Rock Band 2

"Am I the only one who liked linear career mode?"

So you're thinking about buying the bright and shiny new Rock Band, huh? Well, if you played the first one (or any of the Guitar Heros) and enjoyed it, save yourself the trouble of reading my wall of text and just buy it. If you're out there sittin' on the fence, deciding between this or GH4, than keep on reading and I'll explain some of the finer points in this game. I'll break it into chunks.

Graphics: 7/10
Remember Rock Band 1's graphics? They're the same as this ones. Sure everything looks a little shinier and the animations are quite a bit better. But little to nothing is new. Even the places you performed in look almost identical to the RB1 locations. C'mon Harmonix, you could've thrown us a little more new stuff.

That being said, these graphics still look great. No real complaints other than the fact that it's the same ol'. Things like character creation are identical to RB1, just a bunch of more stuff added. I was quite pleased when my actual hair style showed up in the choices right from the get-go. Not much else to say here.

Sound: 10/10
Killer. Everything sounds great. Since every song in this game is a master track (excluding DLC and RB1 transfer) so you won't wrinkle your nose at the sound of a crappy cover singer. To sum it all up, everything sounds just like an MP3 of the song your playing.

Gameplay: 9/10
Now we get to the real meat 'n potatoes of this review. How does it feel to play the songs? Great. Everything is a step up from RB1 in this degree. All of the songs feel well emulated on your plastic instruments. Overall, I must say that basic gameplay seems much easier than RB1. All of the hit detections (that means guitar/drum/cowbell notes) are loosened up from last time. I'm not talking GH3 hit-a-hammer-on-from-a-second-away loose, but it's certainly looser than before. What's this mean? Less throwing down your guitar because Ride the Lightning is insane. The entire game is much less frustrating, which pretty much translates into the fact that this entire game is more fun.

Solo play gained a lot more depth as Harmonix allows you to play the Band World Tour all by yourself. For me, this was a double edged sword. It was undeniably more fun to pick your place, staff and challenges than just breezing through a giant set list. But if your like me, you'll play the one player once and never look at it again once Quickplay is all opened up. That's kinda the problem; Harmonix made it a bit tougher to quickly go through and grab all the songs. How much harder? Not much, maybe an hours worth of more play time. The fact of the matter though is that it was a noticeable problem, not something you can just shrug off.

The set list in this game is absolutely amazing. I'm a classic rock/metal fan, so I usually stick pretty tight to these roots and don't enjoy many other genres. I can't think of a single song in the entire game that was absolutely horrible to play. Everything was fun and catch. Even the punk songs, which I usually loathe, were quite enjoyable. Job well done, Harmonix.

So why does this section get a point marked off? Three complaints. 1) The complete lack of a linear set list, addressed above. 2) The complete and total lack of Jukebox Mode, which was promised quite awhile back. Jukebox Mode would allow you to listen to the songs without having to play them, and I've been hoping for that since Guitar Hero 2. 3) The songs Enter Sandman, Run to the Hills and Paranoid from RB1 are non-transferable. Sadness. If none of those three things matter to you, then consider the game play 10/10.

Play Time/Replay Value: By yourself in the tour: 4/10 By yourself in Quickplay/Multiplayer: 9/10
The tour just isn't that much fun to play by yourself after you've finished it. It was cool for kicks and giggles the first time, but it gets really old, really quick.

But as with any music game, picking up a guitar and playing a few songs will never get old. The same can be said for when you manage to bring a 4 person band together and totally rawk out. Don't under estimate this game's power for a party. It's really just tough not to have fun when you get everyone into the songs.

In short, if you pick this game up, you'll be playing it until Rock Band 3 comes out.

Overall: 9/10
Harmonix brings us a bunch of new tracks for us to play, plus a whole bunch of extra goodies to go along with them. Fans and non-fans will agree that this is a great game with only a few flaws.Hopefully by Rock Band 3, Harmonix will reach perfection on all ends of the spectrum.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/08

Game Release: Rock Band 2 (US, 09/14/08)