Rocksmith 2014 Edition Review

The original Rocksmith brought about a fantastic concept to the video games realm. Finally, we are able to play a game while learning a real life skill, per say. Teaching how to play a real guitar is something that hasn’t been done in our industry before, and certainly not with direct inputs from the players. Unfortunately, the concept wasn’t perfected in its execution with some minor but numerous problems that got in the way of the experience. Two years later, we are faced with Rocksmith 2014 Edition, a game that takes nearly all of those problems and does its best to address them.

Much as before, there is a high barrier to entry – you need to actually commit to the learning process if you want to get something out of this expensive experience. It’s not a simple decision to buy a decent guitar and then the game with its adapter cable, just to realize that this might not be for you. And if you are an absolute beginner with zero concepts or never having touched a guitar before, then again it’s probably best to start off with some formal instruction. Try as they might, improved tutorials are still not enough to cover all the basics and terminology for total newbies. But beyond that, almost anyone who wants to improve their skills or simply practice will have a good time with Rocksmith 2014.

To ensure the best user experience, the title is a fully open one. There isn’t a career mode to bother with, no songs are locked away behind arbitrary score requirements or achievements. The menu is nicely streamlined to provide access to all major activities quickly and without fuss. Jumping into a song, you’ll be faced with a familiar but refined interface that provides visual cues as you play and looks less muddled and overwhelming then that of the original game. That song selection comes with over 50 tracks, with everyone from Nirvana to Radiohead to Paramore represented. As always, enjoyment of the soundtrack will depend upon personal taste, but the developers clearly tried to showcase a wide range of sound and technique. And to boot, the original game’s songs can be imported for a fee, along with any DLC you’ve purchased.

The core of the experience is just to learn songs – this is a learning tool disguised as a game, remember? Some players may miss the more structured campaign-mode experience, but it’s still possible to play the songs in order of difficulty as you’d like. Songs come with various objectives, called Rocksmith Missions, which feed into an XP system and give the game its sense of progression to make the learning more fun and have reasons to replay songs even if you’ve already familiar.

All songs, including those imported, can be played in a variety of modes, new and old. Returning is Guitarcade, where your experience has been turned into an 8-bit arcade game instead. These minigames offer numerous opportunities to practice playing skills such as sliding or picking outside of songs. From arcade beat-em-up to shooters, these activities make your practice time fun while improving muscle memory as you prepare for the real deal. Amp mode also returns, now offering customizable tone lab with different effects and heads.

One of the biggest complaints from the original game was the dynamic difficulty. As you played, the game would adjust the notes on the fly, throwing you into the deep end if it thought you did well for the last few minutes. It was more often frustrating than challenging, and while this feature has been retained, things are better than before. Riff Repeater has been improved and lets you select parts of a song and slow them down, so you can really get it right instead of just failing outright. The Repeater even includes an option to adjust this speed on the fly, so you can practice a section at your own pace. Plus the new Score Attack mode eliminates the dynamic aspects altogether, letting you play a song on a pre-set difficulty and try for higher scores, similarly to the arcade music games.

Finally, the last major new addition to Rocksmith 2014 Edition is Session mode. The idea here is just freeform play. You’re not just playing alone – the mode lets you setup a virtual band, that will play with a preset tempo and key. Then you start jamming, like you would at a real band practice session. Rocksmith will recommend notes to play that will sound good with the band and tempo you’ve selected, but you’re free to create anything you want. It’s a great experience for anyone who lacks musically inclined company, or just isn’t sure of their skills yet.

Mutliplayer options are also available, including the aforementioned Session mode. You can play with another guitarist in the learning mode, single-player, and other competitive or cooperative modes. Each layer’s progress and difficulty carries over into their own profile progress. And if you have the original Rocksmith, you don’t even need to buy a second cable, as that one works just fine with the 2014 edition.

One thing that remains problematic is the lag, something that’s crucial to a music game. We tested the game via the usual HDMI cable to an HDTV and faced some notable delay when playing. Outputting your audio to a different source, such as an audio receiver, alleviated the problems for the most part. Still, you may need to tinker with your TV’s settings to get the game perfect if you only have HDMI to use for audio. The game also stuttered on occasion mid-song on our Xbox 360 S, with the game installed to the hard drive. It’s not a frequent problem, but one that has potential to mess up your tracking during a song. On the positive side, the loading times are vastly improved.

Taking everything that Rocksmith did well and addressing some of the problems, the new title is a success in almost every category. While the learning materials are improved, they are still not perfect and may never replace a few hours with an instructor for absolute beginners. The dynamic difficulty is still present, but changes and modes have been added to alleviate any frustration caused by the system. Session mode is good fun, and so are the improved Guitarcade titles. Though a few technical issues persist, Rocksmith 2014 Edition finally lives up to the experience that was promised to guitar hopefuls all those years ago. It’s a great sequel and a great practice tool for anyone with a serious desire to learn the instrument.