Guitar Hero vs Rock Band controllers

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

A year ago I got GHWT and I was impressed by the instruments. My gf was hard/expert level and I was a stupid easy level. I worked up to hard in no time, and I thought "Man, I'm ready to play with friends." Well I went to a friend's house with Rock Band. Granted his controller was a little old, but my gf and I totally sucked at the game. We could only handle medium at best. I thought it was something with the controller.

We haven't played in a while, but a few weeks ago we tried out Band Hero with our controllers and we still did pretty damn well, so I guess these skills don't deteriorate that much. On the other hand my DDR skills suck from lack of practice.

At the mall today they had Lego Rock Band. We both played, but somehow we just can't do as well. Maybe it's the pressure of the crowd around us in a public place, but somehow I feel like I can't get good enough presses on the Rock Band Stratocaster.

What do you guys think about the two different controllers? I feel the buttons for the GHWT guitars are 10x better, and a button press feels more solid.

 

[Savarak]

I've tried playing with both, and I agree 10000x% that Guitar Hero guitars are better than Rock Band controllers

 

[Savarak]

I've tried playing with both, and I agree 10000x% that Guitar Hero guitars are better than Rock Band controllers

 

[FuryofFive]

Guitar hero all the way

 

[gorcorps]

I like the RB guitars honestly. The buttons are bigger and nearly flush with the neck so sliding is easier.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

I started with the PS2 Guitar Hero controllers and initially preferred them, but after I picked up both Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour for the 360, I've found that I use the Rock Band controller exclusively. There's definitely a difference in form factor between the controllers, enough that I think that most folks would do more poorly on the "other controller" if they've practiced primarily on one type, but I find that the spacing on the Rock Band controller is a lot easier for my hand.

Oddly enough, I used to hate that the Rock Band controller strum bar was silent, as I preferred having the feedback. Now I find the click of the Guitar Hero controllers to be distracting. You adjust your preferences based on what you're used to.

 

[erwos]

This may sound lame, but I exclusively use GH3 guitars because they're the only wireless ones compatible with _ALL_ of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero titles on the 360.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Guitar Hero fake plastic guitars and Rock Band software.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

This may sound lame, but I exclusively use GH3 guitars because they're the only wireless ones compatible with _ALL_ of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero titles on the 360.

What aren't the GHWT and GH5 controllers not compatible with?

 

[erwos]

What aren't the GHWT and GH5 controllers not compatible with?

I didn't realize they were! Interesting - gives me an option for upgrading, should I choose.

http://www.joystiq.com/Instrument-Compatibility-Matrix/

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I greatly prefer the Rock Band guitars over the GH ones, even the shoddy RB1 guitars over the newer GH guitars. The RB Strat is just the right size, and the only thing I didn't like about the RB1 guitar was the mushy and non-clicky strum bar. I also like the large, clicky fret buttons on the RB Strat. I haven't used the RB2 guitar yet, but I would imagine that it's an improvement over the original.

The GH guitars are just too small and feel like playing a banjo. The fret buttons are too close together and cramp my hands big time. The stupid "wa-wa board" or whatever the heck it is on the neck of the newer GH guitars is a useless feature that I always turn off. Both of my GH:WT guitars have had defective stupid "wa-wa boards" and this causes phantom strums in games that don't allow me to turn it off (GH: WT, for example). In the newer games where I can turn off this feature (GH: Metallica, for example), I never get the phantom strums after I disable that stupid "feature". The detachable neck is also a stupid and useless "feature", and oftentimes causes connectivity issues (my GH3 Les Paul, for example). My GH2 Xplorers (all 3 of them after returns/exchanges) had bad whammy bars and finnicky star power tilt activation.

Also, every GH guitar I have ever owned, starting with the GH2 Xplorer up until the GH: WT guitars, has been defective in one way or the other and I've had to return/exchange them. All of them. Lackluster build quality aside, my RB1 guitar is still kicking today, though it is breaking down because of heavy use and the aforementioned somewhat lacking quality. Even though the RB1 Strat might be a shoddy piece of junk, the GH guitars are all defective pieces of junk.

Expert player all the way, BTW.

 

[Beev]

I'd use the GH controllers if the strum bar didn't click (assuming they still do in the latest generation of them).

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I'd use the GH controllers if the strum bar didn't click (assuming they still do in the latest generation of them).

The GH: WT guitars have a clicky strum bar...not sure about the GH5 ones.

 

[AstroManLuca]

It might just come down to which one you played with first. My first music game experience was with Rock Band 1. I liked it and now I can't stand the GH controllers, only the RB ones. I like the soft strum bar and don't like the clicky one on the GH guitars, and I also don't like how small the buttons are on the GH guitars.

But there's more. I think it's harder to see the notes in GH, and overall the software just seems shoddy and poorly-written compared with Rock Band.

Another very important thing to take into account is the calibration. You may have calibrated your game perfectly at home, but your friend didn't (or did, but didn't do a good job of it). If you play a long time with an uncalibrated game, you get used to it. But I remember playing Rock Band at a friend's house and being unable to pass anything because of the calibration. After I calibrated it, I did fine, and my friend couldn't even notice the difference.

One thing I have to say though... I quite liked the feel of the GH drum set vs. the RB one. It screwed me up since the layout is different, but the feel is more springy.

 

[Pheran]

While Rock Band is my game of choice, I do prefer to play it on a GHWT genericaster. However, I admit that I haven't spent any significant time on a RB2 strat, so I can't really compare those two. The RB1 guitar has awful clacky fret buttons. The GH3 guitar is OK, but the travel on its strum bar is too long for my preference.

DLeRium, something else to keep in mind when you are playing at a friend's house or at a kiosk is that it might not be calibrated properly. Improper calibration will really mess up your playing; I saw this recently when I upgraded my television (from CRT to LCD) and had to recalibrate everything.

 

[Glitchny]

RB2 controllers all the way.

 

[brblx]

rock band buttons rape guitar hero buttons. strummers are personal preference but the GHWT guitar (a new one) that i tried has the shittiest strummer i've ever seen on any of the plastic instruments. did they fire red octane or something? imo GH2 xplorer is still the best GH controller.

 

[Jeffg010]

When I got the RB2 STRAT it was like putting my hand around Pam Anderson.

 

[kalrith]

I researched this a lot before deciding which instruments to buy, and everything I read said that GH > RB when it comes to controllers. I went with the GHWT band kit and used the guitar I had from GH3. It's also easier to use the GH drums with RB than it is to use the RB drums with GH since the RB drums would be short one drum/cymbal.

 

[RagingBITCH]

GH guitars > RB guitars
RB drums > GH drums

Just my opinion though!

 

[stuman74]

I just got a PS3 and am thinking about which hardware setup I should get. At Amazon, the Rock Band 2 setup is $99 and the Guitar Hero World Tour setup is $109. Per that compatibility matrix, it looks like each of those options is compatible with the other for games going forward (RB1 and GH3 I don't plan on buying and playing). I see a lot of mixed reviews here. I have only played GH on the Wii and it seems pretty decent. I just wish the guitars were a little longer.

 

[Jeraden]

360 user... I initially bought a GHWT bundle with the guitar, but returned it because I didn't like the buttons on it. The green one in particular would "stick" a bit if you pressed it too close to the bottom edge, which would really screw me up during fast parts. I got a RB2 standalone guitar instead, and much much preferred it, even without the button issue. Just thought it felt better in general.

 

[gorcorps]

I researched this a lot before deciding which instruments to buy, and everything I read said that GH > RB when it comes to controllers. I went with the GHWT band kit and used the guitar I had from GH3. It's also easier to use the GH drums with RB than it is to use the RB drums with GH since the RB drums would be short one drum/cymbal.

I hate the GH drums. The frame is so poorly built that if I get too into the game, then the cymbals start randomly registering when I hit the pads hard enough. Same issue with the 3 sets I've played on.

 

[kalrith]

I hate the GH drums. The frame is so poorly built that if I get too into the game, then the cymbals start randomly registering when I hit the pads hard enough. Same issue with the 3 sets I've played on.

I've actually never used the RB instruments, but I really liked the GHWT instruments that my friend had. That coupled with the comparisons I read made my choice easy. I recently bought RB2 but haven't had the chance to try it out yet. I know the guitars and microphones will work great, but it'll be interesting to see how well the drums work since I'll be using 3 drums and a cymbal instead of 4 drums, which is what RB2 was made for.

 

[stuman74]

I just got a PS3 and am thinking about which hardware setup I should get. At Amazon, the Rock Band 2 setup is $99 and the Guitar Hero World Tour setup is $109. Per that compatibility matrix, it looks like each of those options is compatible with the other for games going forward (RB1 and GH3 I don't plan on buying and playing). I see a lot of mixed reviews here. I have only played GH on the Wii and it seems pretty decent. I just wish the guitars were a little longer.

So which is better to go with for teh PS3? Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour? Thanks!