Character Customization

One pretty cool aspect of Rock Band is the ability to customize characters and use them both in solo and band play. You won't be confusing it with EA Game-Face-level customization, but it's much deeper than you'd expect for a game of this type.

Starting out, you're able to pick your character's sex and starting city, as well as a basic facial look and physique. Of course, hair is a big issue, with a ton of styles to choose from, from mullets to super-teased '80s hair to mohawks and fauxhauxs and 'fros. Once you pick a style, you can also pick almost any color for your 'do, so already you've got a base of looks to go with.

As you play through the game, you'll win cash and unlock access to new pieces of clothing, so you can continue to change your look as your band evolves. But things get really crazy once you start messing with the tattoo parlor: in addition to a number of preset tattoos, you can move them around and enlarge or shrink them. In all, you actually have more control over your look than in certain MMOs like World of Warcraft, which is saying a lot.

Graphics

There's a lot going on in the Rock Band interface, which is why it's impressive that the game sports such a clean look, even with four people playing. The game is more than playable on a standard-def TV, but when you're crowding four people in a room, you'll obviously get a lot more mileage out of the extra real estate on a big-screen TV.

While Harmonix has stuck with the theme of having the band play in the background during songs, the graphics have gotten a lot more sophisticated for Rock Band. The characters look a little less cartoonish now, animations are much smoother, and the virtual camera jitters around like a handheld in the crowd at a concert. There are grainy filters that kick in during solos or other moments, and the effect is solid enough that people who've watched us play have enjoyed the overall presentation.

There is also a healthy amount of different venues present in Rock Band: three in each city, meaning something in the neighborhood of 30 different stages from dive bars to huge stadiums. Once again, it's kind of a small touch, but the fact that they're realized so well and that there are so many of them prevents the stale feeling that you're playing in the same location song after song.