"Power Gig's" Airstrike drums are a horrible idea

What is this...I don't even...

Thanks to Activision pushing out more "Guitar Hero" games than I even thought would be physically possible, the rhythm gaming genre has become pretty stale. They tried to liven it up with "DJ Hero" and while I applaud their willingness to think outside the box, the music in that game wasn't really my speed and the turntable peripheral just didn't make sense to me.

When I heard about Seven45's latest idea for the genre, "Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring," I was intrigued but pretty much wrote it off. Originally only the guitar peripheral had been shown and to my surprise, it was more parts guitar than video game controller. It looks like an actual guitar because, well, it is an actual guitar and can be played like one when not in "controller mode" (there's some sort of device that keeps the strings from ringing out when playing the game). It won't teach you how to actually play guitar, they say, but strumming notes on actual strings is more than "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" has to offer.

Still though, the idea of using an actual guitar to play a video game defeats the purpose in my eyes - I play games to play games, if I wanted to learn how to play a guitar I'd do that and not play "Rock Band." To me, "Power Gig" seems like the creation of some gamer who was tired of his friends getting on his case about "Why don't you just learn to play the guitar, already?"

Now I find out about these drums and I gotta say, my immediate first reaction is, wow...that looks like a bad idea. Being that I prefer playing the drums in "Rock Band" over the guitar, I feel like this setup would only prove to be more frustrating than anything. With the use of special sticks, you place the Airstrike controller on the ground and play it like you were "air-drumming" and don't actually hit the pads themselves. The first problem I see with this method is not having a physical thing to strike while playing - if you're having trouble with a song or a certain section, how can you tell if it's your technique, a problem with the game or a problem with the controller itself? For a gamer like myself who plays these rhythm games on the hardest setting, not being able to perfect your technique or to know exactly where your problems are stemming from is maddening. Next, the pads are on the ground by your feet and you're staring up at a screen - if you make a mistake or get lost even for a second you have to look down to reorient your hands instead of being able to glance down to the pads that are right by your hands. How are you even supposed to do good drum fills or rolls without actually hitting something? The spring/bounce of the pads is a big part of pulling off fast rolls and playing on air would make that stupidly difficult.

Not even taking these ridiculous peripheral into consideration, how good could the song list for "Power Gig" possibly be? They don't have the community support of "Rock Band" or the financial support that the "Guitar Hero" series has - how could "Power Gig" possibly offer a gamer like me (who's played all these games since the original "Guitar Hero") a unique setlist of songs I've never played before. The list of artists who have added their support for this game isn't exactly wowing me either. Sure there's Eric Clapton but if the only other musicians Seven45 can offer is Kid Rock or Dave Matthews (and his Band), I think I will be passing on this one.