Contemporary music video games have failed us.
A genre with plenty of untapped potential has devolved from games with plots and quirky characters/graphical elements to a genre stripped down to colored symbols, and heavy reliance on turn-a-quick-buck DLC. And it’s infinitely frustrating.
I love Guitar Hero/Rock Band/ DJ Hero as much as the next guy who’s always held fantasies of wearing tight jeans, lace, and some form of animal print, but whenever I see a video game news site post the weekly DLC releases, I can taste my own bile. The music video game genre isn’t just drowning in the RIAA’s profits–the lack of innovation is wrecking a potentially unique gaming segment.
That’s not to say that music games of yesteryear were radically different from today’s offering. Contrary, they all used timed button presses to help players keep the rhythm, but earlier music video games added slick coatings so that the content appeared far more robust, as well as features that have yet to make appearances in today’s music video games.
For example, Parappa the Rapper‘s timed button presses are similar to Guitar Hero/Rock Band/DJ Hero, but presented an awfully cute rapping narrative and Colorforms-like visuals that overflowed with high charm (the same formula that it’s sequel/spinoff UmJammer Lammy closely followed).
Space Channel 5 retained that core gameplay, but by removing the rhythm icons, utilizing a variety of camera angles, and focusing more on You Got Served-styled dance-offs, it feels fresher than any modern music video game even 10 years after its original release. Space Channel 5 added something new to the genre by introducing backup musicians that could join your outter space funk posse and remix the track when you did a good job of cutting the rug. Bust A Groove, which pre-dated Space Channel 5 took the dance off concept to the next level by adding fighting game elements to the mix in a way that hasn’t been done since.
What do we have now? Games with plastic guitars, turntables, drumsets, and mics that blur the line between video gaming and real musicianship. That’s not bad by any means, it’s catering to the masses’ inner rock star, but the big boys are stifling creativity by increasingly moving toward realism and away from inventiveness. This recycled gameplay may have been one of the contributing factors in DJ Hero and Beatles Rock Band‘s less-than-stellar sales.
Harmonix revitalized the aging formula with Dance Central, which is Dance Dance Revolution evolved. It ditched the need to purchase multiple accessories (you just need a single Kinect unit), but spawned several me-too clones. Our friends at Aggrogate have a gif of me (sadly) rockin’ Dance Central.
There is forward-looking hope. Children of Eden, the Kinect-powered rhythm action game from Tetsuya Mizuguchi (the creator of awesome music-shooter Rez) fuses music, shooting, and motion, to push the genre’s boundaries by creating tunes as you play. Ubisoft’s RockSmith is the anti-Guitar Hero in that it actually teaches you to play a real guitar with a real guitar.
The answer to the music game conundrum lies in the past. Companies need to look at at worked then, tweak it with contemporary sensibilities,utilize the latest technologies, and craft more than me-too versions of chart-topping games. Otherwise, the music video game genre will be as zombified as the industry that fuels it.
