Rock Band 2

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Rock Band 2
Tweet Topic Started: Jan 13 2009, 03:30 PM (212 Views)
LK	Jan 13 2009, 03:30 PM Post #1
iminspace Posts: 18,081 Group: Active Ancients Member #794 Joined: July 28, 2005 Gender Male Coins 5	Rock Band 2 Developer: Harmonix Publisher: MTV Games Release Date: October 19th, 2008 (PS3) Genre: Rhythm Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii Rating: T - Teen As a lot of people reading this might already know, I absolutely loved the first Rock Band. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Guitar Hero III, a lot actually, but when Rock Band introduced drums to the mix, it was a no-brainer to get Rock Band. I practiced and practiced, and I’ve finally gotten so good that I can not only beat every song on expert, but I can almost 5 star them all. That’s one thing about these games that kept me coming back, and thus I have played the game nearly every day since its release in November 2007. Rock Band 2 introduced new gameplay modes, and a new slick menu, and overall is a step up in quality from the previous game. But do the new gameplay modes and updated presentation make this game to spend another $200 on? Find out here. Now, I don’t want to spend all day of my time, and yours, trying to explain what Rock Band is. If you want to know all about Rock Band, what it is, and how it plays, then please visit my Rock Band 1 review. All Rock Band 2 is, is a major extension to the first game. What you get is a new soundtrack, sleeker menus, better interface, and overall just a tighter package with the same gameplay options. In this review I will only explain what’s upgraded from the first Rock Band, and why it is technically a better game than the first. The first thing that comes to mind about Rock Band 2 is that it has an amazing soundtrack of 84 great songs. You get your normal popular songs like “Give it Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, “That’s What You Get” by Paramore, “Almost Easy” by Avenged Sevenfold, and “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters, but there’s also songs that you expect to be in a Rhythm game like “Into the Blue” by Bob Dylan, and “Master Exploder” by Tenacious D. The game has a perfectly balanced soundtrack with some of the songs being ridiculously easy (“Nine in the Afternoon” by Panic at the Disco, or “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins) to ridiculously difficult (“Painkiller” by Judas Priest, or “Panic Attack” by Dream Theatre). One thing people will like from the soundtrack is some rare songs that were probably difficult to get. First of all, ACDC is finally in Rock Band with “Let There Be Rock” which is actually not only a good song, but fun to play. There’s also “Battery” by Metallica from their “Master of Puppets” album, which is supposedly their best album, the cry out for a Master of Puppets song finally came true. There’s also the stupid songs that just shouldn’t be in the game like “Visions” by Abnormality. Seriously? WTF? That song is not music, I don’t care what anyone says, and it’s the only song in the game I can’t beat on Expert Drums, it’s so damn ridiculous. Not only are most of the new songs good music, but most are actually way more fun to play. Panic Attack for example is one of the most complex songs ever, not one part of the song is alike, and ends up being one of the best songs ever to be in a Rhythm game. What makes the newest songs so fun is that Harmonix got ripped for the first Rock Band being too easy, Rock Band 2 is NOT an easy game. Sure, the soundtrack may not be a difficult as the charts in Guitar Hero: World Tour, but the timing window is so low in Rock Band 2 that it makes it pretty much the same difficulty overall. And just like the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 is fully capable of playing all of the Downloaded Content you bought from the first game. I bought nearly 50 songs in Rock Band 1, and all of them work perfectly in Rock Band 2. You can also transfer all but 3 songs from Rock Band 1 to Rock Band 2 with a download key from the Xbox Live Marketplace, or the PlayStation Network. Not only is there tons and tons of songs ready to play right off the bat, but you Harmonix is also releasing songs for download every week from full Albums to 3 song sets, there’s no slowing down of content for Rock Band 2. The normal modes are still here from the first Rock Band like Band World Tour and Practice Mode. The Band World Tour is cool because not only can you play with 2 to 4 players, you can actually play by yourself. But with this comes the exclusion of a tiered solo tour seen in the past game where you would play each tier of songs, and after you were done, the next tier would unlock. I actually liked this mode quite a bit because you could see what songs you still haven’t gotten 5 stars on yet. In Rock Band 2, you can still go to quick play and see the best scores for each song, but you can’t see how many stars you’ve gotten on any song. I have no idea if I’ve 5 stared every song. But playing 1-player Band World Tour is worth taking the Solo Tour out for. But you can also play Band World Tour over Xbox Live, or the PlayStation Network, which is a really cool addition. Most of the stuff works when playing online, but I hate how the drums noise disappears when something is doing a fill, it sounds kind of stupid. You also have your other online options like Tug of War and Score Duel, both work primarily the same as last game, and are still wickedly fun. There’s also 2 new gameplay mode additions to Rock Band 2 that are something really special. First, there’s a new Band Challenge where you play a set number of songs, and try to get the most stars as possible. Sometimes the competitions have songs you haven’t downloaded, but when you see a competition that you can play, it’s really fun to rock out. There’s also challenges, which can be with just one instrument, but you can also play these challenges with a whole band as well. The game will take the downloaded content you have, and make challenges out of them which is really cool. Say you downloaded 3 Weezer songs. The next time you go into the challenge mode, a Weezer Challenge will be sitting there waiting for you. Adding to the ton of new content, Rock Band 2 also features a Drum Trainer Mode that does exactly what it says, trains you to play the drums. It starts off slow with easy stuff, but gets harder and harder as you increase the Beats-Per-Second. I had no problem with most, but I think it’s a good way to practice for the difficult songs. Rock Band 2 also features a Fill Trainer for stupid-ass people who suck at drum fills. It’s cool, but definitely not as fun as the regular drum trainer. Sometimes the fills are too ridiculous, and no one is ever going to try them, especially when trying to get the highest score possible. I also have to say that I really enjoyed the inclusion of Trophies into Rock Band 2, something that the first Rock Band desperately needed. I know the 360 version had trophies for both games, but this is the first Rock Band game to have Trophies on the PS3. If you’re wondering, the trophies are the same as the achievements on the 360 version. The peripherals that come with the special edition of Rock Band 2 are the same as last year: a guitar, a microphone, a drum set, and wireless adapters for both the guitar and drums. The guitar is improved a little from Rock Band 1, the buttons aren’t as “clickly”, and the neck now has a darker finish then before. The pause button is also surrounded by plastic so you accidently press it when playing. Overall, the guitar still sucks, they really need to redesign that horrid thing, it’s a piece of garbage. The microphone that comes with Rock Band 2 is still a generic USB Mic, same as before. The drums are a major step up from the previous set, though. First, the plastic heads of the drums aren’t grey, they’re black, and they make a little less noise then before. Sure, it’s not a major improvement over the past drums, it’s not more quite, it’s just not as loud. The pedal is also improved, it now has a metal covering over top of it, instead of being just plastic. It’s better than the previous pedal, but it also broke on me anyways. The drums are also wireless this time, which is nice, but it’s quite annoying when the batteries run out when playing something like Battery by Metallica (pun definitely intended), but I’d rather them be wireless anyways. Overall, Rock Band 2 is a quality product. It’s a major step up from the original Rock Band, it has all of the modes that were fun in the first, but also a plethora of new modes like Challenges, Single Player World Tour, Online World Tour, Band Competitions, and the Drum & Fill Trainers. With all of these awesome options is also the consideration of being able to play one of 4 instruments like the last Rock Band, plus being able to play together. Rock Band 2 is probably one of the best party game of all time, but it’s also just a great video game altogether. Buy Rock Band 2, even if it is the special edition. The new and improved drums are worth it all in my opinion, but even just the game by itself is good enough for anyone.
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King Leon	Jan 13 2009, 03:37 PM Post #2
It ends tonight Posts: 767 Group: Toadette Member #11,507 Joined: December 14, 2008	Yet another great review, Link Kid, but I do prefer World Tour.
	I has returned


WillQ	Jan 13 2009, 03:40 PM Post #3
Hello little fella! Posts: 2,147 Group: Peach Member #6,793 Joined: January 1, 2008	Great Review but I currently can't afford this game



King Leon	Jan 13 2009, 03:42 PM Post #4
It ends tonight Posts: 767 Group: Toadette Member #11,507 Joined: December 14, 2008	NintendoWarrior Jan 13 2009, 03:40 PM Great Review but I currently can't afford this game Me neither. I hate how expensive the games are.
	I has returned


WillQ	Jan 13 2009, 03:44 PM Post #5
Hello little fella! Posts: 2,147 Group: Peach Member #6,793 Joined: January 1, 2008	King Leon Jan 13 2009, 03:42 PM NintendoWarrior Jan 13 2009, 03:40 PM Great Review but I currently can't afford this game Me neither. I hate how expensive the games are. Yeah I know but I am also saving for an Xbox 360. Also just wanted to ask, is the last song on this harder than Green Grass and High Tides?



LK	Jan 13 2009, 03:49 PM Post #6
iminspace Posts: 18,081 Group: Active Ancients Member #794 Joined: July 28, 2005 Gender Male Coins 5	The hardest guitar song is either Painkiller or Panic Attack, both are harder than GGAHT.
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WillQ	Jan 13 2009, 03:52 PM Post #7
Hello little fella! Posts: 2,147 Group: Peach Member #6,793 Joined: January 1, 2008	That must be really hard, my brother is great at these types of games but he can't be GGAHT on Expert, he gets nearly can but he fails on one of the massive guitar solos.



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