I just can’t see it. Really.

I mean, I look at Rock Band, and I look at Guitar Hero, and I can’t help but feel that Rock Band beats the other in every way. And I’m not even talking about the music each one contains.

I look at the interface of the general gameplay, and it really boils down to lines versus circles. I can understand why the original Guitar Hero used circles back in 2005, too. With the power of the PS2 and the quality of the video being output, circles give the most accurate representation of the timing while still being able to be seen by the player. (Coincidentally, this is why I think Rock Band AND Guitar Hero look terrible on the PS2 now that it’s just a port.) But because of the newer generation of systems, the horizontal notes work so much better and give the BEST visual cue to the song’s timing (provided you calibrate your system). I can’t understand why people would prefer Guitar Hero’s circles.

Okay, maybe the character creation is better. Oh, nope. Unfortunately, World Tour adopts the “meters for everything” approach. So all the guys will look like child molesters and all the girls will look like anti-social spinsters. With Rock Band, you get separate faces. With World Tour, you get variations on the same exact face, because going any farther than a few pixels off the middle bar means an unknowable monstrosity. Sure, you can choose the stock characters in either game, but that totally ruins the feeling of starting a band and performing.

Well, it’s all the same core gameplay in the end, right? Notes fall, you hit them, etc. Except for the crucial part: failing. Single player, it still works the same. You fail, you start the song over. But in band play, failing becomes another beast. In Rock Band, you fail out of the song and you lose your ability to play and the crowd meter starts to fall. Makes sense, if the the singer stopped singing at a concert, people would be pissed. Fortunately, the other band members can use their overdrive (or star power for Rock Band virgins) and bring the lost member back. You can only do it twice though, as the crowd will see through your antics eventually. BUT! In Guitar Hero World Tour, if one person fails, the entire band does. That just seems stupid when a better system has been in place for over a year.

Not to mention that the presentation of each game feels generations apart. Guitar Hero seems like the guy trapped in the past still going to his favorite metal band’s concerts, even though the singer’s voice gave out when he almost OD’d on coke two years ago. Rock Band however, feels like the guy who watches the up and coming bands, analyzes their styles and compares them to possible influences and looks for contemporaries. And by that analogy, I mean Rock Band is the guy who knows what he’s doing.

I’m looking for good reasons why Guitar Hero would be better. Not overall, just in any aspect. I feel like the music creator failed because it makes music that just isn’t pleasing to the ears. Even the stock songs from Neversoft just sound and feel bad. And that really feels like the only major upside to Guitar Hero over Rock Band.

Please, no fanboys. Or fangirls. And no quibbles about song selection. Just because Rock Band 2 has Master Exploder does not make it better than Guitar Hero, and vice versa. Real, legitimate reasons.

Oh, and before you do, I just want to say that the Guitar Hero “missed note” noise makes me want to explode.