Rocksmith 2014 Edition

 Xbox 360
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 46 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 46
  3. Negative: 10 out of 46
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  1. Bob-Mufasa
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    I'll keep it short and sweet:
    Pros/Changes:
    1. Session mode is an awesome addition, there is a plethora of instruments to choose from and the band reacts accordingly to what you are playing, TONS OF FUN. 2. Mini-games are actually fun this time. 3. Interface is A MILLION times better than the original, clunky and unintuitive design. Cons: 1. This is not a substitute for guitar    I'll keep it short and sweet:
    Pros/Changes:
    1. Session mode is an awesome addition, there is a plethora of instruments to choose from and the band reacts accordingly to what you are playing, TONS OF FUN.
    2. Mini-games are actually fun this time.
    3. Interface is A MILLION times better than the original, clunky and unintuitive design.
    Cons:
    1. This is not a substitute for guitar lessons, no matter what the ads tell you. You will at least need a couple of irl lessons to teach you proper picking, positioning etc... .
    2. The session mode is a bit simplistic, in a sense that there will be ONE preset ABCDEFG chords that the band will play at a time.

    I personally haven't found anything that would top this in terms of being fun and simultaneously be educational.    … Expand
  2. fujiapplelover
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    It's true, this is the fastest way to learn guitar. I had the original Rocksmith and the new 2014 version improves in ALL the areas the original had flaws in. Before playing this game, I did not know how to play electric guitar. After playing this game, I can now feel confident with tabs I find online and jam with my friends in real life.
  3. dnoonan
    Oct 23, 2013
    9
    My perspective: Older guy, took a semester of acoustic guitar lessons years ago (and remember only a few open chords). This game is the real deal. I'm getting better, it's fun, there's tons of variety...the game is delivering on all cylinders. The session mode is pure fun--even if you're a beginner. The video lessons are short and to the point, but informative. Getting better at guitarMy perspective: Older guy, took a semester of acoustic guitar lessons years ago (and remember only a few open chords). This game is the real deal. I'm getting better, it's fun, there's tons of variety...the game is delivering on all cylinders. The session mode is pure fun--even if you're a beginner. The video lessons are short and to the point, but informative. Getting better at guitar takes practice (duh!), but RS2014 can make that practice more fun _and_ more efficient.

    One nitpick: The Kinect voice commands are pretty sensitive. You have to be careful what you (and any spectators) say in the room, or you'll accidentally have something paused or skipped because someone said something that sounded like "accept" or "back" at the wrong time. If you're by yourself, not a biggie. And it's not like you lose any progress or anything--just a momentary hitch in your rockin-ness.    … Expand
  4. mcconnin
    Oct 25, 2013
    9
    I played last night for 2 hours. (its release day). I bought it for my kids, but I was pretty sure I would use it too. It was so good I kept playing until my fingers were very sore. This 2014 version seemed more responsive than the first. When I hit the wrong note it seemed more obvious and when I hit the correct note it seemed amazing. I thought the product was so good I wasI played last night for 2 hours. (its release day). I bought it for my kids, but I was pretty sure I would use it too. It was so good I kept playing until my fingers were very sore. This 2014 version seemed more responsive than the first. When I hit the wrong note it seemed more obvious and when I hit the correct note it seemed amazing. I thought the product was so good I was prompted to write my first review.… Expand
  5. Origosis
    Oct 30, 2013
    9
    This game is simply amazing. It is fun and teaches.

    I have never picked up a guitar. I purchased this game on release day and 7 days later after playing the game 1-3 hours a day. I just mastered my first song. This thing works! Now there are a few gripes with some of the systems in the game.. they do appear to be minor glitches, but they will rear there heads frequently.. If you    This game is simply amazing. It is fun and teaches.

    I have never picked up a guitar. I purchased this game on release day and 7 days later after playing the game 1-3 hours a day. I just mastered my first song.

    This thing works!

    Now there are a few gripes with some of the systems in the game.. they do appear to be minor glitches, but they will rear there heads frequently.. If you are doing good on a song the game will sometimes hide the notes... This is fine if it is your 20th times playing the song, but it will often do this the very first timwe playing a song.. So they just need to modify that to not occur except under certain circumstances.

    This is called master mode and it can be disabled, but it is annoying none the less.

    The game does not recognize the strings perfectly.. it is really freaking good. But there are time when you strum the wrong notes and it thinks you got it correct. This is especially bad in the mini games where it will frequently not hear the notes properly.. It can make the games very frustrating when you are doing everything correctly, but the game thinks you are not.

    The lessons are very good, some are better than others, some lessons are worthless, but 95% are very good. However the Practice songs lakc ALL of the features of the standard game. If you fail a practice song so many times the game will slow down the song, but then youare stuck at that slow speed till you get it.. no way to make it slower or use riff repeater to allow you to study at your own rate.. This is not a huge deal the practice songs are VERY easy, but some are still a little tricky and not being able to learnt he practice songs the same way as all the other songs just seems odd.

    Overall you will spend most of your time playing the same song over and over again trying to hit each note, and master all the chords.

    And there is 1 more little gripe.. The difficulty levels are each VERY different from each other.. Difficulty levels 1-40 might have you plucking 1 string every 2-4 notes, but then suddenly difficulty level 50 throws 3 strings at a time at you.. so the difficulty scaling is pretty bad. BUT with that said, all it means is you kind of need to relearn the song a little and after a few play throughs you will have the new difficulty level down.

    If you want to learn guitar I HIGHLY recommend this game if you want to learn guitar AND play games. At first it may seem like nothing is happening, but then one day you blow through a song.    … Expand
  6. Dyseman
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    The Original Rocksmith got me started. Rocksmith 2014 is leaps and bounds ahead! Seems to be Re-Written from ground up. On Xbox360 and PC versions I've had ZERO Lag. Very fast to get where I want to go.

    Songs that I played in Rocksmith 1 were brought over to the 2014 and there's even more to some of these songs, now that the new engine can recognized flourishes, chackas and other    The Original Rocksmith got me started. Rocksmith 2014 is leaps and bounds ahead! Seems to be Re-Written from ground up. On Xbox360 and PC versions I've had ZERO Lag. Very fast to get where I want to go.

    Songs that I played in Rocksmith 1 were brought over to the 2014 and there's even more to some of these songs, now that the new engine can recognized flourishes, chackas and other things that the original couldn't. Almost have to unlearn some of what I've learned prior to play even better.

    What blew me out of the park was playing "Carry On My Wayward Son". Having mastered it in RS1, the 2014 version was more indepth and the nuances I was missing from RS1 has arrived! PLUS it went from Distortion to Clean and back to Distortion RIGHT when it needed to without me having to do anything.

    OMG!! LOVE THIS GAME and GENRE!! MORE MORE MORE!

    Also, I can finally say I want Rythym, Solo or sometimes even a mix, instead of trying to cover all in different areas, which is what sorta irritated me with RS1    … Expand
  7. Sandrick
    Jun 16, 2015
    9
    I have been playing this for a week and it is LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than its predecessor. The Kinect commands work really well, esp if you are using headphones while playing (so it can hear your voice better) and the mini games are actually a blast to play. Think Typing of the Dead fun. I have already learned to play some songs and I am way more comfortable navigating the guitar. MyI have been playing this for a week and it is LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than its predecessor. The Kinect commands work really well, esp if you are using headphones while playing (so it can hear your voice better) and the mini games are actually a blast to play. Think Typing of the Dead fun. I have already learned to play some songs and I am way more comfortable navigating the guitar. My fingers are building up some nice calluses as they should be but I literally have never had this much fun using a video game to learn. Such an enormous song list and customization will ensure that I can be enjoying this for years to come. More video games should learn how to be educational as well as fun. I give it a 9 because it seems like ducks redux minigame is always a bit off on the E string. Also, I think that it should have different song areas that stay in the same key. It sucks having to retune your guitar for specialty songs when you are just learning. Save special tunings for later on once you have the regular tuned songs down. Anyways- still tons of fun for those that want to learn.… Expand
  8. Tarkus
    Nov 21, 2013
    8
    The Original Rocksmith was great! It's absolutely wonderful at teaching guitar if you don't have the time or money to afford lessons. Rocksmith 2014 is no different and it is better. There are two glaring downsides though. The first, if you buy online, via Steam or through Ubisoft then you need to order the proprietary cable separate.

    Second, regardless if you use Steam, you HAVE to use    The Original Rocksmith was great! It's absolutely wonderful at teaching guitar if you don't have the time or money to afford lessons. Rocksmith 2014 is no different and it is better. There are two glaring downsides though. The first, if you buy online, via Steam or through Ubisoft then you need to order the proprietary cable separate.

    Second, regardless if you use Steam, you HAVE to use Ubisoft's Uplay in addition. Unfortunately that means an update is necessary every day, and that's when you want to start playing. If you have exactly an hour to play in the morning, then you better had left Uplay open the night before. Uplay is frustrating and slow and completely unnecessary.    … Expand
  9. StllBreathnButY
    Dec 8, 2013
    9
    The only reasons I take a point off the game is because the game still crashes more than I am comfortable with, and the note recognition, mostly in minigames, is still not quite perfect. Other that that, this game makes the origional rocksmith obsolete. Loading times are almost entirely gone. The guitarcade minigames are more complex, and have mini objectives to complete to level up andThe only reasons I take a point off the game is because the game still crashes more than I am comfortable with, and the note recognition, mostly in minigames, is still not quite perfect. Other that that, this game makes the origional rocksmith obsolete. Loading times are almost entirely gone. The guitarcade minigames are more complex, and have mini objectives to complete to level up and get higher score, making the game much more fun than the origional. Some of them are actually really fun to play. They even added a score attack game mode that has you playing songs like in a traditional music game. It has the songs broken down into difficulty levels and you are scored based on hitting the notes in succession and with good timing, like a guitar hero/dance dance revolution hybrid. Now also to keep you busy, the game provides you mission objectives. The game well give you missions that help you explore every aspect the game has to offer AS WELL as tutor you by pointing you tin the direction of things that can help you improve. All these things added to the game really make this product feel FUN, much as a game should be. The game constantly encourages you to keep busy, and more often then not, an active guitar player is a better guitar player. And for those who care nothing about these game/score aspects, the game has given extremely convenient and thorough access to the riff repeater, and allows you to easily set the mastery levels of songs. You don't have to gring anything that you don't want to, or waste time in loading screens. Lastly, session mode allows you to play with all your effects that you've created in a free jam with an assortment of other instruments of your choosing. There's a lot going on here, and unfortunately, I have a difficult time making any band setups sound the way I want them to. Perhaps someone with more musicality and knowledge of its parameters would have more success with it though. Overall, this game is everything and more that you could ever ask of a music game. BUY IT!!!!!… Expand
  10. BlueGrizzly
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    Rocksmith 2014 is a fantastic learning tool. Capitalizing on the learning aspect and laying aside the restrictive "level up to better venues and whatnot," from the previous was a great move by Ubisoft.

    RS14 now allows the player/ aspiring muscian to choose the path they wish to pursue (rhythm, lead, bass) and guides them along a recommended path. Whether you go their route or choose    Rocksmith 2014 is a fantastic learning tool. Capitalizing on the learning aspect and laying aside the restrictive "level up to better venues and whatnot," from the previous was a great move by Ubisoft.

    RS14 now allows the player/ aspiring muscian to choose the path they wish to pursue (rhythm, lead, bass) and guides them along a recommended path. Whether you go their route or choose your own method is entirely up to you.

    The biggest and most important changes to RS14 are the much needed fixing of riff repeater and the addition of session mode. Both modes will massively help new players in getting the basics of two important aspects of playing.

    With riff repeater, the player has far more control over the speed, difficulty and duration of what they wish to focus on. Want to do the pre-chorus at 60% speed and 75% difficulty? Done. Want to play the whole song that way? RS can do this too. As you correctly play through whatever section you choose, the game smartly ups the speed, while maintaining the difficulty Once you master said section, the speed decreases to the point you started, but adds more notes, until you are eventually playing the whole song, lick for lick, at full speed, and it feels Amazing.

    Next is session mode. For many players who play tabs or play along with music, but have never played freestyle and just cut loose, there is a lot to love. You pick the tempo, style, and back ups for your fake band, they keep the beat and you get to explore your sound.

    As talked about by other critics and users, the selection of music is a strong variety spanning decades. There is something for about everybody ranging from Bob Dylan to Slayer. Day one DLC had some suprising choices like brand new Queens of the Stoneage and Them Crooked Vultures (YES!).

    RS is smart about pointing one of their many Lessons to help recommend areas where the player could use brushing up, once again, if they feel the need to. Everything from chords 101 to special techniques like double tapping are covered.

    For people who are more interested in the gaming aspect, the guitarcade has many updated and actually fun games teaching fundamental skills which translate into skills you may not know need improvement.

    The big going theme of Rocksmith 2014 is easy of use and it's quick streamlined menu system. Long load times are not an issue. Setting up your system for play still requires a specific sort of set up, but can be done within five minutes. The lag issue is only present for those who do not take the time to properly set up their audio setup. If there are any complaints it is generally due to the player's laziness.

    Which brings us to the end of this review. Rocksmith 2014 is the best learning tool I've seen for people who do not have access to traditional methods of learning, and makes the process very approachable. Please keep in mind learning a musical instrument takes years of practice and patience. Rocksmith can start your path to improvement, and for many people like myself, who have no intention of trying to become Eddie Van Halen, it is exactly what we're was looking for.

    Highly recommended.    … Expand
  11. DzmitryBoston
    Jun 11, 2020
    10
    There is no other game on the market, that would provide such training in your living room. Absolutely must own if you always wanted to learn how to play guitar.

Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2013
78
#78 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2013
68
#68 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Dec 28, 2013
    100
    Compared to this year’s edition, the first Rocksmith was only a soundcheck. This version has all the quirks and bugs sorted out and brings a perfectly balanced tool for anyone who’s too shy to take guitar or bass lessons. [Issue#237]
  2. games(TM)
    Dec 17, 2013
    80
    We learnt Paint it Black note-for-note in about an hour this morning; that definitely wouldn't have happened without Rocksmith. [Issue#142, p.111]
  3. Vandal
    Dec 15, 2013
    90
    Rocksmith transforms the boring process of learning how to play guitar in a fun, engaging and useful game. If you already know how to play guitar, you can always polish your technique and hear new songs.
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