rodeo7's Full Review: Intec PlayStation 3 Wireless Icon Guitar (80492607...
With the extremely high popularity of music games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, it is no surprise to see many third party peripherals hitting the market. The Wireless Rock Icon Guitar made by Intec is a decent buy for the price conscious consumer.
At about 50% of the retail price of the various “official” guitar controllers, such as those made by Harmonix for Rockband, the guitar will obviously be a nice deal if you don’t mind several differences between the guitars. (I will continue to reference Harmonix since I used the Rock Icon Guitar with Rockband.)
As listed by the manufacturer, the guitar features a bi-directional strum bar, a precision whammy bar, “responsive fret buttons”, built-in tilt sensor, 2.4 Ghz wireless technology, and an “edgy custom body with sleek black and white finish”. It requires 4 AA batteries, and is fully compatible with the Guitar Hero and Rockband lines of games.
Its biggest features are its low price (I purchased mine at a store for $39.99), and that it works with both Guitar Hero and Rockband. For those that have both games, this is a huge savings in money and convenience. To switch between games, you simply have to toggle a switch located on the wireless receiver which plugs into the PS2/PS3. The guitar is solidly made and durable. I purchased mine to be my second guitar. I already owned a Fender Stratocaster wireless guitar controller made by Harmonix.
Unfortunately, I do have a long list of negative issues about this guitar controller, however many of these will weigh more for some, and less for others. Some minor details first. I found the strap that it comes with to be a little short, and I’m a short guy. For taller folks, I would think the guitar would be a little awkward to wear. The guitar requires 4 AA batteries compared to the 3 AA batteries required by the Harmonix wireless Fender. Lastly, the strum bar clicks very loudly every time you strum it. It’s bearable, but I can see it becoming annoying.
One of the more important issues that bothered me was the design of the fret buttons. My guess is to avoid patent or legal issues with the Harmonix guitars, they had to design their buttons differently. Instead of being closely spaced and as wide as the guitar neck, the Rock Icon buttons are square buttons set apart and do not span the width of the neck. For the casual player or the friend that only plays when they come over to your house, this is not an issue. For the more serious players, the buttons become an issue when playing more difficult songs. I found it easy to lose my finger placement over the buttons on faster, more intricate songs.
The biggest issue I had with the guitar resulted in me returning it… twice. The importance of the tilt sensor is debatable. For players that aim for high scores, the tilt sensor is a must in order to go into Overdrive (RB)/Star Power(GH). For those playing with friends that “Fail”often, they will need to be saved by you tilting the guitar. If you don’t play with others often, or they’re good enough that they rarely Fail, then this isn’t a big deal either. So it’s debatable. The tilt sensor is not necessarily a key component of the game.
In my case, the Rock Icon Guitar I had failed to tilt consistently. No angle, speed, duration of tilting while playing resulted in Rockband going into Overdrive. I tested this both playing solo, and playing with a full band. To confirm it simply wasn’t my technique, I switched to the Harmonix Fender. I was able to go into Overdrive every time and with minimal effort. I confirmed that the Rock Icon guitar had a sensor by charging up enough power then taking the guitar body with both hands and violently rocking it back and forth until the sensor would work and I’d go into Overdrive.
I contacted Intec support via email and they promptly responded with some steps to solve the problem. The professional and courteous email also asked me to write back if I continued to have problems so that they could provide me with instructions to return the guitar to them for repair.
I followed their steps and did some more testing with no luck. Rather than ship it back to them, it was easier and cheaper for me to make a defective product exchange at the store I purchased it from. Sure enough, I had the same issue with the second guitar. I decided that even though it’s not a crucial aspect of the game and I already have a Fender guitar, I still would like the second guitar to be used as intended. I returned the guitar to the store for store credit. Could it have been bad luck, or a bad batch shipped to the store? Possibly. Even still, I’d rather spend the extra cash on a Harmonix guitar now that I’ve experienced first hand the pros and cons of a third party guitar.
For players that take rocking out on a plastic guitar seriously, I would pass on the Rock Icon guitar and spend a little more for a Harmonix guitar (I only have experience with Harmonix guitars. There may be other great choices available.) For me, all the little details add up to make it worth the higher price. For the price conscious, those that want a low budget second controller, and those that simply don’t mind some of the “negatives”, then I would consider the Rock Icon an excellent choice.
2.4GHz wireless technology allows for 50 feet of gaming freedom Four (4) AA batteries required (not included) Equipped with 5-way FX switch and allows...More at Amazon
This wireless guitar features an edgy custom body shape with asleek black and white finish, precision built bi-directionalstrum bar, whammy bar, solo ...More at Buy.com
2.4GHz wireless technology allows for 50 feet of gaming freedom Four (4) AA batteries required (not included) Equipped with 5-way FX switch and allows...More at Amazon Marketplace
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