Rock Band 2 X360 Software
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Continue Your Rock and Roll Fantasy
Rock Band 2 lets you and your friends take your band on an even more expansive and immersive world tour - in person or online - and continue your rock and roll fantasy.
Harmonix, deliver Rock Band 2, the next step to the platform that lets audiences of all ages interact with music in an all-new way. Rock Band 2 lets players vicariously jam out as some of the best guitarists, bassists, drummers and singers of all time.
Featuring a track list with more than 100 on-disc and downloadable tracks from some of the most hallowed bands of the rock pantheon, Rock Band 2 by challenges rockers to master lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals.
  | Key Features Track List |  Grab the Mic View larger image  Rock the Songs View larger image  Give the Crowd a Show View larger image |
Customer Reviews
The evolution of a platform
The prime difference between what the folks at Harmonix and the people at Neversoft/RedOctane are doing with their perspective games comes down to very important semantics. Neversoft's Guitar Hero series is a franchise. Harmonix's Rock Band is a platform. It's a huge distinction and the truth is that Rock Band's method benefits the consumers a lot more.
So when you're purchasing Rock Band 2, you'll getting a lot more value than you can imagine. Sure there's the 84 song (all master cuts) list and the 20 additional free bonus songs coming really soon, but what's important to note is the promise that Harmonix is keeping with: Rock Band is a platform, meaning every song under the Rock Band umbrella (with a few unfortunate nixes) will work with their games. So not only do all the songs you've been downloading for a year work, but also all but three songs in Rock Band 1 can be ripped to your hard drive (for a nominal $5 for licensing fees). This is a phenomenal value that values the customer more than paying for individual "expansion" packs that have no connectivity to one another. Platform versus franchise.
Alright, so there's a huge value here. But once you dig into the actual game, there's some good and some blah. Harmonix revamped the touring mode so that, regardless of playing single or multi, you have one World Tour. Previously, songs unlocked in solo play would show up in the multiplayer; here, though, regardless of whether you're playing by yourself or with friends, you're unlocking songs as you travel throughout the world. It's a lot more fun and emphasizes group play.
One of the issues I've run into is that the people I play Rock Band with aren't the best of players. We do it for fun and we'd invariably run into a brick wall in the tour where they'd have to move up to the next difficulty and couldn't. So far, we haven't run into that situation and have gotten a lot more out of touring that we used to. I hope this continues as this is the most exciting and fun aspect of the game.
Other game types have been included, as well. Your band can do the "Tour Challenge," which basically throws various set lists at you to get through. These set lists can be songs from a specific band or songs difficult on a certain instrument or songs of a certain theme, etc. A second game type is "Battle of the Bands" and puts your band against another band virtually, with a leaderboard to track your progress.
If you're looking for more character customization options, you'll probably be disappointed. There's a few more new hair types and a couple more faces, but for the most part it feels like the first Rock Band. This is a common thread throughout Rock Band 2: it feels a lot like the first Rock Band. It's more of a slow evolution. By far the best changes are ones that should have been in place the first time around, namely the fact you don't need a band leader and that you can have one character play any of the instruments. This is probably my favorite part of the new game (minus the songs).
But the songs are the real showcase. There's a lot of diversity here with a lot of new bands, some oldies and everything in between. But most of the songs are a ton of fun to play, which is the most important part. If you have Rock Band, this is a no brainer as the gameplay modes are more fun and you're not losing songs. If you're new, this is a terrific place to start. Many many hours have been logged so far and I can't wait for more.
Second verse: same as the first.....but better!
So if you've even heard the words "video" and "game" put together outside of Fox News' patented Chicken Little hysteria over violence and such, you're well aware of just what Rock Band and Guitar Hero are all about. Good. That'll make this easy. "Rock Band 2" Takes every single little thing every living breathing gaming entity on the planet loved about the first one and added every little thing that was lacking and then some. Seriously, some may call this a full-priced expansion pack, but for what you're getting here you'd be an idiot not to buy this game if you already have the original pack. And if you missed out then there is no reason not to start here with the Special Edition's new and improved peripherals. I called the battle between RB and GH a draw before since GH had such a cooler over-the-top style, better translation of music-to-game and better songs to boot. No more. Rock band is the top of the music game hill right now and Guitar Hero World Tour is going to have to rock some serious socks off if it hopes to surpass this one.
First off, the most important part of the game: the music. Like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam? Sure you do. How about Bob Dylan, Blondie, and The Go-Go's? Darn skippy. Not hard enough? How about freakin' Testament, Mastodon, Megadeth, and System of a Down? My head is banging just thinking about it. Not legendary enough? The Who, Bad Company, Journey, AC/DC, and Fleetwood Mac do anything for you? Heard it all before? Well then check out the brand new never before heard new Guns n Roses song. Favorite band still not here, you say? Lacuna Coil, Sonic Youth, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and two different D's ( Social AND Tenacious) wish to make the pain go away. That's just a few of the EIGHTY FOUR master recordings you will jam out to. Not enough? How about a free code to download TWENTY MORE FOR FREE when they become available? And endless downloadable content including entire albums from Megadeth, Judas Priest, Boston, and an ever-growing list of many mucho more is an even bigger clincher. Plus, for a $5 fee you can import your entire Rock Band 1 library. If you love any sort of rock music, you will love this game.
Okay, the new additions. There is no reinventing of the wheel here, but the road is much smoother. The useless solo mode has been eliminated and instead solo play is integrated into the awesomely awesome world tour mode. I have not the time or the Rock Band-playing friends with too much time on their hands to embark on a lengthy multiplayer campaign so this is a dream come true. The best aspects of the original was saved for the multiplayer. That's no longer the case. You can also choose to play bass when going solo now so three cheers for that. The basslines are translated much better than the guitar parts anyhow. This time around you aren't tied down to any instrument at all going it solo; you can switch freely among them as you progress through the game. You can pass on the songs you don't like (or that kick your rear end) whereas in the original's solo mode you'd have to slog through every single song. Even the Flyleaf and Jet ones. Torturous!
Using the barely upgraded create-a-rocker feature I recreated my original RB band Midget Apartheid's lineup to a T and now I can play with all of my custom thrashers onstage at once when playing alone instead of having a bunch of lame stock-rockers filling out the ranks. I love this. Sadly, my band name was deemed "not classy" by the fascists at MTV Games and I'm barred from online play until I change it. I'm not changing it. It rules. Anywho, the online component is brilliantly integrated into the tour mode with optional battles and challenges where you can compete against other online bands that pop up as you travel. "Sage Tellah and the Spoony Bard Band" is sounding like a cool band name at this point (if you get that reference, you are now my friend). It's not selling out or caving in if I pretend it was my idea, right? I wanna try this new component out!
This is the simply the coolest music game ever put together from top to bottom. The only problem that remains is that a few of the songs are duds ("So Whatcha Want" is awful on guitar) and there are still times when you don't feel like you're controlling the music so much as you're just pressing combinations of buttons because the game says so. Guitar hero always makes you feel like you rule the guitar track. At times in Rock Band you are obviously playing a drum or bass part on the guitar and hearing something you aren't playing and vice-versa. There were also drum parts where all I heard was the bass drum and yet they still had me flailing away. This throws me off to no end because I listen to the music intensely and take rhythmic cues from it. It pulls me right out of the game when I'm hearing one thing and playing something else entirely. I can forgive this because it isn;t always flagrant and everything else is so heavenly. But no excuses, Harmonix. Fix this and you've got a contender the best game of any genre ever. Maybe it already is.
Bon Scott was a prophet. This I know to be true. He hath spake the blessed verse that hath come to be many a decade ago when he bequeathed unto us these words that best describe the experience that is Rock Band 2.
"Let there be sound", there was sound
"Let there be light", there was light
"Let there be drums", there was drums
"Let there be guitar", there was guitar
"Let there be rock"
And so on this day it has come to pass that (ramma lamma lamma lamma) Rock Band 2 is king. It's got the drums, it's got the singing, it's got the guitar/bass, it's got the songs, it's got more songs if you don't like those songs, and it's got a much better interface than any of it's predecessors. You like music? Got an up-to-date video game system? Beg, borrow, steal, or sell your family members' organs if you have to; but buy this game.
Rock Band Gets Even Better
vs. Rock Band 1:
Rock Band 2 doesn't add too many features, but the new challenges and especially the drum trainer are great. In the first Rock Band game I constantly ran into patterns on songs I was completely unfamiliar with. I could either fail the song over and over, or hit practice mode. But either way, I'd likely be ill-prepared for the next song. The drum trainer lets you practice pure rudiments, basics that many patterns in the songs are built from. Plus, you get to feel like you are actually learning how to play an instrument (and unlike guitar, you are).
However, my favorite feature is the new World Tour mode, despite having only minor changes from Rock Band 1. Now you can use any members for a band at any time, which actually was the reason my wife stopped playing and I just played on the solo mode (which is now gone unfortuantely). Aside from the missing solo mode, a minor difference (and not so practical now that I have a couple hundred songs), Rock Band 2 really does a great job of upgrading and adding new features.
Songs:
The library of songs added in Rock Band 2 is great. I think just about anybody could find 20 songs on the list they like, probably many more. The list is pretty ecclectic, so I doubt anybody will be a fan of each and every song, but it's definitely a solid list with all master recordings and mainly big names. Of course the sheer volume, 104 songs (including those yet to be released) plus all the downloadable songs you can buy and those in Rock Band 1 are the biggest draw.
Overall:
Rock Band 2 doesn't mess with what Rock Band 1 did right and simply refines the experience and beefs up the content. Harmonix did a great job with this game and I only wish that the bundle had come out as early, as the prices for everything individually is much higher, (not that I need a new mic). If you don't have any fake guitars or drum sets cluttering up your TV area, well, maybe you should hold out for the bundle and save some $$$. Or who knows, maybe the Guitar Hero World Tour instruments will be superior anyway? But if you do have the Rock Band 1 bundle, or even an old guitar hero guitar, Rock Band 2 is a must have.
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