''Rock Band'' was a 2009

rhythm game Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to pres ...

developed by

EA Montreal EA Montreal is a Canadian video game developer, video game development studio owned and operated by Electronic Arts. The studio is based in Montreal, Quebec. It was inaugurated by EA on March 17, 2004. In April 2012, EA announced layoffs in EA ...

and published by

EA Mobile EA Mobile Inc. is an American video game developer, video game development studio of the video game publisher, publisher Electronic Arts (EA) for mobile platforms. The studio's primary business is producing games for mobile phones. It has als ...

for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

. Part of the ''Rock Band ''series, it is second game in the series to be released for mobile devices, following ''Rock Band Mobile'' (2009). The game was released through the

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

in several regions on October 19, 2009. Gameplay was similar to other ''Rock Band'' series games, but controlled without instrument controllers, and instead with the iOS-device's

multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CE ...

display,

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

, and built-in

accelerometer An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change (mathematics), rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (tha ...

. The game featured

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

support over

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

, and online play via

Facebook Connect The Facebook Platform is the set of services, tools, and products provided by the social networking service Facebook for third-party developers to create their own applications and services that access data in Facebook. The current Facebook Pla ...

. A total of twenty songs appeared in the game, and extra songs were available as purchasable

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

. On July 31, 2012, due to an expiring contract with ''Rock Band'' main developer

Harmonix Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as bein ...

, the game was removed from the App Store.

Gameplay

Gameplay is similar to that of previous games in the ''Rock Band'' series, as the player has a choice to play either

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, or

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

s with up to three other players locally via an ad hoc

network. The game also features asynchronous multiplayer gameplay through

, which allows players to synchronize progress in a song with others over the internet using a cellular data connection or

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

. Simultaneous multiplayer gameplay is not available on the original

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

and

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...

devices due to technical limitations of the iPhone OS. In place of instrument controllers as used in most other games of the series, ''Rock Band'' must be controlled using a combination of the

device's built-in

display and

. While vocal gameplay has traditionally been done using a microphone in conjunction with a player literally singing words in pitch, the game uses only rhythmic touch input. During each song, each player attempts to match notes as they scroll on-screen in time with the current song. Completing consecutive series of notes will build up a player's scoring multiplier and add to the band's score for the song. Certain phrases of notes will be marked as glowing notes; successfully completing these add to the player's "Overdrive" meter. When the Overdrive meter is at least half-full, a player can activate Overdrive to double the band's scoring multiplier. It is activated by jolting the iOS device, whereas force feedback is produced by the device to confirm activation. Players are rewarded with up to 5 stars for completing a song based on their scoring performance. Three skill levels are available in ''Rock Band'', and are known as "Easy", "Medium", and "Hard". The game features two main single-player modes known as "Quick Play" and "World Tour". In World Tour mode, a player performs a

set list A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...

in five in-game world cities:

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. After completing a set list in one city, a player unlocks more songs that are playable in the next city. In Quick Play mode, players simply access songs that have been previously unlocked in World Tour mode.

Soundtrack

There are twenty songs available by default on ''Rock Band''. Players are able to download additional songs in the in-game "Music Store", which is available using Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection to the internet. These songs were either on previous

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

games or

Downloadable Content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

Downloadable songs

Reception

''Rock Band'' received mixed reviews from critics. Common criticisms by reviewers consisted of the lack of ability to sing vocals such as in the console counterparts of the game, and the limited soundtrack out of the box. As compared to the other portable variant of the franchise '' Rock Band Unplugged'', it was considered on par and similar in gameplay.

Sequel

'' Rock Band Reloaded'' was released for the

and

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

on December 2, 2010.

References

External links

MTV Games siteEA Mobile site
{{Harmonix games 2009 video games Drumming video games Guitar video games IOS games IOS-only games Multiplayer and single-player video games Rock Band series Video games developed in Canada Video games developed in the United States