My Review of Rock Band 2

A game review. Yes, it's about games. Get over it or I'll...I'll...I'll sic Chuck Norris on you. What have you got NOW, hmm?

My Review of Rock Band 2

 

All right, this is a really good game. I like the variety of songs, even within the on-disc setlist (oh yes, there's downloadable content galore). From Bob Dylan to some obscure death metal band named Abnormality, you've got pretty much every genre here. They finally got AC/DC into a music game, which had many screaming girls (and guys, I guess) nearly fainting. The song included (Let There Be Rock) is quite hard to play unless you know a couple techniques that take the strain off your right arm.

 

Let's get down to the game mechanics. The interface is almost identical to Rock Band 1, with a slightly taller meter that displays your multiplier. The graphics are indeed better, and they've added new stand-in characters as well as kept the old ones. That means you can see "Ol' Smokey" playing next to "Fritzi Hostopoulos"--oh joy. But I digress. The notes look a bit better and the note chart is a bit wider, so you're not so cramped. The timing window of hitting notes is very large, allowing players playing with one hand for fun to actually hit double notes by hitting the first note early and the second on time. The list that displays your songs is cleaner and easier to see than the previous, although for reasons not entirely understood, you can't see your star count on any songs, only your score.

 

The included drum trainer and fill trainer are interesting and somewhat useful, but only to novices, in my opinion. I just completed everything for the achievements, to be honest. The freestyle mode is a gift from up above, letting you experiment with different sounds and styles. You can be playing an electric kit one second and a vintage kit the next. If you have the additional cymbals or the ION Drum Rocker you can experiment with even more sounds.

 

The songs can sometimes be difficult but with enough practice you'll master them and begin to move up the difficulties on whatever instrument you play. You'll feel pride as you beat songs you never thought you could do before, and even more pride as you 100% them. I honestly think Harmonix did very well in charting the notes and making each of the instruments fun to play.

 

The World Tour is greatly improved, being not so linear and allowing you to leave something you cannot do and go onto other songs. The "sponsorships" and random events that pop up keep things fresh and fun. The ability to hire staff is amusing as you see the stereotypes (the unpaid, goth intern that hates you, Ms. "Lurlene Loudmouth" that is focused on PR, and the chubby accountant that gets you money, fast) displayed blatantly. The payoff at the end is incredible, although I'll leave you to discover that yourself.

 

Overall, this is a very fun game and I would recommend it to all budding and current rockers.

Author's Note

How can you review a review? Silly rabbit...