So even though Rock Band was one of my most anticipated games ever and I've had it since it came out on Nov. 20, up until today I had only played it sparingly with family over Thanksgiving break. Besides the fact that I didn't really have anyone good to play it with while visiting family, I had been bummed about the problems with the guitar's strumbar and (I thought) with the drums.

Today, I finally was able to sink my teeth (er, my hands) into the game at home. First, I took some time to get the calibration right. Even though this was kind of an annoyance, it was necessary; after I fiddled with it enough and got the perfect setting, I realized that the drums were fine, the calibration had just been ever so slightly off.

I went on to have a marathon drum session -- about 5 hours -- in which I played through all 40 songs in the Solo Tour on Expert. Even with occasional short breaks, by the end of it, I was experiencing some pretty bad eye fatigue, neck cramping, and some minor soreness in my right leg (thanks to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again"), but man, what an experience it was. As I progressed, the difficulty level of the drumming obviously got tougher and tougher; it ramped up quite nicely. The setlist features some excellent songs, and once I got to the last couple tiers, there were a bunch of really neat drumming experiences. "Welcome Home" by Coheed and Cambria is absolutely epic on the drums. "Flirtin' With Disaster" by Molly Hatchett is probably the most fun song to play, and "Tom Sawyer" by Rush was also a blast (already knew that one, though). Surprisingly, I failed on a few songs in earlier tiers but didn't fail on any in the last tier, iirc. "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden, the second-to-last song, was actually easy, it was just a bit tiring playing 16ths on the hi-hat for so long. I came close to failing at parts of "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who, which was the final song. It felt SO GOOD after beating that and knowing I had just played through the entire Solo Tour of 40 songs. Such a unique experience.

Shortly after that, my brother beat "Green Grass and High Tides" (the final guitar song) on expert for the first time.

'Twas a good night, and now I'm actually excited about Rock Band again. Just have to get some people together for the full experience.

As for my solo "career" (ha) -- tomorrow, I'll have to play the 18 bonus songs. After that, I'll be going back to work on my scores. I had a few that were sub-100 on the leaderboards (with a 5th and a 15th, I think).

I haven't been this sucked in by a game since...honestly, I can't remember. I must have logged nearly 6 hours today playing this (which is a HUGE amount of time for me to play a video game), going from 5 stars to 61 (you need 60 to face the end-game). I'm saving that for tomorrow, though.

After I beat the game, I'm definitely going to be getting all 120 (I think) stars. This is one of those titles where I want to get every last star and complete every last challenge. 100% won't be a tedious chore, unlike in some games; here, it'll be a welcome joy.

I just spent the last 30-40 minutes trying unsuccessfully to get through the part where you have to cross the radioactive liquid area by using the old "get on a box, pick up the box behind you and set it in front of you, jump onto the box in front of you, pick up the box behind you..." routine.

Needless to say, I'm frustrated. It's not just "Oh, you must be a bad gamer," because I'm not. It's just that it takes a long time to do, and when you do get far, it's easy to mess up because Gordon's jumping ability stinks and it's very touchy speed-wise. I almost made it once, but somehow the boxes drifted too far apart. Oh, I forgot to mention - each time I mess up and die, it'll respawn me like four or five times into instant radioactive death before correctly respawning me on top of the boxes (where I was when I crossed the checkpoint).

Other than this segment, it's been an entertaining and interesting game so far. I look forward to finding out more about the story.

So I had heard this song called "Everything In Its Right Place" on the Jazz Mandolin Project's "Deep Forbidden Lake" album, and I thought it was pretty cool. I knew another song on the album, "Hallelujah," was a cover, and I figured this song might be as well. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and sure enough, turns out it's by Radiohead (who I'd heard of but never listened to).

So, I listened to the original Radiohead version (there are sites like projectplaylist that let you stream songs), and wow. I can't remember the last time I was so enamored, or maybe...overtaken with a song. It's been in my head all day. Not just stuck in my head like some songs get, but really inside my head. I don't know...it's unlike anything I've ever heard. I did some reading around, and apparently Radiohead has mostly depressing/melancholy music. "Everything In Its Right Place" doesn't depress me, though. It gives me another feeling that I can't label.

Just felt like this was a significant enough event to me that I had to mention it. :p

As I said at the top, I had heard the song before, but done by the Jazz Mandolin Project. So while the melody and structure was there, it didn't have the same exact haunting feeling and singing that the original Radiohead version does. The JMP version is really good too, though. Their whole CD, The Deep Forbidden Lake, is excellent, as a matter of fact. As you would expect, there's mandolin there, as well as piano, acoustic bass, and other such instruments. The music is a mix of easy listening, slow jazz, and blues. Or at least those are the basic genres I would put the music in; I'm not great with categorizing songs into really specific genres.

Seriously, this is by far my favorite Wii VC purchase so far. I spent 4 or 5 hours today playing it, which is a huge amount of time for me to spend playing a game.

Don't write it off as just a mini-golf game; that's not really an accurate label. It's like mini-golf mixed with pool (because of the spins you can do) mixed with a strategy game (because of all the different options you have to finish the hole, the different abilities you can use, etc.). It's so much deeper than you would first think.

Basic summary for those unfamiliar with how it works: Each hole (there are 8 holes in each course) has a certain number of enemies placed throughout it. The goal is to hit the enemies with Kirby; once there's only one enemy left, it will become the hole. You then have to get Kirby into the hole.

So, how does controlling Kirby work? Well, you can actually do a lot once you've become accustomed to the game. First, you figure out where you want to shoot Kirby and aim your shot accordingly. A dotted line will show Kirby's projected path along with where he'll end up assuming you do a full-power shot. Once you're satisfied, you press A to begin the shot. A power meter will appear, and you have to press A again to stop the bar at the top if you want full power, lower if you want less power - you get the idea. Boom! Away goes Kirby. If you're doing an air shot, you also have to stop a meter that determines whether Kirby has any frontspin or backspin. Additionally, you can also add left or right spin to Kirby with either shot by adjusting the side-spin meter beforehand.

Now, upon hitting certain enemies, Kirby will gain a power. These can be used at any time after you've taken a shot and before Kirby stops moving. You only have one power at a time, and it can only be used once per shot. Examples of powers include the classic stone (makes Kirby stop immediately, even if he's in the air), ice (lets Kirby go across water he'd otherwise sink in), and jump (Kirby takes a daring leap forward, hopefully not off the course), just to name a few. These allow for lots of different strategies (and are sometimes just plain cool). To add even more variety, you'll find lots of objects on the courses such as speed boosts, warps, etc. which can either help your or hurt you, depending on how wisely you use them.

Besides the single-player mode, there's a 2-player mode which is lots of fun. You each have a Kirby, and you take turns. Each enemy you hit nets you a star; the goal is to have the most stars after 8 holes. As in single-player, once there is only one enemy remaining, it will become the hole. There is then usually a mad dash for the hole, as whoever gets it in first receives 2 stars, and both players then move on to the next hole. Sometimes, though, it might be better to rack up some easy stars in another area while the other player is going for the hole, or perhaps you'd prefer to position yourself, let the other player take out the 2nd-to-last enemy, and have a good shot at the hole already - there are lots of ways to play it.

If you think you Kirby's Dream Course sounds appealing AT ALL, I recommend going ahead and spending the $8, as it's well worth it. If you're not sure, watch some videos on Youtube.