Rock Band 4

Most importantly, it plays well whether you’ve got a full group of four or going solo. The accommodations made to ensure the inputs are perfect for your setup, the ability to customize everything right down to the vocal parts, and crisp presentation make for a game that people will want to keep in their living rooms and enjoy for weeks, rather than play once then pop into storage.

The definitive entry in a hall of fame series, raising the bar for rhythm action games to an all-time high. [Dec 2015, p.73]

Rock Band keeps its formula unaltered, but all the new things it introduces make it even better. Rock Band 4 is the best game Harmonix has made so far, so it's time to get your band together and rock.

Whether you’re importing a back catalog or not, the new title stands on its own with smart music selections, and skill-based gameplay refined over years of experimentation. After a few years away, I’d almost forgotten how fun the Rock Band experience can be.

Rock Band 4 makes smart choices in bringing the series back, even if its setlist is somewhat disappointing.

If you need to buy all of Rock Band 4 to get a band going, it’s a lot to pick up, but it’s a worthy investment if you’re in the market for a great party game. If you’re fortunate enough to already have compatible gear or pre-purchased music ready to download, there’s no reason not to rock again.

At the end of the day Rock Band 4 feels more like an evolution than a drastic departure.

The same experience we had with previous iterations of the franchise, spiced with some minor innovations. It's a great way to have easy-to-pick fun with friends, but don´t expect a revolution in the musical genre.

Rock Band's comeback is a very solid musical videogame that rescues everything we liked in the past like the legendary multiplayer and adds satisfying new features like the solos and avatar customization.

There's room for improvement. Annoying bugs and a lackluster song selections are sabotaging the great gameplay and clever innovations.

Go in expecting a “next-gen” evolution of Rock Band 3, and you'll wind up booing. Expect a slick, party-in-a-box, and you'll be wolf -whistling. [Christmas 2015, p65]

Rock Band 4 is definitely a great game for all the rock stars out there. Bands who have been just itching to get back into the swing of the living room world tour will be happy to see that their medium has not changed all that much, but has added small things to reinvigorate the series.

While the total package has been scaled back, Rock Band 4 still has what it takes to be the complete life of the party. There is simply no better game to be played with your friends.

It remains a brilliant social game in the classic sense of the phrase.

A steep investment for anyone not a veteran rocker returning with tracks, mates and instruments in tow - but the full band experience is the most fun PS4 offers. [Dec 2015, p.81]

It's infectious, and it is difficult to imagine that anyone with any affection for rock music could fail to appreciate it. [Dec 2015, p.116]

Harmonix remains the master of mapping note charts to the music.

Even if we lost online play, keyboards and pro mode, Rock Band 4 is still fun. The solos are wonderful the number of tracks you can buy is impressive but you can still see that the project have missed some funds during the developing process.

Rock Band 4 is the same, old, highly enjoyable Rock Band you remember. The lack of online multiplayer is a bummer, but the new solo/freestyle mechanics are right on spot.

As it stands, Rock Band 4 can only be judged based upon what is available today, and while the on the disk track list isn’t as impressive as that found on any of its predecessors, this is still a highly entertaining and finely crafted entry in the series.

Rock Band 4 doesn't changing much compared to the previous episodes, it adds the freestyle feature, which is really nice, but it doesn't put a lot of new ideas in its old formula... Thus said, it's still a fantastic rhythm game to play, alone and of course with friends, to get the complete band. The gameplay is nearly perfect and, above all, the game is compatible with your old instruments and all 1700 past DLC songs.

Rock Band 4’s biggest strengths are the new guitar solos, the possibility of importing tracks from earlier games and the compatibility with older instruments. Despite sore fingers after several hours of playing, Rock Band 4 is a wonderful experience, especially with friends.

While it lacks some of the features of prior versions - most notably online mode - Rock Band 4 is a solid release that establishes the franchise as a platform that will be continually supported and updated in the future. It's a great model that brings the classic Rock Band gameplay to current-generation consoles, while being compatible with legacy instruments and songs.

Combined with the lack of true innovation, it means that Rock Band 4 only ever achieves Wembley Arena-level greatness - rather than Wembley Stadium-filling excellence. But this is all about pure enjoyment, and after such a long absence and an over-complicated third release, it's a welcome return to form for one of the pioneers of the rhythm action genre.

Truthfully, Rock Band 4’s biggest selling point is that it’s Rock Band on the new consoles with new instruments. And if that sounds appealing, then you’re bound to be very happy with Harmonix’s sequel.

A welcome return for multiplayer music games, even if there’s relatively little new to add to the experience – and a few things that have been taken out.

While the lack of online multiplayer and Practice Mode is disappointing given Rock Band 3's suite of features, reliving the experience of having friends playing alongside you (perhaps at a party you've arranged, ahem) in local co-operative play more than makes up for the difference. It may have five years since the last Rock Band, but the feeling is utterly nostalgic.

It's a game dedicated to fans of old, and much less to newcomers. The included tracklist is weak, there's no online or practice mode, and the only (limited) innovation are solos. It's still good-old Rock Band, but not the evolution we hoped for.

Harmonix recovers its main brand with classic standards and gameplay already well known. Rock Band 4 has deficiencies, things like no online multiplayer, very few game modes or poor customizers. If you play in a group, you will enjoy it very much, it's satisfying and there are a lot of songs.

Not much of an evolution for the series, and some stuff was cut from the third chapter (especially the pro instruments), but it's hard not to have fun once your fingers start moving on the colored buttons of the plastic Mad Catz guitar. It's a good time for rhythm game lovers.

Rock Band 4 gives us a nostalgic title and a lot of joy for those who love the franchise; unfortunately, the game is the same thing as past versions.

The track list is lackluster and I could’ve gone for some more content in the box, but outside of these concerns, Rock Band 4 is a good return to the rhythmic music genre. I recommend it for anyone with an existing library of songs and people just looking to rock out.

If you’ve never had a Rock Band game before, this is as good a time as any to jump in, but be aware that you’ll be wanting to peruse that huge store of downloadable content in order to get a setlist you’re happy with. Series veterans, however, will have no such trouble, and very little reason not to check this one out. It’s a good basis for something that has potential to get even better as the years go on.

Rock Band 4 feels like both a necessity and an afterthought.

Pros: the gameplay is still awesome and enables us to use old instruments is a cool move by the developer. Cons: calibrating is way more of a challenge than it should be, and the lack of Rock Band 3 songs and online multiplayer is a downer. In this case, however, the good outweighs the bad.

Even with its lack of features, Rock Band 4 is still as fun as the series has ever been with friends. Expect the score to rise as Harmonix comes good with updates and new content. [Issue#263, p.64]

Do you want to play in a band? Then Rock Band 4 is your best friend. It's only a shame that it's too expensive.

Our gripes about the game’s seemingly random cuts aside, we can’t deny this is the best party game available on the new consoles.

Rock Band 4 is fun like hell, but is less interesting and complete than the gorgeous previous chapter of this epic franchise.

Rock Band 4 is bare bones sequel to a spectacular game and your mileage will depend on how desperate you are to play these games on the newer consoles.

While its setlist does underwhelm in some areas, and the online multiplayer mode is not ready yet, Rock Band 4 still feels like the music platform that Harmonix set out to make.

Rock Band 4 is not exactly Rock Band 2 for PS4 and Xbox One, but it's not that far off either. Harmonix sacrifices new ideas on the altar of compatibility; you can use former instruments, you can play all the tracks you already had, and all this is pretty good. But Rock Band 4 could have done with some graphics improvements and a few more new features.

The most refined version of Rock Band yet available, but not as essential as it once was.

Harmonix has brought the music genre back from the dead with a solid experience in Rock Band 4. All the fun you had with the series is back, with a few extra parts missing this time around. Nothing is particularly new here though, so if you haven't been yearning for the good old days, you might want to wait to see how this new platform develops.

Rock Band 4 recaptures the unadulterated gratification that made the series such a hit half a decade ago, but mainly because it’s a relatively unchanged, repackaged Rock Band 2. A lack of content and general stagnation hold this particular iteration of Rock Band back, but new ideas like Freestyle Solos genuinely enhance the core experience, which remains a sincere and joyful celebration of music.

The huge DLC library does not have a great setup and the compatibility list for controllers does not work perfectly either. It takes so long to get started, and even though playing is still a great experience, all the stuff around it is simply too distracting. Especially because the game does not have a strong online multiplayer or interesting visuals.

In comparison to Guitar Hero Live the new Rock Band game is way too conservative. There’s a certain tradition in the music business: when a performer grows a beer belly and can’t climb to the top of the charts anymore, you send him to tour Japan, so he can grab some more money from a bit more loyal local fans. After seeing Rock Band’s current shape all I can say to it is “sayonara”. [12/2015, p.63]

Harmonix bills Rock Band 4 as a platform that will grow and improve with the future, but for now, the new game offers little reason to upgrade from Rock Band 3, with a weaker soundtrack, fewer modes, and more promises of exciting features than actual, demonstrable ones.

Even for those players who successfully manage to import their robust libraries from previous generations, the Rock Band 4 experience is little more than an expensive new coat of paint.