Ultimate Party Game
Gameplay
Rock Band 2 is the sequel to the first music game to allow you to play guitar, bass and drums as well as sing. Gameplay follow a tried and tested formula.
For the percussion/rhythm instruments: As notes scroll down the screen towards you you either hold the corresponding note(s) and strum the strum bar on the guitar or hit the correct drum(s) if playing the drum part (my personal favourite)
For Vocals: Your need to sing along with the song and try and match your pitch with the vocal part as the timeline progresses
For playing highlighted sections in full you earn overdrive which when deployed brings the crowd onto your side and doubles your score multiplier for while it lasts
This game can be played with up to 4 players either online or offline.
The gameplay mode on offer are:
* Quick play: Play an individual song or set of songs of your choosing
* Tour mode: This is the main gameplay mode, you create a rocker which is quite customizable and start a band. You start off in your home city and as you play gigs (ranging from individual songs up to the endless set list which is every song in the game back to back) you earn stars which unlock new cities, venues and sets to play. From here you can also access challenges which tasks you with completing set songs on a specified instrument and when online you also get access to the 'Battle of the Bands' sets which again gives you set songs to play but tracks your scores on the online leaderboards.
* Competitive multiplayer: As well as the above modes which can be played cooperatively you have Score Duel and Tug of War. Both are high score competitions but Tug of War you are competing for the crowd's affections
* Training: Here you can practice songs, use the full drum trainer and jam along with music in your ipod/360 for the drums
* Music Store: From here you can purchase music for the game including hearing previews of the songs and seeing the difficulty levels for each instrument and the full band experience. You can also purchase tracks via the Xbox Live Marketplace
Look and Sound
Rock Band 2 is never gonna be a graphical power house game, you have Gears 2 to show off how good everything can look on the 360, but it has a nice clean look which suits he style and purpose of the game.
The sound is really where this game shines all the tracks are master recordings and sound amazing which really helps elevate this game even the older classic rock songs like AC/DC's Let There Be Rock sounds fantastic
Achievements
Overall a very balanced list, with ones that reward progression through the World Tour mode and some that reward more skill. Then there's the Iron Bladder achievement which rewards playing the whole Endless Set list (5 hours) without pausing the game!
Pros and Cons
+ Amazing and Diverse set list
There is genuinely something for everyone ranging from Bon Jovi and Survivor to Mastadon and Metallica (even caters for my Heavy Metal music tastes)
+ Fun
No matter what your musical/instrument preference is you will have fun with this game especially if you can get 4 friends together (online or off) it§s one of the best party experiences on any system. Rock Band nights are not a staple of my get togethers with friends
+ Customisable enough to still provide a challenge
There is something for everyone difficulty wise and each progression (Easy > Medium etc...) feels really well balanced and achievable
+ A steady stream of DLC available giving a lot of replay value
Harmonix have promised and delivered DLC every week since the game launched and like the main setlist there is a really good variety of artists and genres covered
+ Great online functionality
As i have said the full Band World Tour is now playable co-op online and there is also standard competitive multiplayer too
+ The Battle of the Bands Weekly challenges
If the DLC doesn't keep you coming back these challenges will Harmonix are constantly updating the game with new challenge set lists that take DLC into account too and just keeps adding life to an already lengthy game experience
- Just an improved RB 1 really
Feels Identical really apart from the fact that the Single player is now the world tour multiplayer mode from RB1
- World Tour mode still pretty much the same
Apart from being able to go online it's the same structure as in RB1, play gigs to get stars in one city > unlock next mile stone set > play set and unlock more cities> rinse and repeat
- 1 or 2 dud (not fun) songs
The Beastie Boys track seems like a good idea on paper but it's really boring to play
(Based on 3 weeks of playing on Medium difficulty - working up to Hard)
Overall I love this game, if you liked RB1 you really need to pick this up. If you didn't play RB1 it's definitely worth a try as it is a great Party game
Rock Band 2 is the sequel to the first music game to allow you to play guitar, bass and drums as well as sing. Gameplay follow a tried and tested formula.
For the percussion/rhythm instruments: As notes scroll down the screen towards you you either hold the corresponding note(s) and strum the strum bar on the guitar or hit the correct drum(s) if playing the drum part (my personal favourite)
For Vocals: Your need to sing along with the song and try and match your pitch with the vocal part as the timeline progresses
For playing highlighted sections in full you earn overdrive which when deployed brings the crowd onto your side and doubles your score multiplier for while it lasts
This game can be played with up to 4 players either online or offline.
The gameplay mode on offer are:
* Quick play: Play an individual song or set of songs of your choosing
* Tour mode: This is the main gameplay mode, you create a rocker which is quite customizable and start a band. You start off in your home city and as you play gigs (ranging from individual songs up to the endless set list which is every song in the game back to back) you earn stars which unlock new cities, venues and sets to play. From here you can also access challenges which tasks you with completing set songs on a specified instrument and when online you also get access to the 'Battle of the Bands' sets which again gives you set songs to play but tracks your scores on the online leaderboards.
* Competitive multiplayer: As well as the above modes which can be played cooperatively you have Score Duel and Tug of War. Both are high score competitions but Tug of War you are competing for the crowd's affections
* Training: Here you can practice songs, use the full drum trainer and jam along with music in your ipod/360 for the drums
* Music Store: From here you can purchase music for the game including hearing previews of the songs and seeing the difficulty levels for each instrument and the full band experience. You can also purchase tracks via the Xbox Live Marketplace
Look and Sound
Rock Band 2 is never gonna be a graphical power house game, you have Gears 2 to show off how good everything can look on the 360, but it has a nice clean look which suits he style and purpose of the game.
The sound is really where this game shines all the tracks are master recordings and sound amazing which really helps elevate this game even the older classic rock songs like AC/DC's Let There Be Rock sounds fantastic
Achievements
Overall a very balanced list, with ones that reward progression through the World Tour mode and some that reward more skill. Then there's the Iron Bladder achievement which rewards playing the whole Endless Set list (5 hours) without pausing the game!
Pros and Cons
+ Amazing and Diverse set list
There is genuinely something for everyone ranging from Bon Jovi and Survivor to Mastadon and Metallica (even caters for my Heavy Metal music tastes)
+ Fun
No matter what your musical/instrument preference is you will have fun with this game especially if you can get 4 friends together (online or off) it§s one of the best party experiences on any system. Rock Band nights are not a staple of my get togethers with friends
+ Customisable enough to still provide a challenge
There is something for everyone difficulty wise and each progression (Easy > Medium etc...) feels really well balanced and achievable
+ A steady stream of DLC available giving a lot of replay value
Harmonix have promised and delivered DLC every week since the game launched and like the main setlist there is a really good variety of artists and genres covered
+ Great online functionality
As i have said the full Band World Tour is now playable co-op online and there is also standard competitive multiplayer too
+ The Battle of the Bands Weekly challenges
If the DLC doesn't keep you coming back these challenges will Harmonix are constantly updating the game with new challenge set lists that take DLC into account too and just keeps adding life to an already lengthy game experience
- Just an improved RB 1 really
Feels Identical really apart from the fact that the Single player is now the world tour multiplayer mode from RB1
- World Tour mode still pretty much the same
Apart from being able to go online it's the same structure as in RB1, play gigs to get stars in one city > unlock next mile stone set > play set and unlock more cities> rinse and repeat
- 1 or 2 dud (not fun) songs
The Beastie Boys track seems like a good idea on paper but it's really boring to play
(Based on 3 weeks of playing on Medium difficulty - working up to Hard)
Overall I love this game, if you liked RB1 you really need to pick this up. If you didn't play RB1 it's definitely worth a try as it is a great Party game
