For those about to rock, we salute you
Published Saturday October 31st, 2009
Duncan Campbell may only be 8 3/4 years old, but in the musical battle between rhythm video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, he knows what he likes.
"I find I like Guitar Hero more. There are more songs and on Guitar Hero World Tour you can play drums and sing (and play guitar) - it's the same as Rock Band."
His family got Guitar Hero 3 for Christmas two years ago and it wasn't long before Campbell fell in love with the game.
"I just kept practising and practising."
While Santa brought that first Guitar Hero, Campbell saved his money to buy Rock Band, then he saved more money to buy Guitar Hero: World Tour.
The point of the game is to keep getting better so you can get more points. It's a good fit for Campbell because it combines that challenge with his love of music.
While the guitar is generally his instrument of choice, he also uses the drums a lot.
His favourite tunes to tackle are by Metallica and Nirvana. He's worked his way through the different levels, progressing from easy to medium to hard, and is now at the expert level on a lot of songs.
He often plays Guitar Hero with his best friend Alex Clarke.
"He plays it a lot with me," he says, though currently Campbell notes he's better at the game than Clarke. "He's on hard and he can do one song on expert, but I can mostly do more than 10 songs on expert."
While games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band aren't for everyone, Campbell says that if someone has an interest they should give it a try.
Once you do start, he says, it's addicting.
To improve, he advises starting out slow and practising until you can move to the next level.
"Just start on easy. If you go on medium and find it's too hard, then just practise easy a lot of times," he says.
In his family, he is by far the best at Guitar Hero. He's only got three more songs to master on hard before he moves to the expert level. His dad would come in second, though he's only at the medium level.
His two sisters and mother are at the easy level. As for who is the worst of the lot? It would be his mom, he says.
While Campbell plays "mostly every day," he balances it out with other activities. He loves basketball, the guitar and playing outside with his friends.
"If you play too much (Guitar Hero), it kind of gets annoying."
It's worth noting that it isn't just the younger set who have developed a fondness for these kinds of musical video games. Plenty of adults have fallen under their spell.
Tyler Gallant's game of choice differs from Campbell, however.
"I am a Rock Band fan, through and through," he says. "It's an interesting game to play and I really find it has given me a broader appreciation for music."
This admitted gamer first got into this thanks to an impulse buy. While he had friends who were into rhythm games, Gallant never was.
"I had been talking about the first Guitar Hero with a friend of mine who said he really enjoyed it and had a good time with it, and I saw the second one and just kind of picked it up on a whim. I brought it home and the next time I looked at the clock it was about 4 1/2 hours later. I was kind of hooked right from the get-go."
His favourite thing to play with Rock Band bounces between the drums and vocals, he says.
"I think I burned out on the guitar a while back, so I usually gravitate towards drums and singing."
As for music, he tends to lean more towards classic rock than the heavier stuff, but he does play a mix to help hone his skills, beat a score or to challenge himself.
Though he says he isn't proficient on any musical instruments outside of the game, Gallant is interested in getting a drum kit as a result of playing.
"My mother actually got an electric guitar as a result of playing it," he says.
Generally, he plays on his own, but he's played with friends and family and has even brought the game into work a few times.
"I do play expert on all four instruments," he says. "I normally don't play head-to-head, I play more co-operative than anything. A big part of that is most of my friends probably don't play as much as I do."
It's a game that is "easy to learn, tricky to master," he says, especially as you go to higher levels.
Plus there is always fresh content, which keeps players learning.
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