Posted this over in the auditions thread, but repeating here just to get people over there to keep this thread as clean as possible: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-...-exploded.html

Not yet. A patch should hopefully be coming soon to fix it. I've read that you can disconnect the cymbals and it will be recognized as a standard RB2 kit, which should theoretically let you play the 4-pad charts in GHWT. I'll be trying that out tonight.

In other news, I hope they release the Blind Melon "No Rain" DLC ASAP.

I just got the game from Gamefly, I'll be sure to try it out in a bit and report back.

Well I just tried it. It still shows up as the GHWT drum kit. I also noticed that velocity sensitivity isn't working at all. I read that people said the RB2 kit wasn't velocity sensitive in GHWT either. *sigh* I guess it was too difficult for them to get something like this right.

edit: Well, now I'm not sure about the velocity sensitivity. I tried doing the "accent" part of the tutorial and it didn't register the hits any differently, but when I did the opening free for all section it did seem to be working.

Hmm...that's too bad. Guess I'll just wait for the patch.

The only one that is busted is Orange (Cymbal), when you hit it it registers the blue pad as well. I suppose if you don't care that your combo (and score) will be completely busted, its probably still pretty playable for most songs.

So reading thru everything about the complaints and whatnot... it's not tempting me to purchase the game anytime soon.

Anyone else notice how completely loose the timing window is for Drums? Its ridiculous, I swear there are times where I was so off on the timing, that notes were flying past the screen, but my combo wasn't being broken. Also it seems like the kick pedal has tighter timing than the pads.

Yeah, I've been playing it with the Ion kit. It seems like either cymbal (I have yellow and green set up) triggers two pads at once, breaking the combo like you said. I just find it annoying and I hope the title update is out soon to resolve the problem.

I was hoping that the workaround I had read about (unplug the cymbals) would be a temporary fix. Oh well...

Got the game only version yesterday and played through some of the guitar career, here's my initial thoughts...

The Good:
-Customization. I love all the options you have for customizing almost every part of your character and instrument. This is the one place where WT really shines over Rock Band.
-Slider sections. I don't even have to use the slider, I just play them like HO/PO, but the sections aren't as hectic as most crazy HO/PO strings, and the line between them is a nice visual that helps me find the next note easier.
-Putting messages on the horizon line. I hated how in GHIII shit would pop up on the middle of the screen, announcing that you've just hit 50 notes or whatever. It covered the board and was just a distraction. By putting the messages on the horizon line, you can safely ignore them.
-Improved boss battles. Now all you have to do is play well to win. No more luck of the draw guitar attacks.

The Bad:
-Boss battles. Yes, they're not as aggravating as they were before, but they still suck. Sorry, playing "against" Ted Nugent isn't my idea of fun. Playing Strangehold is, though. And having Billy Corgan show up to play Today isn't as awesome as hearing the crowd singing along with you in RB2.
-The gig system. While I like that I don't have to play every song sequentially, the gig system has no internal logic. One minute you're in a ratty club in Austin, the next minute you're playing on a boat in Hong Kong, then you're playing at an amusement park. In RB, World Tour mode makes you feel as if you're progressing to bigger and better venues. In WT, you're just progressing to more songs. Also, there's no extra activities like in RB2, where you can play for more money or fans, or shoot a music video, or add an extra encore, etc. Here it's just "play this set of songs and then the encore, too." You don't get as much of a sense of accomplishment.
-Character animations. While it's cool that you can customize the animations of your characters, they always use the same ones every time. I've seen my character kung fu kick so many times that I want to amputate her legs.
-Loose timing windows. Neversoft still hasn't been able to replicate the correct timing windows for these songs. Half the time it feels like I'm just mashing buttons without any sense of rhythm.


The Ugly:
-Notes missing/Extra notes. Man, this is some bullshit. I'm playing through on hard, just to get a feel for the songs, and easy tracks like Living On A Prayer are just flat out missing notes. Same thing with Crazy Train. I noticed it a few more times. Some songs had notes you needed to hit that weren't in the song, or they'd have a minute or so of HO/PO. It really makes this feel like a game, as opposed to a music simulator. You feel less like you're really "playing" the instrument.
-Songs only unlock for a single instument. This has been gone over before, so I won't spend much time on it.
-Carry over of songs from RB2. I know that this game has been worked on for a while, but there are so many carry overs from RB2, it's not funny. Are you telling me that One Way Or Another is the only Blondie song available? Why not Heart of Glass, which hasn't been in any of these games? Or Living On A Prayer? Ramblin' Man? You're telling me you couldn't find a single other Allman Brothers song? Go Your Own Way is the only Fleetwood Mac song anyone has ever heard?
-General lack of polish. This game just doesn't feel professional. It's like I'm playing an imposter music game or something. Maybe it's just me, but even with all the real music artists appearing in the game, it still feels like less of an authentic experience than not just RB, but even GH 1/2.

Maybe that's my main problem. Harmonix has done nothing but raise the bar with every release. And Neversoft is just flailing around, throwing ideas around like spaghetti, hoping something will stick. What they should have done is played Rock Band and paid close attention to what Harmonix did right and what they did wrong, and then go from there. Instead, they decided to recreate the wheel, and we're the ones suffering for it. Is it an awful game? No. Is it better than III? Sure, if only for a more interesting song selection and a more playable level of difficulty (and less obnoxious boss battles). But it still feels like a half-assed attempt at a cash grab. Name recognition can only carry you so far. If Activision really wants to bring this franchise back up to the AAA level it once was, they need to dump Neversoft, bring in a smaller, more hungry developer with something to prove, and let them take some cues from Rock Band. Harmonix isn't perfect, but their system and ingenuity is so far beyond Neversoft's that it's just embarrassing. I'll keep the game so I can play Mr. Crowley and Hot For Teacher, and will download DLC tracks I enjoy, but overall, this is not worthy of the Guitar Hero name.

great post Mallet.

Like I said - RB will be my platform of choice - but having this around will be great for parties as well.

Well, it's lucky I'm moving in with a guy who likes to play these games, so we can unlock all the songs in band mode. But seriously, it sucks that I had to look up the code to unlock all songs so I could have friends over.

I think that code still doesn't unlock every song. I did it last night and did not see Pull Me Under or Trapped Under Ice in quickplay.

I must be lucky because my GHWT kit is perfect (as is my RB2 kit) and my GHWT guitar seems to be perfect also (as well as my RB2 guitar).

Death Magnetic on expert drums with the GHWT kit is very fun. Very hard, but fun.

L&O make sure you get to try the actual kit at some point, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Once you get the hang of the different layout it's just amazingly fun. Sucks that you have to buy the whole bundle to get the drums though.

I saw Trapped Under Ice when I did the code.

I thought I remembered the yellow pad was acting as the yellow cymbal as well. So you could either not use the cymbal and use the pad, or switch the inputs around. That way only one of the cymbals is busted. Personally, I am probably not going to bother, I'll stick with using my shitty RB1 kit until the patch comes (hopefully soon).

You know, I thought I noticed this too. I was playing on Hard drums, and I did Living On A Prayer and thought there were some notes that were completely missing at the beginning of the song (a few of the high hat hits). I mean, it seems like they were completely removed. I haven't tried it on Expert to see if its fine there. Very, very, odd.

Also, On The Road again has to be the worst song for drums, EVER. It is 3 minutes of a constant drum roll on Red and then at the very end a couple of other notes, and thats it. Fucking AWFUL. Who picked that song and said "Yeah, this is a good choice for a band game!"?

Once they release it separate perhaps - i'm not buying a bundle now. Having sent in my RB1 drums 3 times sucked, and hearing that these ones have to be spent on my dime - fuck that. I can wait.

I bought the last three GH's, but the wife and I are going to get Rock Band 2 now. Just waiting for a good deal.

It's a fucking great SONG. but yeah, that was the first track i played in the game and it pissed me the fuck off. I hit it on expert, and was 100% until the very end, then the final part fucked me over and i failed out.

Or try to get them to send you one for free to review..!

Agreed on pretty much everything, but this is really true to me. In terms of overall experience, it's just way off. It's hard to put my finger on it, but something...a lot...is just missing from the feel of the game. Both Neversoft efforts have felt like playing a collection of someone's custom charts in a Guitar Hero skin. And even though the charting here seems to make a lot more sense, the game never comes across as anything remotely resembling a complete experience. It's almost frustrating.

I probably got a different code then. Weird.

I just tried out my drums for the first time and, luckily, everything seems to work fine. I played through 4 or 5 songs and didn't notice any non-registered hits or hits on another pad making another pad register a hit or anything like that.

My main gripe, however, is that the construction of the support stand, or braces, or whatever the hell you want to call them, seems pretty damn shoddy. Mine seems to wobble a bit too easily for my liking, even though I am on perfectly level ground. So far, I am really digging the feel I get from drumming compared to the RB1 drum set, but that set seemed much sturdier because of how weighted and wide the bottom supports are.

Thanks for the review. I can now safely say I will save my money for future RB2 DLC instead.