Rate the Game: Week 65
 

We're back in the saddle for another week, ladies and gentlemen as we close out the month of June with week 65 of this shindig. Kratos was the star of the show last week but how big of a star is he compared to others on our leaderboard? There was some general high praise but what does the average say? We go to the list and see where God of War ends up....

<select><option selected="">Rate the Game Results

<option>1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (4.8)</option>
<option>2. Super Mario Bros. 3 (4.7)</option>
<option>3. Chrono Trigger (4.5)</option>
<option>4. (TIE) Mega Man 2 (4.44), Donkey Kong Country (4.44)</option>
<option>6. Super Mario Bros. (4.41)</option>
<option>7. God of War (4.4)</option>
<option>8. Metal Gear Solid (4.33)</option>
<option>9. (TIE) Shadow of the Colossus (4.28), The Last of Us (4.28)</option>
<option>11. Super Street Fighter 2 (4.15)</option>
<option>12. Sonic the Hedgehog (4.14)</option>
<option>13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4.125)</option>
<option>14. Super Mario 64 (4.07)</option>
<option>15. (TIE) Grand Theft Auto 3 (4.06), The Legend of Zelda (4.06)</option>
<option>17. NBA Jam (4.05)</option>
<option>18. (FOUR-WAY TIE) Super Mario Kart (4.0), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (4.0), Super Metroid (4.0), The Simpsons (4.0)</option>
<option>22. Final Fantasy 7 (3.94)</option>
<option>23. Mega Man (3.89)</option>
<option>24. Half-Life (3.83)</option>
<option>25. (THREE-WAY TIE) Contra (3.8), Castlevania (3.8), Devil May Cry (3.86)</option>
<option>28. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (3.77)</option>
<option>29. Batman: Arkham Asylum (3.76)</option>
<option>30. Tetris (3.69)</option>
<option>31. Mortal Kombat 2 (3.67)</option>
<option>32. (TIE) Diablo (3.66), F.E.A.R. (3.66)</option>
<option>34. Mortal Kombat (3.65)</option>
<option>35. StarFox (3.61)</option>
<option>36. Doom (3.625)</option>
<option>37. Resident Evil (3.58)</option>
<option>38. Ninja Gaiden (3.5)</option>
<option>39. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (3.39)</option>
<option>40. Resident Evil: Nemesis (3.38)</option>
<option>41. (THREE-WAY TIE) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (3.33), Condemned: Criminal Origins (3.33), Crash Bandicoot (3.33)</option>
<option>44. Gears of War (3.27)</option>
<option>45. (TIE) Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (3.22), Borderlands (3.22)</option>
<option>47. Quake (3.2)</option>
<option>48. Pac-Man (3.125)</option>
<option>49. Killer Instinct (3.11)</option>
<option>50. Virtua Fighter (3.09)</option>
<option>51. (FOUR-WAY TIE) Time Crisis (3.0), Tekken (3.0), Earthworm Jim (3.0), Metroid (3.0)</option>
<option>55. Guitar Hero (2.875)</option>
<option>56. Streets of Rage (2.84)</option>
<option>57. Dead Rising (2.71) </option>
<option>58. (TIE) Silent Hill (2.6), The Sims (2.6)</option>
<option>60. Tomb Raider (2.55)</option>
<option>61. Halo: Combat Evolved (2.5)</option>
<option>62. Twisted Metal (2.42)</option>
<option>63. Gran Turismo (2.3)</option>
<option>64. Ghosts n' Goblins (2.14)</option>
</select>

Man, we're just adding more and more to that elite ten as the weeks go by. God of War claims the number 7 spot with an above average rating of 4.4 and that's enough to kick Super Street Fighter 2 out of the top. Thank you all for that long session of editing I had to do to renumber the list. :p Maybe we'll get another new entry into that upper echelon of goodness with this week's game. Show us what you got, bowl!

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/nRW0hLfINuWOEigzUs" width="480" height="269" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/nRW0hLfINuWOEigzUs">via GIPHY</a></p>

Boom! Huh. Well, this one's an odd one. I figured if I had done put Guitar Hero in the bowl I wouldn't have needed to do Rock Band but I guess I did add it to the pool after all. Nothing we can do about it now, I suppose. This week's game to rate is Harmonix's separate take on the rhythm and music genre, the rival to Guitar Hero and staple of party's of the late oughts, Rock Band! What did you all think of this venture? Was it better or worse than Guitar Hero? Did it rock your world? Rate and discuss and rant and rave and all of that good stuff! We'll see what July brings us next time.

I'd give Guitar hero a 2 but this I give a 3.

5

I put so many hours into this. Superior guitar controller to guitar hero. Getting a full band together to play was freaking awesome. Great set list too.

I remember having fun doing chop seuy on this.

I give it a solid 3. It was decent but overall it just felt like Guitar Hero with a couple extra instruments and a mic for vocals thrown in.

Was fun at college parties back in the day.... that's about it

See, I'm going to give this the same rating as Guitar Hero but I have to say, as far as the 'rivalry' between the two franchises, I always preferred Guitar Hero. I can't really put my finger on one particular thing but I always had more fun with Guitar Hero. The soundtracks were better, Rock Band felt way too easy, and Guitar Hero just seemed to have more personality to it. I loved the avatars it had, Pandora being my favorite. I know the consensus was that Rock Band was the superior title but that was never the case for me. Neither one is particularly horrible or anything, just a personal preference.

2.


Hated the drums, mainly played drums. GH had a better drum set IMO.

It's honestly crazy to me that the first GH was all the way back on PS2. And hilarious to me (not unsurprising, but hilarious nonetheless) that Band Hero was created as a response to RB's success.

Wasn't World Tour the response to Rock Band? I could have sworn World Tour came out before Band Hero. I remember because we had picked World Tour up for our New Year's Eve party.

I think I only played Rock Band's drums once. The nonsense at the end where you can basically play whatever as the song closes put me off.

Hah, I knew I still had these convention pics somewhere. Probably the best use of Stormtrooper and/or Spartan armor there is.

https://i.imgur.com/sXOSnyN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/dGD6pO6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/viBW1SJ.jpg

I dunno man, it's been like what, 12 or 15 years since then? You might be right, but my mind is such a blur from back then. Probably doesn't help I didn't play Band Hero or World Tour ...at least, not IIRC.

Yeah, World Tour expanded to include the whole band. That was 2008. Band Hero came out the next year in the summer. Although you could make the case for Band Hero trying to be the response with its more 'mainstream, radio-friendly' soundtrack. It had three Taylor Swift songs, for crying out loud.

Did you click on your choice in the poll? I'm not seeing a 5 on the results.

Ahh, ok.

I definitely remember getting a mic because I needed to see how good I was at vocals in The Beatles: Rock Band. That game kicked so much ass.

lol, you could put the mic on your throat and just hum to beat the vocals.

Embarrassing confession time: I got an achievement for having 4 vocalists at the same time by just putting a mic and 3 headsets in front of an oscillating fan. :o

ha! low-level hacking at its best.

3. Was always partial to the harder rock stylings of Guitar Hero.

Just started God of War...

There were lots of little tricks to get achievements in a different fashion than they intended. In Guitar Hero 3, you had to hit the whammy bar for every sustained note in "Number of the Beast" but you could get it by simply taping the whammy bar down. For anything asking you to play left-handed, I just changed the settings to left-handed and played normally with my right hand but looking at the screen in a mirror. I remember one of my friends coming home and walking in on me while I was doing that and he thought I had approached the point where I could play the game without even looking at the screen.

I don't think Rock Band had anything on the same level as "Through the Fire and the Flames", "Jordan", or "Black Widow of La Porte".

I remember the near endless hours of time spent trying to get better at that dragonforce song whose name shall henceforth no longer be mentioned. So many cramps and blisters.

Well, their follow up "Fury of the Storm" on Warriors of Rock wasn't much better in that department.