by: Angela Proto

November 18, 2008

Make sure you read the title of this game very closely: “Track Pack”. Although you must physically walk into Wal-mart (the only retailer of this game) and purchase the actual disc, this “game” is nothing more than a set of songs that should have been DLC from the Marketplace. After buying the game, you can enter in a one-time use code on the back of the manual to export the songs to your hard drive to play within Rock Band or Rock Band 2. Thus, if you like AC/DC, you absolutely want to buy this game right now. It contains 18 live versions of a band you love and you can't go wrong with that. Conversely, if you hate AC/DC, there is no chance you will enjoy this game.

The track list, in the order of the disc, is:

-Thunderstruck (Live)
-Shoot To Thrill (Live)
-Back in Black (Live)
-Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be (Live)
-Heatseeker (Live)
-Fire Your Guns (Live)
-Jailbreak (Live)
-The Jack (Live)
-Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live)
-Moneytalks (Live)
-Hells Bells (Live)
-High Voltage (Live)
-Whole Lotta Rosie (Live)
-You Shook Me All Night Long (Live)
-T.N.T. (Live)
-Let There Be Rock (Live)
-Highway to Hell (Live)
-For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) (Live)

For those of you on the fence about your AC/DC fandom, booting this disc will initially let you down. The first major disappointment upon loading up the game is it's presentation. Let's compare the following release dates:

Rock Band: November 20, 2007
Rock Band 2: September 14, 2008
AC/DC Rock Band Track Pack: November 2, 2008

To me, it appears as if Rock Band came out over a year ago and that Rock Band 2 is over 3 months old. So I would love for someone to explain to me why AC/DC Rock Band Track Pack uses the engine from Rock Band 1. Rock Band 2 is three months old!

If you are a Rock Band 2 player that can get over the fact that you've just been downgraded, you will be further disappointed to find out that the game is completely devoid of all the things you love about Rock Band: customization, tour mode, online play, etc. You can go into Quickplay and immediately play any of the 18 songs. Or you can go through “Solo Tour” or “Band Tour” and play the songs in the same order they appear in Quickplay. Yes, really, there is nothing more. You can name a character for solo tour... but it is a character you will never customize and that will randomly change. There is no indication of song difficulty anywhere and the order of songs does not change across instruments' solo tour to compensate for difficulty. In other words, both Solo and Band Tour are worthless and you might as well only ever play Quickplay.

So it's old-looking and feels half-assed... but is it fun? On guitar and bass, yes. From my experience, the drums were painfully boring. If you have played Rock Band 2, then you know that drums on Let There Be Rock had you hitting the yellow pad until your eyes were bleeding from boredom. Welcome to the AC/DC track pack on expert drums. Your yellow pad will never feel more loved. In the event that you loved drumming on that song, you'll love it even more when you play the live version of it on the Track Pack, which is faster, longer, and more repetitive. And vocals? These are live versions of the song, so if you think you know the studio version and sing along accordingly, you may find yourself failing out. Since it's a live version, the pitch of each note always seems just a little bit off and it's very hard to follow. Additionally, it appears impossible talky parts are back from Rock Band 1 because no matter how many times I say “Thunder” on expert vocals on “Thunderstruck,” I just get rated “Strong.” Reverting back to the broken talky parts is particularly frustrating for singers, so hopefully I just am particularly bad at saying the word “Thunder.”

In the end, AC/DC Rock Band Track Pack is a pretty awful standalone game. But, import it into Rock Band or Rock Band 2, and suddenly it becomes a set of wonderful additional songs for an already good game (if you like AC/DC, or happen to like these songs). As far as pricing goes, you may hear some people complain that this game is unreasonably overpriced. I think they failed math in elementary school. Rock Band DLC songs are traditionally priced at 160 MS points ($2). Some are occasionally 80 points, and usually if you buy them in a pack, you get a somewhat discounted rate. There are 18 songs on AC/DC track pack for $40, which averages to about $2.22 a song: a 20 cent prince increase. As a whole, you are getting “ripped off” a measly $4 off the price of normal DLC (two songs worth) by buying this disc. If you like AC/DC enough to be buying this, the additional $4 is not going to phase you.

Ultimately, the game was never meant to be a “real” game, so give it a break. It really is just a track pack that could have (should have?) been DLC. Like any Rock Band DLC, it all boils down to musical preference. You should look into the songs before you buy it. Do you like the way they sound? Then buy the disc. If not, steer clear.

Share this:

7 7 9 9 6 7

If you like AC/DC, it's a 10/10! If you don't like them, it sucks! Clearly meant for fans of AC/DC or anyone who thinks they are decent. It's a track pack: not a full-fleshed out game. If you are expecting something like Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, you will be disappointed. There are 18 songs. You just play them. If you like the songs enough, you can export them to Rock Band or Rock Band 2.

Discuss this in the forums!