Second Verse Much Better then the First
From an outside perspective, Rock Band 2 looks exactly the same as the first game. But once you play it, you’ll see the mechanics are much different and you can never judge a band by its cover song.
Rock Band 2 is obviously the sequel to the successful Rock Band created by Harmonix who first created Guitar Hero but wanted to expand to more then just guitars so they created Rock Band.
The gameplay of Rock Band 2 is exactly the same as the first. You have singing, guitars, and drums and you can play one instrument in a band of four to a famous song. But some improvements have been made including better pitch detection in the singing making it easier to hit higher and lower notes and the drums are much easier to play around with.
In Rock Band 2 they have completely scrapped any straight forward form of gameplay for everything to be non-linear and a lot more fun. The first game’s Band World Tour mode which always required two or more players in the room can now be played solo and even online on Xbox Live. World Tour mode as it’s called now has you starting off playing gigs at your hometown that you choose and the better you play the more venues and cities open up. But during this mode you’ll be playing the same song over and over again which can get irritating.
Other welcome additions include Tour Challenges, of the Bands, and Drum Trainer. Tour Challenges are small events that are created to have more fun other then World Tour mode. Many challenges are created from the songs you have downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace. of the Bands is self-explanatory while Drum Trainer’s purpose is to teach hopeful drummers the basics of the skins and use them to transfer to the real thing.
But what’s a rhythm game without music? The soundtrack is one of the most diverse I’ve ever seen. Ranging from simple to play pop hits like Modest Mouse’s Float On to tough-as-nails face-melters like Judas Priest’s Painkiller and as a special surprise, Guns N Roses has premiered their first song in 15 years, Shackler’s Revenge, here in this game. Plus there are quite a lot of famous bands including Pearl Jam, Megadeth, Elvis Costello, Tenacious D, Bob Dylan, and even AC/DC with a total of 84 songs to play.
However if you’re one of those who’ve been keeping up with the weekly song releases do not fear. All the downloadable content is compatible between both games as well as having the ability to export most songs from the first game into the second.
The graphics are a lot crisper and character models are smoother and more realistic as actions like guitarists doing power-slides or the singer slamming the camera with the mic-stand. The venues look amazing and immerse you in the band experience.
When you play Rock Band 2 you get an experience like no other from a music game or a video game in general. A euphoric feeling that you have had some fun today and you can have the fun again and again. The best part is if you’re a Guitar Hero player your guitar will work for it, and if you bought the first Rock Band your instruments will work for it.
Overall this package isn’t just an expansion. It’s a whole new venue just waiting to be bought out. Get it, play it, love it.
