Industry mag Develop reports on a bit of surprising candor from Matt Palmer, head of animation at TT Fusion, the developers of Lego Rock Band. Speaking at the Develop in Liverpool conference, Palmer talked about being approached to do the game.
From the article:
“We were approached 13 months ago by publisher TT Games, who were in turn approached by Harmonix about LEGO Rock Band. And I’d say about 50 per cent of our studio were for the idea, and about 50 per cent were against it.”
Palmer says the team warmed to the idea after a few months, when they started seeing it as more than slapping a Lego face on the Rock Band franchise. But if you ask me, the initial ambivalence of the team came through in the final product as a fairly pervasive sloppiness. (I know I’m in the minority in that opinion, but that’s only because everyone else is wrong.)
Interesting, but yeah, I would have to disagree on the final product being sloppy. It’s definitely geared towards including a wider aged crowd, but nothing about the game felt sloppy to me at all. In fact, I found the way they did the challenges to be rather inspired and something they never even would’ve been required to add in. The fact that they did however, made for a more fun experience IMO.
Really? Geez.
I think Band Hero is wayyyy slopper. It’s kind of a pink and purple bubblegum teenage girl explosion, like playing an Aqua (Barbie Girl) or Dee-Lite (Groove is in the Heart) simulator.
I frequently have to check if I still have a penis after playing Band Hero.
The first four sets of venues in Band Hero (excluding dupes and the 1 or 2 standounts) is one of the worst setlists I’ve ever played in *any* fake plastic rock game, ever. Including Guitar Hero: Van Halen! I nearly fell asleep playing that first craptacular, dull-plosion of a Cold War Kids song, and … it doesn’t get much better from there.
Whereas Lego Rock Band is rather fun, at least.
Are you kidding me, Jeff? Hang Me Up To Dry is the best song ever!