Review: Band Space
I was of the generation when Guitar Hero and Rock Band were king, and now Band Space is looking to bring this to VR. Meaning you can get together with your friends create a virtual band and take to the stage but, will you be remembered or a one-hit wonder?
Release Date: October 24th 2024
Developer: Smartmelon Games
Publisher: Fast Travel Games
Price: US $19.99
Reviewed On: DPVR E4 Black
* Access Provided For Review *
Getting The Band Back Together
As aforementioned Band Space is looking the bring the full band experience back, however unlike Rock Band they have replaced the singing with Keyboard. So, you will have the choice of four instruments to play which are the guitar, base guitar, drums and keyboard. You can play these in either single player or cross-platform multiplayer between PCVR and Meta Quest, meaning you and your friends don’t need to all play on the same platform or you aren’t restricted if you decide to use match-making.
What I found interesting with Band Space is there is no difficulty selector, each instrument will have its own difficulty. Which means practice is going to be required on each instrument, as maybe your favorite song might be at Expert+ on your preferred instrument, where another instrument might be playing it on Common (medium difficulty). It is an interesting approach to take but, it means working together as a band to make sure you get those high scores.
Each of the instruments have there own way of being played:
Guitar: You will be sliding your hand to different positions indicated by line the notes are coming down. You might get single notes either side of the line, these indicate either holding the Trigger or Grip on the controller holding he neck of the guitar – then the other hand is used to strum in time with the notes. Then you will have double notes, which as you would expect means holding down both buttons while strumming. There will be notes you need to hold, which have a trail after them, and you might need to move you hand to keep inside of the trail.
Base Guitar: This is a simplified version of the guitar, which works exactly the same way except you only get one note type. Meaning you are just moving your hand up down and the neck to the notes and strumming and when required holding the notes.
Drums: This will see the drums and cymbals coming towards to you to hit. Again you might get two of the drums joined up by a trail, just go all in on the drum note on this one until the two drums match up. This works for the drums although I would have loved to see the drum kit in front of you and having to hit the actual drums as note indicators hit them.
Keyboard: This has notes coming down to different parts of the keyboard you need to move your hand too and then touch the keyboard. This instrument comes with single notes that require you the touch the keys with one hand and double that will you to use both at the same time. As with the guitars, you will also get notes that need holding and some requiring you to following the trail of the held note.
As mentioned each instrument will have own difficulty per song. Personally I find guitar the hardest with the note switching and find my tap out difficulty at the moment is Hard. Then I find the drums easiest but, I have had so much practice on Smash Drums this is not surprising, which means I am happy to play Expert+ on the drums.
In the base game it offers a thirty-song tracklist, that has different genres of music on, which features tracks from artists including Jason Bowld from Bullet For My Valentine, Johnny Lloyd from Tribes, and Thorr, the composer for the latest entry in John Romero’s Sigil series. All of these songs are available in both single-player and online multiplayer. However, if you are looking to extend your library, they are offering mods via mod.io, which makes it simple to add tracks from the in game menu – however, these currently only work in single-player with the team exploring getting them working in multiplayer as well. At the same time Smartmelon Games and Fast Travel Games are looking at the possibility of adding more tracks via DLC.
Stage Show
How about the look for you band? Well the team have included four different avatar models, meaning if you want to all look different you can, or maybe you dream is being in a band with triplets – well now you can in Virtual Reality. I would have loved to see an avatar creator in the game, even if its not over populated with options, it would be great to create your own look. With them using the progression system to unlock extra bits of attire for your avatar, like you did in Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
You will also visit a number stages based is different locations, be it a stage in an open-air arena with fans and some great lighting effects, a stage that looks like a road accident in hell or the moon. Personally, I would have preferred more than one stage with a crowd, as I think this sort of game works better if you are playing to a audience. Especially in Band Space because you can move around stage while the song is playing if you are playing guitar, and can leave you other instruments if you have a break in the song – the only stage this seems immersive on is the one with the crowd, as you feel you are moving around that stage for a reason.
All of the songs are to a high quality on the base songs but, as you would expect the mods audio quality will vary. However, with the base songs it seems like some of the heavy metal songs seem to peak in places but, this is not often and only for a second max – so this is not going to ruin the song or experience you are having playing the game.
Comfort
The Verdict
Band Space does what it sets out to do and brings a solid multiplayer game in the ilk of Rock Band to Virtual Reality. Which can be played single-player but, most will only want to play in multiplayer with friends and that is really where the game comes to life. Although it does launch with an impressive thirty-strong tracklist these are not recognisable hit songs, and really this is what was the butter to the bread on Rock Band and Guitar Hero – addictive gameplay topped with hit tracks people know. The modding community has started to add tracks already, which does bring these hit songs to the game but, at the moment these are only in single-player. If the team manage to get mod support working on multiplayer, I can see friends getting together and rocking out quite often – without this support or hit songs getting added I think most band will split.