The Rock Band 4 Stratocaster is an official guitar made for and bundled with Rock Band 4. Much like it's younger brethren, it features a strumbar that actuates through the use of magnetic sensors, not actual switches. It also features a unique fret design where the frets are flush with the.

Every massive band has a story to tell about how theyclimbed the ladder of fame on their way to becoming one of the biggest groupson the planet. With Rock Band Rivals, the first premium expansion for Rock Band4, Harmonix gives your band its own harrowing tale through a mock documentarycalled Beneath the Tuneage. Theexpansion also brings enhanced stat-tracking, a new menu layout, and the newRivals mode that brings you together with a Crew of other players to completeobjectives.The new Rockudrama career mode has you play through 10 three-songshows over the course of your band's career. As with other modes, Rivals' Rockudramamode pulls from your entire library, including Rock Band 4 disc songs, previousgames' exports, and, of course, the series' robust DLC library. Each showrepresents a different milestone for your band.From your band's first show at an arcade in front of a crowdof one to a performance on a cruise ship that ends in disaster, you experiencethe humorous ups and downs of being in a fake rock band. Between each song, thenarrator dynamically reacts to how the band performed, even highlighting thetop performer of each track.

Based on how well you do, you earn fame for yourband, which contributes to unlocking the next stage of the career mode.Going into certain songs and sets, you can even wager howmany stars you'll earn or play under more difficult circumstances, likeactivating the extremely tough Brutal mode that makes your notes invisibleshortly after they appear on the highway, or playing a random song instead ofchoosing your own. Participating in these side wagers can boost or stunt thefame you gain from the performance.This Rockudrama is delivered in the style of shows likeVH1's Behind the Music; thepresentation flips between showing off your band in action and having live-actiontalking heads. The footage is interlaced in a way that feels like an actualdocumentary, and it cuts back and forth between real people talking and footageof your in-game band without feeling jarring.The New Tools Of The TradeAlongside the launch of Rivals, Harmonix and new partner PDPare releasing a new guitar. Ditching the Fender Stratocaster body style thathas been around since the inception of Rock Band in 2007, PDP has opted tomodel its guitar controllers after another Fender staple: the Jaguar. The newwireless Jaguar guitar controller retains many of the positive qualities of theRock Band 4 Strat controllers put out by Mad Catz, but new additions make itthe best guitar controller yet. A firm, durable strumbar and sturdyconstruction are just the beginning, as the Jaguar is also the most portableguitar controller yet.

For gigs on the road, you can fold the guitar in half tomake it fit easily into bags or suitcases, and the fact that the neck ishardwired into the body of the guitar helps prevent those annoying shorts thatmany die-hard Guitar Hero or Rock Band players have experienced over the years.If you're a drummer or vocalist, the Rivals full band kitalso includes the latest versions of the wireless drum kit and wiredmicrophone, but neither give any substantial improvements to the already strongversions that launched alongside Rock Band 4. Since the full band kit comeswith the Jaguar guitar, the newest drum kit, a wired microphone, Rock Band 4,and a download code for Rock Band Rivals, it's the best way to jump into theexperience if you've yet to pick up Rock Band 4, or you have older instrumentsin dire need of upgrading.As you watch the narrative portions of the Rockudrama, youhear several funny stories from former teachers, other bands, and even yourgroup's poor merch boy.

This Rockudrama wouldn't work if it attempted to tell aserious story. Luckily, Harmonix knew this, and both the narrative and actorsremain tongue in cheek throughout the entire mode. The humor can be a littlehit or miss, but regardless it is an entertaining tale to play through.The initial release of Rock Band 4 was criticized forlacking multiple mainstay modes while clinging to things that had worked in thepast perhaps a little too much. With Rockudrama, the Rock Band 4 experience hasa more unique career mode that feels like something new. Unfortunately, themode isn't nearly as substantial as the base Go on Tour career mode thatshipped with Rock Band 4.

While the base career mode required you to playhundreds of songs to get to the top, Rockudrama has you play through significantlyfewer songs, and unless you fail to reach the goal needed to unlock the nextstage, you can't replay shows you've already completed.As I finished the final show, I saw that I missed the bestending target by 100 fame points. I figured I would simply go back and replay ashow I didn't do so well on to unlock the good ending, but to do so I wouldhave to replay the entire campaign. I wish there was some way to replayindividual shows, but Rockudrama is set up like an arcade mode, even trackingyour high score for each band.Outside of the new career mode, the Rivals expansion addsits eponymous mode. In Rivals mode, you create or join a Crew of up to 10people to complete challenges. The challenges track across all modes that youcan play on Rock Band 4, bringing more meaning to the songs you play whether ina career mode or quickplay. Circle empires rivals. Each time you play a song within the parameters ofthe challenge, you earn points for your Crew. If your Crew gets enough pointson a challenge, you can bump your team of players up to a new tier to challengemore competitive Crews.The challenges aren't meant to require you to play anyparticular instrument, difficulty, or skill level, meaning that all kinds ofplayers can contribute to a Crew's progress.

One of the challenges leading upto launch was to play songs with the word 'love' in the title, so while therewere spotlight songs that awarded bonus points like The Cure's 'Friday I'm inLove' and The Outfield's 'Your Love,' I was still able to earn points throughplaying other songs that fit the criteria like Stone Temple Pilots' 'InterstateLove Song' and The Stone Roses' 'Love Spreads.' In addition, you get points foreach instrument you play it on, so I could play each on guitar, then switch todrums, vocals, and bass to even further help my Crew.It's a mostly passive mode, but I really enjoy the communalangle it takes. A group I joined up with already set up a group chat through athird-party app, complete with spreadsheets of which member prefers what instrument.If you don't want to get that involved, the tracking within the Rivals mode UIis enough to keep all members engaged.In addition to tracking stats within your Crew, Harmonixalso added a more robust stat-tracking system for individual players. Includedin this is how many songs you own, how many gold stars you've accumulated, anda new leveling system that you can raise just by playing songs.Of course, one of the major reasons for Rock Band 4 ownersto upgrade to Rivals isn't out yet. Synchronous online play was sorely missedfrom the base game when it launched last year, but Harmonix is hoping to remedythat with a December release for its new online suite. With the new Rivalsobjectives, getting together with your Crew and playing songs together to earnpoints could prove to be the shot in the arm the community has been looking forsince the game's initial release, but with it scheduled to release 14 monthsafter Rock Band 4's initial launch, it's also possible that the ship has sailed.When they launch, the new online options will only be available for those whoown Rivals, so that alone might be enough to incentivize hardcore fans to pickup the new expansion.Rock Band Rivals is a strong expansion that delivers on whatit promises to do.

The Rockudrama mode is a fun, light campaign that lets youexperience your library in new ways, while Rivals mode gives you moreencouragement to play the songs in your library. If the online offeringsdeliver the experience fans have been clamoring for, Rivals could prove to be amust-have add-on for the enthusiastic Rock Band community. Garden rescue game. As it stands, ifyou've been looking for fun new reasons to jump back into the virtual shoes ofyour fake rock group, Rivals gives you just that.For a better look at the stat tracking and how Crews are stacked against one another, check out the screens below.