For years, the music rhythm genre has been dominated by two names: Guitar Hero and Rock Band. At E3, the new game on the block made a grand entrance, hoping to make a name for itself, and that name is Power Gig: Rise of the SixString.
What immediately distinguishes Power Gig: Rise of the SixString from all other music rhythm games currently on the market is that it uses a real, playable six-string guitar as its main controller. When it was unveiled at Game Developers Conference earlier this year, Power Gig: Rise of the SixString showed that you can take the controller directly from your video game system to a guitar amplifier, plug it in and actually play it.
At E3, I got the chance to hold the guitar in my hot little hands and try the game for myself. I was so accustomed to plastic guitar games that the weight of the guitar caught me off guard at first. I took pick in hand and got ready to jam. Even though I’m a pretty good Rock Band player, I’m a total newb when it comes to a real guitar, so I’m glad I got to start on Easy mode.
The song I got to play was “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down. To play, all I had to do was push down a string on the correct fret, then strum with my right hand. Since this was Easy mode, the correct fret was the only thing that mattered. I could strum just the first string or all six if I wanted, and I only needed to worry about the first three frets.
Anyone who is even a halfway decent Guitar Hero or Rock Band player shouldn’t have any trouble picking up the game, at least on Easy mode. Nonetheless, I was interested in seeing the harder modes, to see if the game would truly teach you to “rock it real,” as 745 Studios says. Unfortunately, Easy mode was all they were showing at E3, but an exhibitor informed me that when the game is released, the harder modes would include more realistic fingering.
As realistic as the guitar is, Power Gig: Rise of the SixString went in a totally different direction with its drum controller, the AirStrike. Essentially a crescent-shaped device with four colored zones representing different drums, the AirStrike uses sensors to pick up the motions of the drumstick in the air.
I found the AirStrike drums to be utterly lacking. Striking the air doesn’t give any of the tactile feedback I’m used to with other drums, and I felt kind of silly hitting the air while the player next to me was playing a real guitar. On top of that, the sensors themselves are imprecise. I missed notes that I would easily have nailed if I were playing a regular drumset.
Another step backward is support for merely three players simultaneously: a guitarist, a drummer and a singer. The singing itself will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s played a rhythm game in the past few years. The lyrics are displayed on the screen with a scrolling pitch meter that singers have to match. Nothing new there.
Songs on display included the aforementioned “Kryptonite,” “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour and “Layla” by Derek and the Dominoes. Power Gig: Rise of the SixString has signed on Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews Band and Kid Rock as exclusive artists, but the whole tracklist for the game has not been revealed. 745 Studios confirmed that all songs would be original master recordings and further songs would be available as downloadable following the release of the game in October for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A Wii version will be coming later, though no date has been set.
I am a Los Angeles-based writer and gamer who is always looking to combine my two main passions. I believe video games have the potential to become the best storytelling medium of the 21st century, and it is the writer's responsibility to encourage this process. Oh yeah, I'm also a nerd.
