So I did some head-to-head testing with it and Instant Jam. I took Smells Like Teen Spirit from Nirvana and played it on medium in both games. I chose that game because, I’ve been listening to Nirvana for as long as there’s been a Nirvana to listen to. It’s a song I know well and one that I’ve played in various other games. I wanted to see the difference in the gameplay and I know that Instant Jam is making their charts by hand. Also, I knew this game was available in IJ so it would be a fair comparison.

Here are the results:

Game          Score        Accuracy    Note Streak    Difficulty
Instant Jam   92,816        95%         84              Normal
Rhythm Zone   368,729       80%         65              Medium

Score is completely aribtrary and can be thrown out while accuracy and note streak are better factors to judge the game on. Now as you can see, with the same song, and the same gameplay (notes coming down a track with keys to be struck when they reach the bar) there is quite a difference. A 15% accuracy dip and a 19 note difference in longest streak. Why is that? Because Rhythm Zone does not match the chart with the music, whereas Instant Jam does just that since they make their charts by hand. I’m not saying I feel like I’m playing the actual song, but when a note it struck in the game it corresponds more often to a note in the music when playing Instant Jam than when playing Rhythm Zone. In fact, my fingers often thought to do one thing because of the music but were required to do another.