Music for the Masses

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This holiday’s most ambitious, new video game is a rock band in a box.

“Rock Band” retails for $170. Yes, that’s insane. But it comes with a game you can play for months. Plus a guitar. And a microphone. And a drum set.

None of these plastic, almost life-size instruments is playable in the real world. You hook them up to your Xbox 360 or PS 3. Then you play the instruments exactly like you would in “Guitar Hero.” Notes scroll on the screen. You play them.

You can even hook up four instruments at the same time and invite three friends to play guitar, bass and drums while you sing.

To tell the truth, I’m kind of over the whole “Guitar Hero” phenomenon. I’ve been tinkling with variations of it for a few years, and it’s beginning to feel like button-mashing, instead of music-making.

So it’s an awesome change of pace to bang on four drum pads and a foot pedal in “Rock Band.” There you are, sort of playing rhythm on Nine Inch Nails’ “The Hand That Feeds” and Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.”

Even more fun: singing. I can’t stand karaoke, which was designed to entertain one person at a time. But “Rock Band’s” vocals are reminiscent of very fun “Karaoke Revolution” and “SingStar” games. It does a fantastic job of recognizing when you sing in pitch, in key and in time.

I don’t want to sound uppity, but years ago I won a partial violin scholarship, and I sang in a garage band that never left the garage. So I conquer large parts of “Guitar Hero” fairly easily.

Even so, it’s especially gratifying to sing the lead to Nirvana’s “In Bloom” and Radiohead’s “Creep.” I do that very well with my eyes shut, as the words and pitch meter scroll along the TV screen.

There are gender-based obstacles. The vocals are female for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps.” I can barely hit the high notes, so I sing in a lower octave to get the job done.

If you have scant musical talent, you can breeze through most songs by turning the settings to “easy.” “Medium” is tougher. “Hard” and “Expert” seriously test the skills of, say, an ex-violinist.

What stinks is dealing with songs you don’t like. I could do without Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills” and even Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly” (not the Foo’s finest day).

Song choices are also the problem with “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.” It’s entertaining (it comes with a guitar, no drums and no mic) and features 71 tunes. But oh, the horrors of Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” and Slipknot’s “Before I Forget.” Boo, hiss.

The bonus potential of “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” is this: Game makers are selling more songs online. “Rock Hero” (58 songs) will soon offer downloads of whole albums, including Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” I can’t wait for that.

But I have a plea for the people behind “Rock Band”: Don’t forget other music from alt nation and electronica land. Please pretend you’re Santa and consider my wish list of Liz Phair, Portishead, Olive, Bjork, Peaches, Andrew Bird, Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright and Regina Spektor. Thanks, you’re real pals.

(“Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” retails for $100 for Xbox 360 and PS 3; $90 for Wii; $90 for PS 2 — Plays fun. Looks good. Easy to very challenging. Rated “T” for lyrics, mild suggestive themes. Three and a half stars out of four.)

(“Rock Band” retails for $170 for Xbox 360 and PS 3 — Plays very fun. Looks good. Easy to very challenging. Rated “T” for lyrics, mild suggestive themes. Four stars.)