Ubisoft’s latest trailer for Rocksmith 2014 drives the point home that the game has been tweaked to become outright learning software to play guitar. It will also be a far more enjoyable experience than the original Rocksmith, thanks to its customizability and backwards compatibility with the first game.
Rocksmith 2014’s robust customization greets you at the onset, asking you to determine your guitar skill level and adjust accordingly. You can skip this entirely, and in the same way you can skip many of the selection screens in the game. The game can do this because it can record and analyze your gameplay and choices, and can therefore dynamically adjust itself to your needs. Among the highly customizable sections is Riff Repeater, allowing you to play any section of any song as you like it. The game will also point out which notes you missed, and if it finds that you have mastered certain sections of a song, will remove the note guide entirely for those sections. Again, this is completely optional, but can help encourage memory.
Regarding backwards compatibility, your original Rocksmith cable will work with Rocksmith 2014, and the songs you had in the original game can also be transferred over.
Ubisoft also touts how they have improved the overall software. They boast that the game has no loading screens, and no lag. Xbox 360 Kinect owners get a sweet bonus as well, as they can control the game menus completely by voice.
Finally, the game has a revamped Note Highway, better providing visualizations so you can better understand how to hit the notes properly. Somewhat related to this is the ability to find and create your own tones, and the ability to find tones by song name.
Among other things, I think the backwards compatibility will be the biggest selling point for Rocksmith 2014, as repeat buyers will want to give Ubisoft’s guitar learning software another chance. I appreciate Creative Director Paul Cross’ statement at the end that learning guitar is not an easy process at all. The game is going to give you the tools to make that journey far easier, but does not overpromise, and now acknowledges the fact that players will have to put the hard work in as well.
