Rock Band: Do you sing or play...or both?

I'm a sucker for Karaoke Revolution games on the Playstation 2. Something about wailing along in my living room to songs like Hungry Like The Wolf really is fun for me even though Karaoke Revolution focuses on top 40 style material and I've NEVER been a top 40 kind of guy. With this in mind you can imagine how excited I was when I learned my first date with Playstation 3 would feature the much anticipated Rock Band title.

What you get for the dough
When you buy this bundle you get the game disc and instruction s (of course) and a good bit more. How about a wireless guitar to play the game with? It's in there (but I've read it won't work on Guitar Hero). Need a drum kit for the game? There is one in there! How about a microphone for singing? Oh yeah, that's in there also. You get everything you need to challenge every mode in the game...except skill!

What goes down?
Wondering what the general idea of the game is a normal enough thing to do. It's basically a mixture of Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero. You create a band, name them, create your characters, and hit the road trying to earn fans and money while unlocking more songs at bigger venues. To unlock additional songs and venues you'll need to master the tunes available...only high scores can earn you fans and move you forward in the game.

How's it look?
OK, let's be real. We only look at the characters when we create them and most of us have never notice the venues...when we are performing we are looking at the lyrics we are the sing, the licks we're to pick, or the strokes we're supposed to be pounding out on the drums. It looks as good as any early PS3 game but if the graphics had PS1 technology nobody would notice.

What songs?
There are something like 60 songs embedded in the game for you to perform. They aren't all classics but I can tell you that at least ten of them are huge hits with me. My ten favs?
1) Radiohead - Creep
2) Black Sabbath - Paranoid
3) Metallica - Enter Sandman
4) Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
5) Sabatoge - Beastie Boys
6) Epic - Faith No More
7) The Hand That Feeds - NIN
8) Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
9) Are you Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
10)Say It Ain't So - Weezer

All the songs on the game, other than Paranoid, are performed by the original artists. Or, if they aren't the imitators are so close I can't tell the difference and I know most of these songs well so I feel confident they are the originals.

One note on the lyrics: most of these songs have some objectionable content in their original form. While some editing has taken place (Radiohead's Creep says "you're so VERY special" instead of the album version) but there are still some words that may shock mom when you sing them. Nirvana's In Bloom comes to mind along with Sabbath's Paranoid. These aren't anything that a sixteen year old or so doesn't already say (sorry mom!) but if you are buying for someone younger you should at least consider that there is a small percent (2% or so) or somewhat objectionable lyrical styling.

Is it replayable?
YES!!! With any given track you have the option to sing, drum, play lead guitar, or bass guitar. You can have anywhere from one to four players working together on a track and even same the game using a multiplayer band. Loads of fun! If you are like me you play alone the vast majority of the time so you can play the songs as one instrument then come back and master them as another.

If you love most of these songs like I do you could play this one for a couple years before you mastered every track in every instrument.

General comments
Just some things I noticed about the game and PS3 in general in this section, if you please.
When you play, even with all three supplied instruments and the standard controller engaged, the game flows without any hiccups. No locking, stuttering, or any sign that the PS3 is under strain to process it all.
Load times were minimal to non-existant, much better than I'm accustomed to on earlier Playstation consoles.
You can plug all these items in at once without a USB hub (which is required for the PS2 version of the game).

Overall
I think Rock Band is a blast and to tell the truth I've considered buying a PS3 based solely on my experience playing this game on the system. You can really have a good time by yourself or involve the whole family without anyone just sitting around and waiting for a turn.