“From a terrible job to a terrific rockstar” This is how Rockstar Madness begins, the game is developed by eRepublik Labs, and offers Facebook players the chance to lead a small garage band to success.
Review
While the concept is not entirely original, we’ve seen it in Vida Rock 2 or Megaband, it innovates and adds new features and mechanics, all wrapped up with great presentation and solid gameplay.
It all starts in a garage, with your small house band being recruited by Evan Bush, the super famous rockstar and sponsor of Rockstar Madness contest, going to the auditions and winning!
This introduction will teach you how to play the skill part of the title, in a similar way to Guitar Hero. You have to use your mouse skills to click in the several notes that fall from each of your band players. This section is pretty easy and you’ll get through with success and therefore step into the actual game.
You have to choose your band members, give them a name, and from there on you will always have something to do, from jam sections, to signing autographs, speaking to the press, even picking up the trash in your rehearsal area.
The ultimate goal of Rockstar Madness is to achieve success, by performing in several stages and having the highest number of fans possible.
Tasks like improving the sex-appeal of your band are actually really interesting and require you to dress them up, with several different options, from facial hair to tops, accessories or musical instruments.
You can improve your band with new members, either by inviting friends or by paying game money. This will increase your scores, but it also means that you will have more members to click on their notes when in jam sections and concerts, so you start with 3 lines and can go up to 5.
Even when you are in the main screen, you will always have something to do, fans will visit and ask for autographs, reporters will ask for news and gossip, you can even tweet news to your fans. All this is pretty simple, when one of these appears, you have to click on the required action. If you don’t, they will go away disappointed 🙂
Rockstar Madness runs on the usual energy system, 🙁 yeah I know, but while playing I never run out, if you follow the tasks, you will level up fast. Another nice touch is that you get your energy refilled on each new level.
Experience allows to increase the Stardom level, which in return unlocks new features, from props, decorations or locations to perform, just to mention a few. The number of Fans is also another factor to unlock new locations to play. To increase it, you have to play jam section (rehearse), play in concerts and interact with them (signing autographs, tweeting, etc).
Socially as already mentioned above, you can invite friends to become part of your band, you can visit them daily and clean up their turf and get rewarded, and of course compete for the highest number of fans!
There is also a ranking system, with several levels, from local to international, where all the players compete against each other!
Overall, Rockstar Madness is a great Facebook game, it uses familiar mechanics to create a very entertaining global gaming experience, it offers music, skill challenges, dress up, role playing and adventure all in one package, and all for free! Can you ask for more?
Check out gameplay video to get an idea of what is waiting!