

Plus, it’s much harder to hit the notes now that the icons plectrums and not circular discs. Sounds simple enough, but you also need to coach your brain in all new ways too, because instead of the five ascending rows on-screen, there are only three… and everything comes down to that much more narrow, more complicated play space. The aforementioned skillsets that I mentioned you’d have to learn include: flicking back and forth between the lower white keys and the upper black keys executing chords with different black and white keys and holding both black and white keys together. Unfortunately though, it’s a little more complex and a little less fun, which is not such a good thing. If anything, the new setup is more akin to actually playing a guitar than the guitar-based rhythm genre has usually been. And not because it just feels like change for the sake of it. New enough that you’re genuinely probably going to have to relearn the game, as it requires a few new skillsets and what not to completely master it. In all honesty, that’s probably a yes and no. That really doesn’t matter though, what does is whether or not it makes the game feel fresh and innovative. It’s probably a little from column A, a little from column B. Some will see it as a cynical moneymaking exercise, others will look at as the studio’s attempt to put its own stamp on the franchise. That means, gone are the days of your five sequential coloured frets on the neck of the guitar, and in come two rows of three black and white buttons.
