You might be surprised to find that you don’t need to own either Rock Band title in order to play this game, as it is completely standalone. You can play it without having ever popped a Rock Band title into your system. If you’d rather swipe the songs and shuffle them into your library of songs, then you’d best pick up this track pack new, as it comes boxed with a code to enable you to download all of the songs included. Didn’t buy it new? You may be out of luck when it comes to downloading all of these songs. Perhaps that was their intention – to push buyers to purchase new instead.

Kenny Rogers is among the artists included.

This track pack comes loaded with country hits spanning a few different time periods, including hits from Sara Evans (“Suds in the Bucket”), Dierks Bentley (“Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)”, Shania Twain, Rascal Flatts, Willie Nelso, and Dixie Chicks. Now, I’m not a country fan but since both parents swear by the genre as well as bluegrass, I know a thing or two about the artists, and while there is an eclectic mix of songs here, it’s quite strange why there are no country “greats” on the track pack such as perhaps Garth Brooks, George Strait, or even Johnny Cash. I wonder what steps were taken to determine which artists Rock Band country fans would like to see included. There are some interesting choices here, though there are only 21 songs to choose from. Given the game’s retail price ($29.99) you can’t expect a full song catalogue, though it would have been nice to see more added for country lovers since the genre is not very well-represented on Rock Band. I know it’s not called “Country Band,” but it’s a very popular genre and there’s no mistaking that people will shell out the cash to sing about beer, cheating, and beautiful women! Oh, and tractors.

You’ll find that this standalone package is a lot like games such as Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s or Guitar Hero Aerosmith in that it doesn’t take on too different of a form than its predecessors. It’s mainly an expansion, so you’re not going to find any country greats to play as or any kind of dramatic change in menu or graphics. In fact you’ll notice that much of the same content has been recycled from previous Rock Band games such as music between performances and the text that you get to read while waiting for your song to load. There’s also no way to play this online, so all of your options include local multiplayer or single player only, unless you take the download code route, rendering the disc obsolete.

If you’re a country music fan this is quite the interesting boost to your collection and there’s no doubt that you’ll get a ton of use out of the 21 songs included. $29.99 is a good deal considering each song would run you 160 Microsoft points anyway, and with Microsoft’s strange point pricing system you’d have to spend over $40 to ever attain that amount of points. Regardless if you’re going to use the physical disc or not this is a solid track pack that country fans should eat right up. Myself? I can’t wait to get my hands on the upcoming Metal Track Pack!

If you’re curious, here’s the full list of songs included:

• Alan Jackson – “Good Time”
• Brad Paisley – “Mud on the Tires”
• Brooks & Dunn – “Hillbilly Deluxe”
• Cross Canadian Ragweed – “Cry Lonely”
• Dierks Bentley – “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)”
• Dixie Chicks – “Sin Wagon”
• Drive-By Truckers – “3 Dimes Down”
• Jason Aldean – “She’s Country”
• Keith Urban – “I Told You So” *
• Kenny Chesney – “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”
• Kenny Rogers – “The Gambler”
• Lucinda Williams – “Can’t Let Go”
• Martina McBride – “This One’s For The Girls”
• Miranda Lambert – “Gunpowder & Lead”
• Montgomery Gentry – “Gone”
• Rascal Flatts – “Me and My Gang”
• Sara Evans – “Suds In The Bucket”
• Shania Twain – “Any Man of Mine”
• Steve Earle – “Satellite Radio”
• Trace Adkins – “Swing”
• Willie Nelson – “On the Road Again”

Doin It RIGHT: - Eclectic list of country songs. - Budget price. - Works with or without Rock Band games.	Doin It RONG:- Only 21 songs. - Recycled material. - Buy used and won’t receive the DLC code.
FINAL SCORE: 7 / 10

D-Pad Hero is an indie homebrew NES game, obviously made for emulators unless of course you’re some sort of hacker, but I’m not into that. The game is pretty much just what it sounds like. The NES controller appears at the bottom of the screen, and red dots pass over the A and B buttons. Most have arrows that are pushed in combination with the corresponding A or B button. There are no difficulty settings, but you can’t fail the songs.

While newcomers might have a tough time when first playing, it slowly becomes natural once you become familiar with the controls. There are four songs to choose from, which were remade to sound like something you would hear in an old school Nintendo game. They each sound spectacular even though they are coming from a system that is now decades old.

While the short track list makes for a short game, the concept behind the game and the music itself makes it well worth the play time to hear the songs and get acquainted with a pixelated, dancing robot.

Download, videos, a blog and more at their site.

Gameplay: 8

Story: N/A

Visuals: 6

Sound: 10

Replay Value: 7

Overall Score: 8