You won't regret it, it's very fun. All the menus are much improved. It feels very streamlined and welcoming. The minigames are even better than they were before (they were great). I've had some audio issues with my Astro A50s, I'm guessing it's due to the optical out because I have no problems when I'm using speakers. Hopefully they iron that out. Also there is still a funky issue of it detecting my high E string (I had that in the original). I'm thinking it's hardware inside my guitar rather than the game. (Squier Telecaster Affinity)
Immensely better, isn't even close. After playing a bit and visiting the Ubisoft forums there's a few issues I'm experiencing and so are others. 1) the Tuner is having serious issues. I'm sure they'll fix this quickly. 2) Rocksmith 1 DLC not showing up on Rocksmith 2014 even with the import tool paid for. This may just be a steam issue also, doesn't seem to be happening to 360 users. I'm sure they'll fix this also. Other than that it is quite amazing/awesomeness. Edit: There's also the sound issue with my Astro A50s (optical audio problem?). Rocksmith is considered a major release for Ubi now, I think they'll correct this stuff. May not be a terrible idea to consider buying straight through Uplay if you're gonna play on PC (you'll have to download it anyway).
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I just played for about 2.5 hours. I had a good time. It was essentially the first time for me since I didn't put but 5 hours into the original Rocksmith. I would have played more but my fingers hurt so I guess I need to build up some calluses. I didn't have any technical issues. There was no lag. I had all the songs from the original Rocksmith. They're labeled as RS1 in the songlist, whereas the new ones have no extra labeling. My only slight complaint is the original game allowed you to navigate the menus via the guitar. This one I'm having to use the keyboard and mouse a lot. Not too big a deal since I'm sitting right in front of them. Overall, it seems an improvement over the first for sure.
First few reviews Site Date Type Rating God is a Geek 9 out of 10 GamingTrend 90 out of 100 GamesRadar 4 out of 5 GameSpot 8 out of 10 IGN 9 out of 10 Worthplaying 8.8 out of 10 Cheat Code Central 4.6 out of 5
Yeah, you'll notice the more you play that you'll build up stamina and your hands will get tired less / you'll be able to fret notes easier. I still can't play nearly as fast as necessary for a lot of songs, but I'm light years ahead of where I was when I started.
They fixed the DLC issue. Waiting on the other things, but it's a good sign when they fix the initial error off the bat. The game is a lot of fun and is a much better "teacher" than the last game. I've been enjoying just playing the music so I haven't even messed with the minigames yet.
The tuner issue is mostly resolved among other things. More importantly the Smashing Pumpkins DLC was released: 1979, Tonight Tonight, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Today, and Disarm. I'll definitely be getting them all. (Sorry about the lack of embed...on a tablet. Feel free to correct.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iiVAYPhTbo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
If anybody is thinking of getting this for PC, this UK site has it on sale for $28.14 (off $59.99). Note, this is only the digital download and does not include the USB adapter required to play the game. https://www.g2a.com/rocksmith-2014-steam-cd-key-global.html Credit to Slickdeals.
They are all the same adapters right? I have the first one on ps3 but wouldn't mind picking this up on pc at that price.
Yeah, adapters should be the same. I bought the Xbox 360 version of Rocksmith, but I'll likely get the PC version too because there is a modding community that makes custom songs.
Yes. Adapters are the same. I bought the original one for my PS3 but never played it. I have since bought the original and new one on PC and have no problems. Lag issue is gone too.
I'm about 30 hours in to Rocksmith 2014 (I put about 35 or so into the first one when I bought it in August) and all of the launch issues are gone. It's very smooth, and very fun. I'm not amazing, but I'm absolutely on a different level from where I was when I began. Maybe even 2 or 3 levels up. I notice improvements in my play almost every time I touch my guitar, and it's becoming very gratifying. I say this again other than lessons I've tried everything to learn guitar. This is what has worked, and this is what has stuck. It's amazing, and it's probably the best $80 I've ever spent on a video game. Playing along to stuff like My Hero (something I've ALWAYS wanted to play) and hearing myself reproduce the song is really indescribably aweso-credi-mazin-ness. Additionally I've just began to delve into the arcade games which help you practice various techniques like chords, slides, harmonics, scales, etc. They are incredibly fun, incredibly useful, and have great production values (they're all done 8 bit or 16 or whatever style with themes, like ninja slide or chords of the dead). Out of the time I've played I've spent the majority just playing the songs over and over and unlocking higher difficulties; this is what has lead to my steady progression. I don't even play half of the songs (I have bought quite a bit of DLC though, I love music), but I could honestly say I could drop well over 100 hours in this game and not even blink. Anyway, that's gone on long enough. If you want to learn guitar, and you have any system that can run it (PC/360/PS3, and I'm sure next gen in the future) just take the plunge. It doesn't do much in the way of music theory, and I intend on getting lessons at some point to fill in gaps but, (mistakes in technique or what not) you will absolutely be able to play. When you factor in that a lot of the guitar greats are self taught and quite a few can't even read music you begin to realize how powerful this game is.
Thanks for the review. I played the first Rocksmith and my speed/feeling of the guitar improved at a fast rate. One thing that led me to stop playing was the reliance on the game... I felt as though I could learn a song in Rocksmith, but how could I regurgitate the same effort without the game? Rocksmith doesn't follow tab nor musical score. So how did you translate learning songs to the 'real-world'?
Thanks for taking the time to read it, it's a wall of text. A few ways; for one (and admittedly it barely happens to me yet -- only in a few songs) it goes into master mode where it takes away your notes and you just play the song from memory. It happens in some places I'm not comfortable with currently, but it always gives me the notes back when I mess up. In others, I'm actually able to play it (they're simple, but I'm still the one doing it). Secondly the game itself has a riff repeater which lets you pause in the middle of any song, select any portion of the song, then adjust it's speed / level of difficulty on notes, then loop it indefinitely. This has allowed me to pick up on a lot of the riffs that I really want to learn or enjoy hearing. Also, when you're in the menus you can just about always hear your guitar so if you want to play something you can. Additionally there is a free style band area where you can choose what tone you want (through virtual amps, pedals, etc), then select what supporting instruments you want, and it will play a tempo for you to play along with. It will occasionally through you curve-balls as well. I haven't utilized it myself yet, but I'm told it's quite good. I also will just mess around with my guitar occasionally without it even plugged in to play riffs from memory. I'm still not fully comfortable with the entire fretboard, and finding the middle strings quickly, but my speed / accuracy has increased dramatically. Whenever I find that there are certain techniques I am lacking, I go and play the corresponding mini-game and I notice improvement almost immediately. It's...for lack of better words again, amazing. Edit: I also learned a bit of tablature through a free online course on coursera.org through Berklee College of Music. This is why I know a bit of music theory (I need to finish that course...), and I took a few classes when I was younger so I know how to read music at a remedial level.
Ah okay. Well I haven't played Rocksmith 2014 yet... I'll have to pick it up for sure now. Sounds like, at the very least, learning speed/familiarity is accelerated by hours invested into the game. From that, you will learn the song if you play it enough... I'll post my feedback in a few months.
