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Start a band. Rock the world. (Again.)
The original Rock Band undoubtedly revolutionized music games in a number of ways. The first (and most obvious) is that it added drums and vocals to the standard guitar gameplay and thus allowed gamers to partake in a full band experience. The second is that it made great use of downloadable content to drastically expand the game’s (already large) soundtrack. Rock Band 2 doesn’t introduce anything revolutionary to the series – but it does address some of the criticisms of the first game while introducing another 80 or so songs to the series.
Rock Band 2 includes over 80 new songs from artists like Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Panic at the Disco, The Who and AC/DC. Even newer artists like Paramore are included in the game. As a nice touch, all of the downloadable content from the first game is compatible with Rock Band 2 – a first for Xbox Live. Another excellent touch is the ability to export nearly all of the first game’s songs to Rock Band 2 (for a $5 fee) allowing you to drastically increase the soundtrack and not worry about swapping discs. You’ll have to import all of the songs at the same time but you can delete songs you don’t want afterwards.
As I mentioned above, the game addresses some of the criticisms of Rock Band. The first and most noticeable is that the World Tour mode is now available online. You can go on the entire tour with other players on Xbox Live, allowing you to earn cash and fans with friends from across the globe. In addition, there are other nice additions like a drum trainer, which demonstrates different and popular drum beats to improve your performance. The full-fledged practice mode (with songs from the actual game) is also included.
Rock Band 2 does away with solo tours in favor of playing World Tour mode by yourself. You begin by creating your rocker, selecting a band and then go on tour to earn fans and cash. Your rocker can switch instruments at any time—addressing another criticism of the first game. Additionally, the game lets you earn fans at low difficulty settings indefinitely whereas Rock Band required you to move up in difficulty levels to earn fans after a certain point. But of course the biggest addition to the game is that you can have other online people join your band or you can join their band online.
The core gameplay in Rock Band 2 is the same. One to four players can play guitar, bass, drums or sing along to one of the game’s 80 or so songs. The game is compatible with instruments from Rock Band, as well as Guitar Hero II and III. The instruments from Guitar Hero World Tour should be compatible too. Rock Band 2 is available as a bundle with improved instruments (also available separately) although we didn’t get a chance to try those out.
Similarly, the game’s graphics are about the same as they were before. It still looks great—thanks to terrific animation and lighting effects—but the core graphics engine isn’t cutting edge. As expected, though, the game sounds stellar.
Rock Band 2 doesn’t revolutionize the series or the genre. It lacks a super defining feature (a la Guitar Hero World Tour’s music creator) but it’s hard to complain when the core game is so good. The ability to play 80 new songs, import over 50 songs from Rock Band, and play all of the original downloadable content from one disc is amazing. Also impressive is that seemingly every major criticism of the first game has been addressed. Ultimately, Rock Band 2 is a fantastic title and one that is highly recommended. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Sep 28, 2008
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