Marking the much-anticipated return of online play to Rock Band, Rivals mode also represents the most dramatic shift to the Rock Band meta game since the franchise’s introduction in 2007. In Rivals Mode, players band together to form crews of up to ten people to take on other crews around the world in a structured and ongoing series of uniquely themed gameplay challenges. At the beginning of each challenge, crews will be assigned to one of six tiers. When a challenge ends, the best crews will ascend to a new tier, while under-performing crews will face demotion. As crews get promoted they’ll earn badges and face stiffer competition in their quest to earn their place amongst the elite in the highest tier - Bloodstone.

Rock Band Rivals challenges are made up of two distinct gameplay elements - Weekly Challenge Songs and Spotlight Songs. Crews looking to climb the leaderboard will need to focus on both if they want to succeed. Performance in weekly challenges is determined by the overall score earned by all crew members while playing qualifying songs. For example, in the challenge “I Want to Know What Love Is,” playing songs and artists with the word “love” in them will contribute to your crew’s Rivals score for the week. Spotlight Songs are an opportunity for Rock Band’s best players to show their stuff. Here, a crew’s Rivals score is determined by the single best performance achieved by the crew as a whole for each instrument. Balanced crews featuring elite singers, guitarists, bassists and drummers will have an advantage.

Iconic ‘80s songs don’t get much bigger than Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”. Taken from one of the best-selling soundtracks of all-time, “Danger Zone” peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and cemented Kenny Loggins’ status as the King of ‘80s soundtracks.  The song (co-penned by disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder) has become a pop culture staple and true anthem.

Sterling Archer: secret agent turned private investigator turned…rock star? That’s right, in celebration of the April 5th debut of Archer: Dreamland on FXX and the debut of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” in the Rock Band™ 4 DLC library, everyone’s favorite spy will be making his highly anticipated Rock Band debut this Thursday as part of the free March content update for Rock Band 4.

Bringing Archer into the Rock Band world presented a unique challenge for the art team. The Archer TV show is 2D animation with a cel-shaded style – completely different from the signature look of Rock Band. The team wanted to stay true to the Archer Style, so we created a custom cel-shader in Rock Band just for this character. The end result is an Archer that looks like he was pulled straight from TV and dropped on stage.

Archer will be available to all Rock Band 4 players when the March update hits tomorrow, March 16.  Check him out in action below, and get pumped for the new season, Archer: Dreamland, premiering April 5th on FXX.

As for “Danger Zone” gameplay - the bassline is definitely challenging. There’s a guitar solo, with HOPO runs after the first two choruses. Vocal runs abound, though never overwhelm. The drums need a persistent, quick right hand. Welcome to the “Danger Zone”.

Kenny Loggins – “Danger Zone” will be available on both Xbox One and PlayStation®4 this Thursday for $1.99.