Rock Band Unplugged is a fairly standard note-matching rhythm game. Color-coded notes flow down the screen and it’s your job to tap the appropriate buttons with the correct timing as the notes cross a target line at the bottom of the screen — the better your timing and the more notes you string together in a row, the higher your score will be and the more fans and money you’ll accrue. If you’ve played any music game within the past 5-10 years you should be familiar with this setup. I mean, Harmonix and other developers have only been using this same core system for what seems like ages now.

But there is a twist. In Unplugged there isn’t just one track of notes to play, there are four tracks lined up side by side, each corresponding to a different instrument in the band – bass, drums, vocals and lead guitar. As the music plays, you must hit the shoulder buttons to cycle left and right between the tracks as notes appear for each instrument. If you keep the proper timing and complete full phrases on a track without missing a note, the current instrument continues playing by itself for a short time so you can switch to another track and keep the music flowing one instrument at a time. However, if you start to miss notes, the other tracks begin to scroll without you and the other instruments fade out until you can catch back up. And should you leave an instrument unattended for too long, its track line drops off the screen entirely and you lose the ability to play that instrument.

While it can’t match the feeling of being in a real rock band like the full games do, Unplugged’s track-switching system recreates the Rock Band style on the PSP remarkably well – I’d certainly rather play a portable rhythm game like this as opposed to using a bulky control attachment like the Guitar Hero DS games. The face button and d-pad-based controls are immediately responsive to your taps, and the instrument cycling mechanic makes for one frantically addictive gameplay experience – it’s cool how the volume raises/lowers as you change tracks to emphasize the current instrument you’re playing too.

Unplugged is also expertly balanced, with four difficulty settings making the game accessible to the most casual of players, challenging but not too challenging for intermediates, and devilishly difficult for true rock gods.

As for the music – the most important part of any music game — Rock Band Unplugged features an eclectic, high-quality library of 41 master recordings from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000’s, standouts (for me, at least) including Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son”, Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”, Tenacious D’s “Rock Your Socks”, and Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” (view the full track list at the game’s official website). Unplugged is also tied into the Rock Band music store, and at the standard $1.99 per track you can expand the library through DLC. Only 17 DLC tracks are available at the moment, but the variety is excellent with songs from the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Disturbed, No Doubt, Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dixie Chicks and more. The Portal theme song “Still Alive” is available too!

The one thing missing from Rock Band Unplugged is multiplayer. For a Rock Band game I think it’s unacceptable that multiplayer was excluded from the package. I just don’t understand how basic ad hoc co-op and/or versus play modes were left out of a game like this. Fortunately, Unplugged is stacked with single-player content, including an in-depth selection of tutorials, quick play, survival and warmup modes, and a fun tour mode that sees you creating your own band, globetrotting to play different city venues, unlocking new songs and amassing fame and fortune.

No multiplayer is a disappointment, but even as a game for solo artists only, Rock Band Unplugged has more than enough to it to keep you and your PSP rockin’ through the hot summer months ahead.

Pros:
+ Addictive, intelligently-designed gameplay mechanics
+ Great audio quality and track selection
+ Balanced range of difficulty levels
+ Captures the spirit of Rock Band and pays homage to Frequency/Amplitude

Cons:
– No multiplayer

Game Info:
Platform: PSP
Publisher: EA / MTV Games
Developer: Backbone Entertainment / Harmonix
Release Date: 6/9/09
Genre: Rhythm/Music
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1

Rock Band Unplugged takes center stage today as Harmonix, EA and MTV Games have officially pulled the curtain back on the first PSP edition in the popular Rock Band franchise.

Rock Band Unplugged, in collaborative development by Harmonix and Backbone Entertainment, is set for a simultaneous launch across North America and Europe on June 9th at a retail price of $39.99. Sony has also announced plans to celebrate the US launch with a Rock Band Unplugged PSP Entertainment Pack, a $200 bundle including the game a Piano Black PSP system, a voucher to download Jack Black’s School of Rock from the PlayStation Store, and a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo.

In Unplugged, your hands alone will be the peripherals as you tap on the D-pad and face buttons to cycle back and forth through individual track lines for each instrument — lead/bass guitars, drums and vocals — and work to keep each instrument in rhythm through “traditional beat match gameplay.” So yes, it is somewhat similar in style to Harmonix’s classic PS2 music games Frequency and Amplitude.

In terms of content, Rock Band Unplugged will feature World Tour, Band Survival and Warm Up modes, in-depth character customization, 40+ master-recordings to play to, and a PSN-powered in-game store for purchasing additional DLC song packs. Of the PSP’s 40 tracks, nine will also be platform exclusive, but only for a limited time before they eventually wind up as DLC on other platforms. Those nine “exclusive” tracks include the following:

· 3 Doors Down – “Kryptonite”
· AFI – “Miss Murder”
· Alice in Chains – “Would?”
· Audioslave – “Gasoline”
· Black Tide – “Show Me the Way”
· Blink 182 – “What’s My Age Again”
· Freezepop – “Less Talk More Rokk”
· Jackson 5 – “ABC”
· Tenacious D – “Rock Your Socks”

Sony has additional info and the game’s first trailer up on the PlayStation blog. Follow the accompanying link to check out their post.

New Limited Edition Rock Band Unplugged Entertainment Pack [PlayStation.Blog]