Here’s this weeks review and playthrough for the Foreigner and Nightwish DLC. Included below are playthrough videos of the DLC from the always awesome thenewnoelisoncruz. Definitely check out and subscribe to his YouTube channel!

All tracks are 160 MSP ($1.99). Pro Guitar/Bass charts are noted below where applicable, and can be purchased for an additional 80 MSP ($0.99).

Review is after the jump.

Foreigner – I Want to Know What Love Is

Whenever I hear I Want to Know What Love Is, the first thing that comes to mind is this ad for hot dogs that I don’t think ran outside of Canada, but don’t quote me on this. It was actually a rather creepy ad, just showing slow motion clips of little kids eating hot dogs while a butcher that appeared to be in his 50s just watched and looked like he was fantasizing about something, all with this song played in the background. That ad has forever ruined this song for me.

Now when I started playing this, the first thing I noticed was the lack of a guitar part on this song. I mean, sure, there was no guitar in the preview video, but I figured there was something buried deep in the mix. I mean, Foreigner is a rock band, right?

Bass was not that fun. It was incredibly easy, with very little variation, and lots of waiting in between parts. Not recommended for anyone.

Keys, like virtually everything else about these Foreigner songs, are boring. The whole thing is just basically sustains held out really long that are paced really slow. I have no problem with ballads in Rock Band, in fact, the Gold Star My Heart Pack is one of my favourites in Rock Band, but these were just horrible.

Drums are actually pretty nice, for a slow, sappy ballad. The verse pattern goes something like Hi-Hat/Hi-Hat/Hi-Hat-Snare/Kick Hi-Hat/Hi-Hat/Hi-Hat-Kick. The chorus is less interesting, more of just Hi-Hat-Kick/Hi-Hat-Snare repeated over and over again, occasionally substituting the Hi-Hat for a Crash or Ride.

Vocals here are great, because this is one of those songs that everybody seems to know, therefore, everyone is just going to want to hop on that mic and belt out this song!

Foreigner – Waiting for a Girl Like You

One quick thing I noticed here was that, in the store, Rock Band has the album art wrong, using the art for the album “Foreigner” as opposed to that album art for “4″.

I don’t think that there is a guitar part in this song either, but here they charted more keys to the guitar. To be honest, the whole thing is very boring, and save for one part after the second chorus where it’s almost like they just threw random notes at you, it’s very, very easy.

Bass, while much more fun than guitar, was still a bit boring. There are some neat little HOPO sections in the song, but not enough to make the song worthwhile to play again.

Keys, like the other instruments on this song, are boring. There’s a little riff that does go across the keyboard, but after that there is a lot of waiting and spaced out sustains. Really boring.

Drums are VERY basic here. Just to give you an idea about how basic it is, I of all people was able to get 99% on this song, and the only reason I ever started playing drums was for these reviews. In fact, the only reason I didn’t FC was because of one Hi-Hat roll in the middle of the song. Virtually the whole song is just one beat, and it’s the most basic of all the beats; a standard rock beat.

I think it was Band Hero that had Karaoke mode on it. This song, and I Want to Know What Love Is are probably best suited for that. The Foreigner songs, like a lot of ballads, are the kind of songs where, you have a party, there are quite a few older women drinking wine, one of them says “I LOVE THAT SONG!” and then goes off and performs a horrendously off-key performance of Waiting for a Girls Like You.

Nightwish – Amaranth

Guitar was actually a bit underwhelming. Whenever I see that a song is placed under the genre of “Metal”, I’m always expecting some difficulty-fest. Instead, we get a guitar part that’s somewhat manageable, with a moderate pace and no extreme chord changes. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure that some of the metalheads who downloaded this song for a challenge will be too pleased.

I don’t know why, but I actually preferred the bass to the guitar. It’s essentially the same, but when the little HOPO whims come in, there is an extra note or two added in. Oh, and there are no chords in the bass chart, but that’s about all that’s different.

Keys are easily the best part of the song. Filled with notes that will take you from just pressing buttons all over your keyboard, to sliding all over it. It’s also not so hard as to be overwhelming to a player who isn’t the best but still wants a challenge.

This song on drums, while at its core is fairly simple, has some tricky bass pedal bits thrown in. As someone who is not a very good drummer, I found the drums to be rather fun. They’re simple enough that they can be easily approached, but not so easy that you come out of it feeling bored.

One thing that this song really has going for it is its incredibly strong vocal part (and before I get a bunch of Nightwish fans telling me how this isn’t strong compared to Tajra, I’m referring to how it plays in Rock Band, not the actual voice, although I do really like the vocals in this song). Its also got some phenomenal harmonies during the chorus, although it would have been cool if they could have charted the choir in this song too.

Pick of the week: Amaranth
What should you buy: Amaranth. Foreigner if you’re a vocalist or hosting a Rock Band Party

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