Rock Band (Special Edition) (Wii, 2008)

Rock Band includes a wireless guitar, drum kit, and microphone. The game supports a second guitar for bass parts, but you'll have to purchase it separately (FYI: the Guitar Hero 3 controller doesn't work). To use all four instruments at once you'll need to plug the included USB adapter into the Wii and then hook the instruments and wireless receiver into the adapter. Other than the drum kit now being white and the pads feeling a bit softer and bouncier, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference between the Wii hardware and other versions; the instruments are responsive and feel great.
If you're a solo act (you can sing, drum, or strum along to any song), but Rock Band is a game best played with friends, for sure.
Rock Band's tracklist features a great mix of songs that includes classic rock, punk, '80s rock, alternative, and modern rock. Most of the songs are performed by the original artists, though there are a few covers. There's music from the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, KISS, Bon Jovi, R.E.M., The Who, Weezer, Stone Temple Pilots, Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Soundgarden, and many more. There are a total of 63 songs, five more than in previous releases. The five new songs are "Roxanne" by The Police, The B-52's "Roam," "Dirty Little Secret" from the All-American Rejects, Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger," and "Rockaway Beach" by The Ramones. The Wii version has no online play, nor does it have the option to download tracks. However, you can purchase a disc that includes 20 songs that were previously available as downloadable content on the PS3 and 360. It's not the ideal way to get new tunes, but it's better than nothing.
The visuals are good, they're functional and the frame rate is steady. When you aren't too busy rocking, you'll see that while the virtual band that rocks in the background looks pretty cool, they're nothing more than footage of prerendered characters. They don't react in real-time, and because there's only one pre-made video for song, you'll tire of seeing the same routine repeatedly. It's too bad, because seeing your customized characters own the stage would be great.
But it's not that important for a music game to look good; it's supposed to sound good. For the most part, Rock Band sounds terrific. The cover songs are generally very well done, and some of them, like "Train Kept a Rollin," are amazingly true to the original. If you don't have a stereo hooked up to your Wii, you're missing out. This is a game that's best played loudly. The only (very minor) gripes are things you probably won't notice if you haven't played the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions--the crowd is lively but doesn't sing along, and the effects that you can use on the guitar during solos and "overdrive" don't sound as great as the normal play of the guitar.
In a nutshell...there's no better way to live the life of a rock star.

I don't know what happened but the plastic instrument game bug bit me a few weeks back and within 1 week I bought Rock Band AND Guitar Hero III for the Wii. To break it down:

Guitar Hero III
Pros: Very fun to play; the guitar feels sturdier than Rock Band's; the character options and in-game animations add an extra level of fun.

Cons: The song selection is limited (and what's up with no on-line song buying option?)

Rock Band
Pros: Needless to say having the full band (drums, mic, and guitar); the drums in particular are a blast; larger song selection than Guitar Hero III; personally, I prefer the bands and songs on Rock Band and there's a better mix of classic and contemporary rock
Cons: Like GH III, cannot buy songs on-line; characters, animations, touring are embarrassingly generic and the graphics look pretty bad

Bottom Line: When you look at the fundamentals of the game - gameplay and song selection - I give the edge to Rock Band. The drum option alone is worth it. Another slight edge for Rock Band is that the instruments will be compatible for Rock Band 2. That's not going to be the case for Guitar Hero.

That said, you can rock it out and have a blast with both games, so its hard to go wrong either way.

Simply a fantastic group game. Similar to the traditional board game in that we have friends and family come over just to play.

An easy game to learn. It really simulates for players what it's like to be a musician. Note, this is not to say that the ability to play this game equates in any way the ability to play any real instrument. It just makes you think you can, and that's the real fun in this game.

A lot of great songs depending on your musical tastes. A pretty wide variety of songs; but not too many recent contemporary hits. As mentioned before, the wii version does not allow for downloadable songs (to be addressed in the upcoming release of the new Rock Band) nor are guitars compatible between Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

Nevertheless, great fun. I'm looking forward to the next iteration of the game, along with the Guitar Hero version coming out soon.

I bought this game for Wii and thought that I would be amazing. However, compared to Guitar Hero games I do not think it is good. I heard that on other consoles you can edit guitars/performers and the stage. However on the Wii you don't get to do any of that. You just get to play songs in the Quickplay and the Tour Modes. While the drums are fun, there is definitely room for improvement. After playing the game for a while you realize that the drums could have been made a little differently, design wise. The guitar is still pretty much the same, as in Guitar Hero, with some new pretty pointless additions. The singing is good but unless you are VERY close to the microphone you will have to yell for it to pick up your tone. All it all, it was fun for the family but since we played it 2 days in a row, we haven't touched it. If I were you, I would wait a couple more months until Guitar Hero: World Tour comes out, but they again everyone was waiting for Rock Band, so who knows.

It seems that most people are using these reviews to review a seller and not the game. These are intended to review the item. Feedback is to review the seller.
Now, on to the game.
We got Rock Band Special Edition for our Wii this past Christmas (2008). We can all have a lot of fun with it, and even our 1 year old likes to try to sing along (translation: eat the microphone). We really have few complaints. The song selection is fun and quite varied. The instruments are fun to play.
My only complaints are: 1. This is already an obsolete game with Rock Band 2 all over the place. It doesn't appear that the instruments from Rock Band 1 are completely compatible with Rock Band 2, and definitely aren't compatible with Guitar Hero. This means that if you want 2 different Rock Band style games, you will need to pay for instruments for both. (I think instruments for Rock Band 2 may be compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour, but not positive there.)
2. Purchasing more songs to go with the game can be VERY expensive. Adding a list of new songs can cost as much as the original game.

With that said, if you are a casual player and find a good deal on Rock Band Special Edition (under $100) go for it! You will have a lot of fun. If you are one that has to have the 'latest and greatest', look into Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour. There is a lot that can be said about both of those, but that is for another review.

Hint: turning the volume UP really helps us to hear the beat of the drums and play better.....just don't deafen your kids in the process. :)