My opinion is that you only really notice these nuances if you’ve played these types of game a lot. I know some people who never played GH2 co-op much and didn’t know what the fuss was about with people complaining about GH3. I’m sure people who only played GH3 will find GHWT just fine, but I’m pretty sure I’d find the co-op weaknesses annoying after playing RB a lot.

I can’t comment on any hardware failure yet, everything seems to be working as expected so far. The only issue I have, and I haven’t really bothered reading why yet, but the instruments (drums and guitar) each use a USB wireless dongle and not the built in bluetooth. hmm. At least the guitar dongle has a USB hub build in so two other things can be plugged in still.

Group play is the #1 feature for me, 2-player is usually the minimum, so that’s my primary reason for not bothering with it even though I could just buy the game. It was also the major reason GH3 was a massive let-down – co-op was broken beyond repair compared to GH2, in addition to the stupid difficulty wall in Hard mode. I have more than enough tracks to choose from on RB (300 and counting) and nothing on GHWT (for me) that justifies having to switch discs and have less fun co-op.

The drums do look good though, although some people complain about the kick pedal moving around too much, and some complain of problems with the red pad and cymbals. It sounds like if you have a working set and your floor isn’t too springy they’re good though, certainly much better than RB1 drums (unmodded).

I note that 1Up has reviewed it and given it a A- and that Eurogamer (whom I often trust) have also reviewed it and given it a 9/10. Then again, I see that you have just edited your post to account for this. Like you, I rarely go by scores anymore, I tend to know what I like and damn the rest of the world. As such, unlike you, I have enjoyed GH3 (but admit that there are a few problems with it) and as such, had little reason to doubt that GHWT would like be very much like GH3, but with improvements (which is fine in my book).

I can appreciate your comments, especially in regards to the lack of “saving” in GHWT, but to be frank, that’s no biggy for me. I’ll likely be playing it mainly by myself, but occassionally with Roz or Elliot if I can interest them (Elliot wants to try drums). I would have liked the benefit of a no fail option, but it certainly wouldn’t stop me from buying the game.

It is also a shame that there have been some reports of faulty instruments, but like you say, it’s the nature of the beast. Be it Rock Band or Guitar Hero, there are bound to be some faulty instruments out there and the people who get them are bound to be vocal about it. I’ll just cross my fingers and hope that mine is okay. I still much prefer the look of the GHWT instruments…

I’m still 100% going to get GHWT over RB, for numerous reasons that you are already aware of, but at the same time, it’s still likely that I’ll pick up RB or RB2 idc in addition to GHWT.

Plus, only GHWT has ….. Band on the Run

GH3 fans say that some RB tracks are too easy / boring, but IMO that just reflects the difficulty of the actual song itself, which is how it should be. Some people want a signature track in a game and then add all sorts of arbitrary fiddly stuff to it to make it more difficult, but I prefer the ‘feel’ to be right above everything else.