Preview: Rocksmith 2014

If I had a pound for every time I was asked if I was in a band I could probably afford a guitar, lessons, and a stint in rehab. When my answer to said question is “No”, the reply is always the same; “Well, you look like you should be.” With this in mind, I couldn’t help but smile when I received the email declaring “Rik looks like a good fit” for the hands-on with Rocksmith 2014 at the Gibson Studios in London a few weeks ago.

I’d only ever seen the previous Rocksmith played out in videos, and to be honest with you I had absolutely no idea what was going on; too many lines and colours flying toward my eyes at once to register what it all meant, and as far as I’m aware I’m not alone. To the untutored, Rocksmith can look confusing and often overwhelming, but after a few minutes in the Tutorial mode it all falls into place and I finally saw that Rocksmith 2014 isn’t just a clever bit of tech, it’s absolutely genius.

I use the word tech, because by rights, Rocksmith 2014 isn’t actually a game. Granted, there are mini-games available to play based around playing a guitar; the stand out for me being an interesting take on a Typing of the Dead style-game, where the player is prompted to play chords to lay to rest the approaching undead, and although the main meat of the ‘game’ loosely resembles Guitar Hero, it’s as far removed from that artificial experience as playing Gran Turismo is to driving a real car.

I haven’t played a guitar in years, so when I took my seat and picked up one of the absolutely beautiful Gibson LPJ guitars that were available for demonstration I imagine I resembled a deer in headlights as the rep set up this game’s brand new Session Mode and prompted me to have a go. I searched my memory for a couple of chords to strum before asking if there was a mode where I could just learn a song, and there was, so we did that instead.

We selected Nonstop Play Mode, which works by lining up and auto-playing a track a few seconds after the previous has finished, giving an experience much like Guitar Hero’s tour mode, albeit without the feeling that there are better things to do with life. I picked my song (Alice in Chains – Stone; a personal favourite) and the track began. I was then assaulted with a torrent of coloured blocks and lines flying toward me at great speed, and with a lowering of the shoulders, I looked at her and sullenly declared, “I literally have no idea what I’m doing.”

Not as complicated as it looks.

As it turns out, the objective was incredibly simple; moving toward the screen are a series of blocks gliding along tracks, and lying across the bottom of the screen is a clear image of a guitar’s neck and strings. The strings and blocks are coloured and correspond to each other, so if the block is red it is indicating that the red string (low E) should be played. Underneath the image of the neck are numbers that line up with the tracks – the blocks are moving along to indicate which fret should be played. So a red block moving down a track with the number five underneath it is indicating that the red string be played on the fifth fret. See? Simples.

The coloured blocks indicate notes, so there are quite a lot moving toward the player at any one time, and this is where the genius that is the Riff Repeater comes into play. In the Riff Repeater, it is possible to adjust difficulty, speed, loop a particular section of a track for practise, and a whole plethora of other options to help guide the player through the track. Rocksmith 2014 doesn’t punish anyone for failing because you cannot fail, it is here to make learning fun, and it will do everything in its power to help make that happen.

Difficulty isn’t restricted to a standard Easy, Medium, and Hard either. It is on a scale between 0 and 100, with 100 representing the song as it should be played. By reducing the scale down I was reducing the amount of notes on screen at one time; the track played as it should, but the amount of notes on screen was reduced to, and when I was more comfortable with the song I was playing I was able to increase the difficulty slider to add a few more notes and try again. It’s a brilliant mechanic to ease guitar newcomers into the experience instead of scaring them away.

After playing through several songs ranging from Avenged Sevenfold to Paramore, I decided to let somebody else have a turn and moved away to watch a demonstration of the Learn A Song mode, before moving to a free unit to try it out for myself.

You’ll become very familiar with this mode.

Learn A Song mode has the same mechanics as Nonstop Play, minus progression to the next track. This gives it a more relaxed and methodical feel, as you’d expect from something that is essentially a training mode. I decided to be clever go with Deftones – My Own Summer (Shove It) as I used to be able to play it in my younger years. As it turns out, time has not been kind, and I had completely forgotten how. Progress was slow, but that’s the thing, there was progress, and I certainly went away being able to play more of it than when I arrived. After this, I had a short hands-on with Rocksmith 2014’s brand new Session Mode, before Creative Director Paul Cross gave the room a demonstration of his own.

What at first looks like a simple free-play mode on paper actually houses some incredible AI, making it possible to completely customise an AI ‘band’ to play around with. During setup, the player has complete control over which instruments go into the four available slots, the tempo they’ll be playing at, and what key they play in; as well as a plethora of other options I can’t even begin to understand. There are also numerous pre-set bands to play with, covering practically every genre and subgenre of music imaginable, so it’s easy to jump straight into a session. It’s been made from the ground up for newcomers and experienced musicians alike.

Before the session begins, Cross showed the room how the player must first calibrate the guitar with the game; by simply strumming softly, a little harder, then as hard as possible. What this does is give the programme an indication to the players’ style, allowing it to adjust speed and intensity accordingly in real time. At this point, one of the reps called out and declared playing Session Mode was just like playing with real musicians in that it gets a ‘feel’ for how each individual plays.

When the session is up and running, there is a fret board on display indicating the notes that should be played in order to play the scale that was chosen during setup. It’s a great way for beginners to learn about scales, and to be honest, I really wish something like this existed whilst I was learning how to play.

Session Mode needs to be played to be believed.

There are also missions to take part in during session mode that scale in difficulty as the player progresses, which essentially act as lessons with the sole purpose of leading budding guitarists into being able to improvise correctly.

Cross claims that he hadn’t picked up a guitar until around eight months ago when development of Rocksmith 2014 began, and judging from his stance and nervous demeanour I’m inclined to believe him. He says that Rocksmith 2014 “won’t replace guitar teachers, but it will make a great companion”, and I completely agree. Rocksmith 2014 isn’t really a game, as much as it is a piece of tutorial software in the guise of a game.

From everything I saw at the Gibson Studios on that rainy afternoon, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about Rocksmith 2014. The tracks on show were great, offering fantastic variation in genres, and with even more to come packaged at release, there is going to be something for everyone. Add to that the incredibly in-depth learning tools, and there’s no denying Rocksmith 2014 is shaping up to be an incredible package. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think it’s time for me to dust off my old six string in preparation for the release later this October.

Tags: RockSmith 2014, Ubisoft