of the genre with disillusionment and disbelief.
What did E3 have to show for us? Of course, the two biggest music game brands in the world are rolling out more sequels, in the forms of Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
Rock Band 3’s new innovation is the addition of a keyboard (or, if you prefer, a keytar) to the band line-up, as well as a “realistic” guitar with six strings. While the aim of converging playing plastic and real instruments is noble, few of the casual players who like drunkenly strumming along with their friends at a party will be interested. The keyboard also looks significantly more complicated than any of the previous instruments – although, speaking as a hardcore player of the game, I’m personally quite interested in it.
Meanwhile, GH: Warriors of Rock looks to be adding little more to its established formula than an expanded single-player quest where players must free “warriors of rock”. Other than another stellar track list (which is pretty much a given, considering the commercial weight Guitar Hero now carries as a franchise), there’s nothing here worth getting excited about.
Following the unexpected success of Just Dance on the Wii, another huge wave of dance games are about to hit. Dance Central, frequently touted as the best game for Microsoft’s new hands-free Kinect, looks to be far more rewarding than any dance mat or Wii-controlled dance games – but essentially it is a more complex version of Dance Dance Revolution. Other upcoming titles include Dance Masters, Michael Jackson: The Game (presumably unrelated to Sega’s Moonwalker), Just Dance 2 and (god help us) Kidz Bop Dance Party, all attempting to cash in on an assumed public hunger for more dance games.
The third big trend is one that has been going on for a while, and arguably the least “gamey” of the lot: karaoke games. Singstar is, at least in the UK, unbelievably popular, and no wonder – though karaoke with friends is great fun, home-based karaoke systems are ridiculously expensive. Putting them on a games console makes them cheaper and endlessly expandable, and it’s depressingly likely that the market will be able to sustain more games in the vein of Glee: Karaoke Revolution and Def Jam: Rap Star.
There’s nothing wrong with the above. Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero together proved that combining games and music is a commercial goldmine – but to get to this position, the music game genre has spent decades perfecting its formula in poorly-selling cult titles such as Parappa the Rapper, Vib Ribbon, Gitaroo Man, Frequency, Rez, Space Channel 5, and the entire Bemani series that started it all. What happened to this spark of innovation?
The only light on the horizon is a spiritual successor to Rez by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, entitled Child of Eden. It’s just about the only upcoming game that incorporates creation of music – not just dancing along to the rhythm or pretending to play a preset group of notes, but actually involving the player in the very fabric of its being.
Is it too much to ask for more games that are more than just sing-along jukeboxes? They may not make commercial sense, but when combining two of the most interesting and vibrant artforms that exist, you would hope for a little more than Kurt Cobain singing Bon Jovi.
[This is a reader-submitted article by theafroguy, to find out more about guest articles and how to write one of your own visit this page]
4cr Staff - July 6th, 2010 - 
|
Edgar on July 6, 2010 at 3:16 pm
They have so many possibilities for the rythm genre, but once they find a formula that works, it’s like they NEED to milk it till people get bored of it.
I mean, Rock band and guitar hero are more music platform, than games themselves.
they could keep pushing out DLC songs for these “platform” for the entire console lifetime, but instead, they release a new game and stop supporting the old one. I guess that’s how you make money? Damn marketing!
theafroguy on July 6, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Yay! Thank you for posting my article. I should point out that by “Kurt Cobain singing Bon Jovi” I was referring to this http://pitchfork.com/news/36386-watch-kurt-cobain-sing-bush-bon-jovi-in-guitar-hero-5/
mr.samsa on July 6, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Interesting article and I think you’re on point with everything, but missed a small part of the equation:
Indie Music games.
There’s Audiosurf, Beat Hazard and now Turba, that I can think of that use your own music collection to generate content for various types of games.
While this doesnt’ exactly fit into “Music Games” strictly speaking they’re an important cult genre.
Lemcott on July 6, 2010 at 4:23 pm
a music game article with no mention of beat hazard? hmm…
the rythm-game genre isn’t dead, in fact, it’s just as alive as it ever was, it’s still alive and kicking as “poorly-selling cult titles” your probably just blinded by all the media claim and flashy lights of the bigger titles out there. do some digging.
EdEN on July 6, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Well, Dance Central seems to tailor more to women considering the dance patterns I’ve seen for the game.
I’m a Guitar Hero guy because of the drums and have already invested in the instruments and the game so I don’t see myself switching over to RB3 even if the keyboards sound interesting.
Jeff on July 6, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Retro/Grade is a very promising rhythm-based shmup coming to the PSN. I was disheartened to learn that it has been delayed to 2011, but it appears that the studio has made great strides since it showed up at the 2009 IGF.
http://www.retrogradegame.com
PixelHustler on July 6, 2010 at 6:08 pm
No mention of the BIT.TRIP series either? They’re all fantastic rhythm games. Rhythm Pong, Rhythm Platformer, etc.
theafroguy on July 6, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for the recommendations. I do own Audiosurf, but admittedly haven’t checked out any of the other games! It’s just a shame innovation has to be confined to the indie game scene while the big boys of the industry regurgitate indentikit sequels. Perhaps the title was a bit of a bad choice. I’m still hoping for a game that will blur the lines between music creation and rhythm-action – we’ve had so many years of games synchronised to music, I’d like a little more these days.
Mckma on July 6, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Very nice indeed. Hopefully we’ll see more community articles (as I need to start kicking myself into gear on the 2-3 ideas I have)…
Ujn Hunter on July 7, 2010 at 11:48 am
Guitar Hero was over for me once Harmonix left to make Rock Band… and the music genre died after Rock Band 2 for me, even though I admit to buying Beatles Rock Band on the cheap (I haven’t even opened it…), because it should have been an update to Rock Band instead of another disc based game. Like Edgar said… they are a platform, they should have just been putting out updates and DLC. I must admit that for awhile I was excited about the RBN (Rock Band Network) being a musician… but seeing I’ve lost all interest in the genre of games… even that excitement is gone. I blame Activision for creating the milk-a-thon and maybe forcing Harmonix/MTV to put out all these disc based games to compete.
mr.samsa on July 7, 2010 at 11:57 am
Ujn Hunter, I agree with everything except your thoughts on Beatles Rock Band. I thought it was really excellent and a by far the best example of a single artist game. It made sense to release it as it’s own product as they wanted to appeal to Beatles fans as well as gamers. I think it stands apart from Rock Band itself and should be included as one of the good ones.
EdEN on July 7, 2010 at 12:41 pm
I tried Beatles Rockband by rental, played it for 3 days and returned it. I love the Beatles, but something felt “off” about the game.
NotAnotherSN on July 7, 2010 at 1:41 pm
I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little confused as to why RB3 is being treated here as little more than “another disc game” when is really changing the way these games are being played. Am I the only one who thinks this?
Ujn Hunter on July 9, 2010 at 12:05 pm
@mr. samsa: Sorry it looks like I was talking about Beatles Rock Band, but I was talking about Rock Band 2 and how I thought it should have been an update to Rock Band instead of a standalone disc! I haven’t played Beatles Rock Band yet and I’m fine with that being a standalone disc, but that might be the exception… no way in hell these silly Green Day, Van Halen etc discs deserve to be standalone.
mr.samsa on July 9, 2010 at 12:23 pm
@Ujn Hunter
Gotcha. In that case I agree, although the Wii version of Rock band 2 is a HUGE improvement over the 1st one. the 1st one didn’t have DLC.
Ed on August 4, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Don’t forget about The Impossible Game!