Ingenious Indie Innovators, Part #28 - Rhythm Zone (2010) (PC) (Sonic Boom Games)
2As someone who has never even held one of those ghastly plastic guitars in my hands, the whole rhythm genre craze has largely passed me by. However, I do enjoy fooling around with the various independently developed PC knock-offs which - in an inspired fusion of indie innovation and commercial cynicism - effortlessly bring this console genre to the personal computer in all its inherent silliness...but without the need for expensive peripherals.
Rhythm Zone was included in one of the insane Turkey Day indie deals on Steam (four-five games for 4,49 € in total), and from what I can tell the program does an admirably good job of converting whatever music tracks you feed it into fully playable Guitar Hero-esque "levels". And, as always with music games, the point is not to be able to "play" the songs like a real musician would (although Rock Band 3's Pro Guitar Mode may be an exception to that rule); but instead to become a better listener by being made aware of the workmanship involved in creating the complex sonic textures you're required to mimic.