I thought we’d revisit this one in the wake of the big Rock Band announcement coming up this week.  Full album downloads?  Who knows.   Still debating between GHIII and RB, read on:

This holiday season is shaping up to be quite the battle between two video game heavyweights, Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. Most people planning on picking one of these bad boy’s up will probably only be able to afford one of the two. Which one? What to buy….They’re basically the same game, right?

Wrong.

I know my video games, and I know my rock music. With a music video game, it comes down to one thing. The music. The music, the music, the music. That’s it. The question is: Which Game has better music? Which game RAWKS harder? With over 150 songs between the two, it’s a lot to get lost in.

If you can only have one, let me point you in the right direction. In Lono We Trust!

Read my extensive analysis after the break and rip me apart in the comments, or in the forum afterward!

I know that taste in music is a subjective thing. I’ll try to be my usual objective self, but it’s gonna be really hard. On the other hand, someone’s got to wade into the waters and kill the white whale…

It mind as well be me.

As you all know, both games have great songs. Both have a ton of licensed songs. Before I wade into this little battle, I think I’ll lay a few ground rules for myself to keep my head on straight.

What do they have in common?

First, both games have some songs in common, so I’m gonna throw those out right away. Duplicates include the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Cherub Rock” and the Killers “When We Were Young.”

Licensed Music?

Second, I’ll only look at the licensed music. Who cares about the cover songs? They’ll end up ranging from ok to crappy anyway and since I don’t have an advanced preview of the new covers, no matter how many times I stalked the game developers, I’ve got no idea how competent they are. So, the covers are OUT.

After taking out the cover songs, Rock Band has 45 licensed tracks and Guitar Hero III only has 24 licensed tracks left.

The bottom line is nobody wants to play a cover version when they can play the real deal. Yes, yes, I know that sometimes the GH covers are pretty good. (See: Ziggy Stardust, Bark at the Moon, More than a Feeling, Wayward Son, Killing in the Name… among others.) Many were bad, or just didn’t carry on that rocking feeling. (See: Sweet Child of Mine, Them Bones, Trippin on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Heart Shaped Box, Sharped Dressed Man and Higher Ground among others.) None of the covers compare to the real deal.

Winner by an almost 2 to 1 ratio: Rock Band.

Same Artist, different song.

Third, both games have songs from certain artists, however, each game has a different song from said artist. Let’s compare songs from the same artists that both games have in common and figure out which game has the better song. I’ll exclude tracks where one game has the real thing from an artist and the other has a cover, for the reasons stated above.

The following artists are featured on both games: the Rolling Stones, Metallica, and Weezer.

From the Rolling Stones, Rock Band has “Gimme Shelter” and Guitar Hero III has “Paint it Black.” This one is easy. The pick has to be “Paint it Black.” It’s an iconic song and my favorite Stones song ever. No contest.

Winner: GHIII

Rock Band has Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” but Guitar Hero has “One.” Holy crap! “One” is easily one of my all time favorites and almost enough reason to give up my Guitar Hero III boycott altogether. I’ll take “One” over “Enter Sandman” every single day of the week and twice on Saturday.

Winner: GH III.

Finally, we have the Weezer songs “Say It Ain’t So” in Rock Band and “My Name Is Jonas” in Guitar Hero III. I won’t drag this out any longer because it’s pretty much a toss up for this one. Both are great songs from the Blue Album, as it has become to be known, and I really like both. If I had a gun to my head, I’d probably pick “My Name Is Jonas,” only because it’s slightly more rocking…

Winner: GHIII with a clean sweep.

The Best of the Rest!

Well, what’s left? A lot actually. After filtering out the songs discussed above, we’ve still got 34 songs left in Rock Band, but only a measly 19 for Guitar Hero III. Of that 19 in GHIII, two are originals from Tom Morello and Slash that are an unknown quantity. They’re OUT. That leaves 17 licensed songs for GHIII.

Rock Band has GHIII outnumbered 2 to 1. It’s not looking so good…

How does GHIII fare? The 17 songs left on Guitar Hero III are pretty good. It has a few personal mega favorites left, including: “Anarchy in the U.K.” by the Sex Pistols, “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour, “Before I Forget” by Slipknot, “Raining Blood” by Slayer, “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine and “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns ‘N Roses. It’s a decidedly heavy rock list, without many “everyman” songs for someone with a less “heavy” taste in music.

Of the remaining Guitar Hero III songs, is “Evenflow” by Pearl Jam. “Evenflow” has got to be one of my top ten favorite songs of all time. With “One” and “Evenflow,” it’s really hard to resist this game. Really hard… but that’s about it. There’s a decided lack of variety in what’s left with a lot of B and C listers of dubious quality rounding out the rest.

What’s left in Rock Band’s arsenal? How bout 34 licensed tracks!

How bout:

• the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again!” Don’t tell me you don’t want to go all Keith Moon on those drums… that’s going to be about as bad ass as it gets.
• David Bowie’s “Suffragette City” - hells yeah.
• Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” - great “all time” song. Needs more cowbell. Yeah, I had to go there.
• The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop”- effing awesome answer to the Sex Pistols in GHIII.
• Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” - Don’t tell me that this won’t be the first song played after you and your buddies finish off that first case of PBR.
• The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” - Great party song.
• Faith No More “Epic” - Awesome.
• R.E.M. “Orange Crush” - Great choice for this band. Great song.

I could go on all day about the best of the rest: Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly,” Nirvana’s “In Bloom,”Stone Temple Pilots’ “Vasoline,”Radiohead’s “Creep,”Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” The Hives’ “Main Offender” (I love the Hives!), Queens of the Stone Age “Go With the Flow,” The Strokes’ “Reptilia,” Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl,” OK Go’s “Here It Goes Again,” Nine Inch Nails’ “The Hand That Feeds and “Red Hot Chili Peppers “Dani California,” amongst others…

Last, but not least, one of my favorites, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps.” Great effing song.

Winner: Rock Band.

Overall winner: Rock Band!

There’s no comparison. Just in terms of the sheer volume of great songs, that are not covers, ya gotta go with Rock Band. While Guitar Hero may have my two favorites in “Evenflow” and “One,” Rock Band pummels the Guitar Hero selection with a sledgehammer. Over and over. It’s not even close.

The Verdict: Save your dough and get Rock Band. In the long run, it’ll be worth it.

In Lono We Trust.

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