John Hammond & His Screamin’ Nighthawks

It’s no surprise that the genre has been on the decline for the past few years. Since demise in 2010, the genre has been looking to regain supremacy as the go-to social experience for friends and social gamers. tried to bring the battle of the bands back into the living room, but while it was a successful competitor with Guitar Hero at the time, it has also fallen of the wagon, with the latest release also taking place in 2010.

Since then, the genre has mostly been defunct, with the exception of , which attempts to curtail the genre as a social gaming phenomena and turn it into an educational platform. However, , and the Ubisoft title has been deemed a failure in that department.

Enter, Bandfuse: Rock Legends, the upcoming title that attempts to reclaim the genre as a way to learn guitar while having fun doing it, combining the best aspects of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Rocksmith into one comprehensive title.

We sat down with the development team of Bandfuse: Rock Legends and played the game, checking out many of the innovative customization features throughout. Here’s what you need to know about the game.

1. You Play With A Real Guitar

Like Rocksmith, Bandfuse: Rock Legends allows players to hook up an actual guitar to their Xbox 360 or PS3 to play along with some of the top hits in rock n’ roll in real time. However, where Bandfuse differs from its competitor is the lack of lag in the player experience, allowing players to rock out without any technical difficulties. Additionally, the game has you tune your guitar before playing any song, and has gives five distinct difficulty levels, allowing you to learn a song at your own pace, with the ultimate goal of transferring those guitar skills out of game.

2. The Goal Is To Learn How To Play

In development for the last three years, Bandfuse: Rock Legends has one particular goal in mind. Keep the player experience as authentic as possible. To that end, Bandfuse is all about building up your shredding skills to get out of game, and hopefully get up on a real stage one day. Utilizing a unique interface that uses an animated to show beginners where to place their fingers and how to time strumming strings, Bandfuse also allows players to practice advanced techniques and challenging solos. Unprecedented levels of customization allow players to loop parts of songs they’d like to practice, and adjust settings within the song to their liking.

Even if you play on Easy, like we did, playing songs on two strings, the game is geared toward aspiring and performing guitarists of all levels, and can be played at a beginner, intermediate or advanced level.