Power Gig: Rise of the SixString



Released in October of 2010, Power Gig is a Rhythm Game from 745 Studios, sister company to First Act, a dedicated instrument manufacturer. It is poised to compete with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band by utilizing a real guitar for its controller; colored sections along the neck will dictate which frets the player needs to hold to play the song correctly. However, it also supports traditional guitar controllers for existing games. It also uses a unique drum controller which is comprised of a sensor which sits on the floor, while the player makes drumming motions with sticks over the sensors, in the hopes of making a quieter experience.

The gameplay itself is actually a musical RPG centered on a small band of rebels attempting to overthrow The Headliner. The story is full and engaging, in stark contrast to Warriors of Rock which was released the same year. Songs must be chosen carefully in order to maximize the impact on the NPC listeners. Although the game is markedly more difficult and more "realistic" than its competitors, the difficulty is toned down some by being able to select different musicians with different mojo powers that help the player in tough spots. Playing with a full band increases the power of each musician as mojo powers both compliment each other and stack.

Despite these features and a not-too-shabby song list, Power Gig sold far below expectations. The guitar, one of Power Gig's selling points, fell victim to technological restrictions in making a stringed guitar work for a button-based video game, and faced stiff competition after Rock Band 3's pro modes were announced. The end result was a controller that was not easy to use and worked with mediocrity as a guitar. The game's other claim of "teaching to play guitar" has met with mixed reviews as well with some feeling it did not teach enough while others, including the members of Dave Mathews Band, feeling it was a good "entry point" for those wanting to learn. In addition, the downloadable content for the game simply doesn't work (since it tries to add update itself to a non-existent title), and the drum kit fails at its motion sensing, which was kind of its main gimmick.

This game provides examples of:

 * Air Guitar: Or air drumming, rather.
 * Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: Everything in the game is called by it's in-world name. Guitars are "sixstrings", drums are "Airstrikers", magic is called "mojo", ect.
 * Canon Discontinuity: Impressively, Seven45 has managed to completely remove any mention of Power Gig from their website. Going to the old Power Gig website provides an e-mail address for inquiries, but the entire site is shut down.
 * Celebrity Endorsement: Artists like Eric Clapton, Kid Rock and Dave Matthews are praising the game for its more realistic angle, going so far as to sign exclusive contracts.
 * Cover Version: "Crossroads" By John Mayer, a slower funk version of the version by Cream.
 * Culture Police: The Headliner will strip all non-allied musicians playing non-approved Music in clubs he didn't sanction of their mojo, possessions, and everything else... even their lives sometimes!
 * Did Not Do the Research: Their attack against Harmonix, located here, completely ignores the MIDI guitar that was released on the same day as Rock Band 3 AND its $150 price tag.
 * Downloadable Content: Or at least, that's the plan, assuming they ever release the title update required for the DLC to work. Some consider this a Game Breaking Bug.
 * Dueling Games: Both GH and RB, but Rock Band is the more direct competition, especially since RB3 is touting a lot of the same improvements that Power Gig is claiming. One of these completely bombed. Take a guess which one.
 * Earn Your Fun: Two-thirds of the soundtrack is locked from the start. Due to the game's non-straightforward story mode progression, players will be repeating the same songs over and over to advance the story and unlock additional songs.
 * Even worse, Power Gig does not have a "Unlock All Songs" cheat code.
 * Evil Overlord: The Headliner.
 * Functional Magic: Mojo
 * Life of the Party: The Riffriders clan
 * Rebellious Spirit: The Rise Clan
 * Shout-Out: The plot is a shout out to the old Aerosmith-endorsed shooter, Revolution X.
 * Take That: PG ran a commercial in which they gathered up as many Guitar Hero controllers as they could find (but not official ones; those were too expensive) and flew them out to Iceland to drop them into a volcano (One did physically get smashed when both guitars impacted one another on the ground). The ad ends with "Fake guitars are over - It's time to rock it real."
 * Urban Fantasy: Power Gig takes place in a modern technology world where the power of rock is used to do magic and has led to a music-based class system. The most powerful rocker becomes "The Headliner".
 * Warrior Poet: The Followers of Zehn clan.