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Rating

Just what I ordered! This product was just like the picture. Very nice Quality! Fast Delivery as well! Really Fun! Worked Great!

Thanks, Lisa

Rating

Yes – it is worth the upgrade. It’s not bad value for 104 songs alone, never mind that the game itself is better in every area.

So what is moved over from Rock Band 1?

Songs and Downloads

Make sure your xbox is internet connected, start up Rock Band 1 and accept the update. A new menu option lets you export all the songs to the hard disk. It doesn’t take too long (less than 30 mins), but does chew up a lot of space. Go into your options menu and note your current calibration settings. Now start Rock Band 2…

“Hello there, ladies and gentlemen.

Hello there, ladies and gents, are you ready to rock?

Are you ready or not?”

That’s all that gets moved unfortunately… nothing else. First run is a little annoying because of that. It will prompt you for the save location for the song cache, band data, calibration data, etc. etc. and then you have to recreate all your characters, bands and recalibrate. Audio Visual calibration is new, looks prettier, but didn’t give me a great result – so I manually set the values I used in Rock Band 1. Worked like a charm. The manual says the new Rock Band 2 Fender guitar has an “auto calibration” feature which sounds cool. Oddly enough all the audio previews in the marketplace don’t move over.

Do Rock Band guitars, drums and mic work?

Yes. I tried the wired and wireless Rock Band Fender guitars, Guitar Hero III wireless Les Paul, drums and mic. All worked with only one glitch – the 4-way switch on the guitar is upside-down on menus. Strum down goes down a menu. 4-way switch down goes “up”. Strange.

What stays the same?

The menu structure and overall “feel” of the game is the same. The world tour looks very similar, e.g. same venues, same cities, same tasks like “play to get a Van”. Izzy from Death of the Cool has a new VCR, but delivers the same Freakin’ Hard guitar tutorial.

What’s new and worth having?

** Song selection. Shows difficulty for each instrument just like in the online marketplace. Much better than before.

** Solo world tour. Solo career mode is gone, but you can play the world tour on your own… yup you can finally do a Bass tour!

** Band Challenges. Just themed “gigs” really, but Nice. This is the way of unlocking songs. I was pleasantly surprised to see it give extra challenges based on your downloads. For example I got an Oasis challenge.

** Drum Trainer. A completely new feature. Lets you pick your beat pattern, fills and speed and play along. Really nice.

Anything frustrating?

Of course if you’ve been playing RB1, it’s annoying to have to start again and unlock all the songs. I haven’t minded too much. It forced me to start on Hard and progressively learn the songs – that’s been more fun than I expected.

~~~ It’s great. It’s what you expected. Just get it. ~~~

Rating

Rock Band 2 is the best all around music game on the market. The track listing is even better than the previous game and the game makers have made some nice tweaks to the appearance and gameplay.

First I noticed was the hammer-on notes are made slightly smaller and therefore more noticeable. There are also now dual-note hammer-ons where you will transition to two notes at once without strumming, neato!

Character creation has seen relatively few tweaks, I liked it then, and I like it now. The “solo” mode from the last game is basically gone. And instead you have a band with only one member and the rest are computer generated ‘mates. I like this, since I wound up playing a lot in solo mode and missed playing in “band tour” mode. Now this is resolved in RB2. The only downside to the mutliple venue/city layout is that as you play gigs, you wind up playing the same songs over and over. This is strange because there are a ton of songs included and chances are you’ll download at least a few more favorites. But I feel like even on “random” (aka, mystery setlists) I’ve played “Pinball Wizard” a suspiciously high number of times.

Speaking of songs, you can transfer you old RB1 songs into RB2 with the download of a transfer credit from Xbox Live (400 MS points, easy). After a month of playing RB2, i missed “Green Grass and High Tides” among other songs. So this was an awesome addition.

And really thats what keeps me playing: the actively updated song database and the Xbox Live challenges that keep popping up in the game. It gives you another reason to periodically fire up the game and see whats new. The look, the songs, Rock Band 2 is a total package.

Rating

I’m not really sure what new stuff could be added to this type of game. Having said that… RB2 doesn’t have massive improvements but the ones it does have, are much needed ones. There are several but my favorite one is the ability to make setlists. It was a pain having to select new songs after one ended… it took forever. Now load times between songs is far less than before.

If you’re not that crazy about the songs included in the list, don’t get it. The improvements aren’t worth forking out another $60+ for the game. But if you’re like me, who likes to have a complete series of games, then by all means get it.

Wheter it’s RB or RB2 you’re getting… you’re getting your money’s worth. The game has infinite replayability value and it makes a party even more fun. If you don’t have family members or friends that are into this kind of game, who cares, you’ll have a blast playing on your own.

If you ever had the urge to start a band but never got around to actually doing it, this is your chance to start a Rock Band band XD… or if you just want a fun game… this is it!

Rating

This one is esentially the same as the first one, just with newer songs and a super cool menu with the cover art of the CD. For those that got burnt out on the first one, this one has twice the songs, and the endless setlist…oh man, get ready for a long night!!! All I can say is get this game, if you haven’t broken your drumset, in which case, get the new one, too.

Rating

I managed to get my hands on Rock Band 2 a bit early, and spent the entirety of the evening playing. What a drastic improvement over Rock Band 1 on the Wii! This is identical to the Xbox 360/ PS3 versions of the game, and I was even more impressed than I anticipated. I was having a blast before I even had a chance to play a single note: The character creator tool was such a blast! You create a band and members, and then you hit the road. It was a really satisfying experience! This is really the first time that a Wii game has been truly competitive with other Next-Gen console games.

The World Tour mode is now available locally or online, and there are also challenges and battle-of-the-bands. There was a “Wii pre-release” battle available for the select few who managed to snag the game early, and I was able to compete head to head with other bands (there were only 3 other bands online since the game was not yet available @ most stores).

There are sure to be plenty of lengthy reviews, so I will just note some of my observations:

*Band Members – once you create your band-mates using the Character Creator, when you play a gig, there they are! I knew this feature was present, but I had no idea how exciting it would be the first time my character (who happens to look JUST LIKE ME!) appeared on stage! It was really satisfying! This feature was really well done. My first order of business was to create characters for my wife and all our friends. Whenever they come over and play from now on, they can use their characters. Also, these characters can be moved around, dropped etc. Also, whenever you select a character to play a gig with your band, they get a “cut”, earning that character money which can be used to buy clothes, accessories, instruments, etc. Of course, my wife blew all her money on some designer jeans, some pink driving gloves, and some shoes before she even played one gig! Typical… =)

*Online – Some of the online features haven’t been enabled yet, but I was able to play in the online battle of the bands. I was playing during a weather storm, and my internet connection was suffering. I had a hard time checking my email from my computer in fact! But, much to my surprise, the game chugged along, and I didn’t see any problems with the online interface. The whole game is played “connected”, so you don’t have to keep logging on and off if you switch between local and online play. The interface was really polished and well done, unlike other Wii games that seem to tack on the online portion after the fact. A+++.

*Updated instruments – The new guitar and drum look and feel really good. The drums are sturdier, and also the pads are quieter. Other than that, not much of a change here, but I had no complaints about the previous generation of instruments.

*Music – This game seems to have a much more varied mix of music. Much like when I began playing RB1, I only knew a handful of the songs that I initially was able to play. A few of the songs that I initially played were somewhat familiar, but some were way off the radar for me. Still, what I have heard so far is great! As you may already know, there is a Music Store built in the game where you can use Wii points on your system to buy new songs, so there will be no shortage of great music to be played! I was also surprised to see that details about the band and even album art appear on the song selection screen. The interface is really clean and polished; it really doesn’t feel like a “game” at all. There is really no end to this games replay value. There are already close to 500 songs available in the DLC catalog (and all of this will come to the Wii shortly), and new songs are added weekly. Guitar Hero: World Tour can’t even begin to compete in this area!!!

Do yourself a favor and go buy this game. I loved RB1 on the Wii, and really didn’t think I was missing out on much… as it turns out, the additional features in RB2 are really astounding! The solid gameplay of Rock Band 1 is there… the great music game is completely intact. RB2 adds the “Band” experience: Touring, Band-mate selection, losing fans if you quit a “set” prematurely, battle of the bands, never-ending amounts of fresh content to play, expansive leaderboards and band data, even the ability to order posters and figurines of your band!!! Rock Band 2 for the Wii delivers!!

Rating

This is the best rock band game of all of them. Huge list of good songs and you can create a set list which lets you go from song to song quickly, like real life concerts.

Rating

I love Rock Band 1, but I was thoroughly disappointed in not being able to play World Tour on Xbox Live. Harmonix heard our complaints and fixed that issue as well as allowing you to create one rocker to play all instruments instead of having a different rocker for every instrument (that was annoying). If you like music games, then this is a great one, and if you only can afford one, this is the best of all the music games I’ve played.

Rating

I have played both Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour, and by far Rock Band is the best. I love being able to create the characters, the choices are great for outfits and accessories, and I have found some jewels of songs to add to my own personal collection. I am hoping a Rock Band 3 is in the planning. It is the best video game I have ever had and beats Guitar Hero by about 100%.

Rating

A definite improvement over Rock Band I. The tour and challenges are a nice addition. There is a bigger variety of music and the opportunity to download additional content extends its replay value (you don’t get bored with it). My husband and son have been playing nonstop since we got it. They enjoy rotating betweeen the guitars, drums, and vocals. It has become a family event. Guests can play their instrument on “easy” while the more experienced players can choose a higher level of expertise and then all play together.

The only complaint is with the hardware. The guitar strummer becomes less responsive over time–especially when the game is primarily played in “expert” mode. However, when the rubberband inside breaks, some easy modifications for the guitar can be found online.

Rating

I have the first Rock band so when the second one came out I was so excited to get it. It is so much fun. You can transfer songs from the first Rock Band onto the second one. You can also use the instruments from the first Rock Band to the second. It is worth the money. Fun Fun Game.

Rating

I purchase this game for my son,and I have to say I love it just as much as he does, songs are great.

Rating

I love Rock Band 2. I’m glad I purchased the game alone at Walmart. I think it was a very smart and economical purchase.

Before I purchased this game, I checked into whether or not my Rock Band hardware would be compatible, which it is.

I love the songs that don’t appear on original Rock Band, as well as the similar game interface. The tutorials are exactly the same, with the addition of extended drum tutorials. These include Beat Training, Fill-In Training and the Freelance Mode.

I particularly love the free drum practice mode. This particular mode allows you to just go nuts on the drums and have fun doing it. Ever want to just go crazy with your drums? The free drum practice mode is the perfect avenue for that. It also allows you to experiment with the various drum kits in the software.

If you’re into rock music like me, and want to let your inner rock star out, get your hands on this game, and take center stage.

Rating

I really enjoy playing RB2. And since you can use the GHWT instruments (Wii) on RB2 it’s even better. Nice game play, nice song choices. Overall a really fun game. I don’t like it quite as much as GHWT, but it’s not far off. If you liked the first one, then this one is must have.

Rating

I got this for my husband so he could let his inner rock star out. It was rated “teen” so I did not think that it would work for our whole family (we have young kids). I stored it with all of his other “mature” video games.

Then I decided to give it a try since it looked like so much fun. It is a blast! You can make up your own personality and add more to your rock band. Even better, we can let our kids play along. The songs that are for mature audiences have a blue dot next to them to tag them for you. So we know to avoid those when our kids play. I’ve found the blue dot songs have mature lyrics or suggestive movements.

If you have wifi, you can download even more songs once you’ve accrued enough points with your rock band. I love this game! Now I just need to add more instruments….

Rating

What can I say. Best game for PS2 PERIOD…… Better than first rock band game especially because it has more songs and has a better career mode called world tour. In world tour mode, you travel from city to city around the world picking a up a van, a bus, a jet, a sound guy, a promoter, rodies, and many more. One of the last set lists is where you play all the songs in the game in a row. You get an achievement for not pausing so don’t pause if you get to it. This game is AWESOME! Better then guitar hero games. Get it!

Rating

I simply don’t understand the reviewer who wrote this is the “same as RB1, but still good.” I mean I guess that is correct – the folks who made Rock Band knew what the customers liked and have kept it in RB2. But all those things I found soooo annoying with Rock Band 1 have been fixed.

The bottom line here is they’ve made this game more “party-friendly” and more “extreme-friendly.” I’ll point out specifics below.

Why it’s better than RB1

-First is the “no-fail” option. It was always a bummer in RB1 when you had a big party, everyone was having fun playing but one or two players just weren’t good enough to keep up. So the game penalized you for being inexperienced even though you had fun trying. Well, not anymore! RB2 has a nofail option that won’t fail the band or players. The catch? You won’t get achievements and some other “award” features are disabled, but then again you are playing for fun, right?

-”Extreme option” – for the other end of the spectrum, if you felt the guitar was too easy on RB1, there is an option to make it even more impossible (faster). I probably won’t be using this feature but I know some people will appreciate it.

-TONS O’ SONGS – Not only do you get a new setlist with RB2, it automatically (and for free) brings all your purchased games into the new version. None of that was wasted money! Also, if you miss some of the old RB1 songs not in RB2, you just need to spend 400 gamer points and you can import your entire RB1 collection (the ones that came with the original game) to RB2. There were a few songs I missed in RB2, but by spending 400 points I have all but three of the old songs.

-Non-instrument specific players – This was a big one for me. Due to the XBOX setup you still will have to sign out and sign back in to switch instruments, but now your Rock Band 2 profile is the same across ALL instruments! I remember during parties we would have fun creating a profile, then play with it, then want to switch instruments and realize we had to start over again. So if I setup a Rock Band profile for the microphone I would have to set up a new one for drums. This was the most annoying RB1 feature in my opinion. Well, not anymore!

-Unlock all songs, but disable the feature – now there is a more handy spot to enter the cheat codes and it can be disabled at whim. Want to have all the songs at your fingertips? It’s easy. But what if you want to play for real again and earn achievements and make progress in the game. Instead of restarting you can just disable the cheat right from the menu.

Those are my big reasons why I spent the extra $[...] for the new game. And, in my opinion, for extreme players and party hosts, it is worth it.

Rating

The most fun you will have. A must have for anyone. Once you start playing you will not stop. You will have just as much fun playing by your self or with a group of people. I LOVE IT. Worth every penny.

Rating

A great game for families, friends to gather together and have fun, mutual help from each band mate saves other band mates. A game to loose, break the ice between friends, families.

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Better songs on this one than the 1st — in my opinion. A no-brainer addition if you have the insturments to play it.

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This is by far the best game I own currently. I’m a drummer in real life (I even own my own drumset) and this game adds to everything I loved from Rockband 1. If you even sorta liked rockband 1 – this game you will love. Not only does it add 104 or so songs to your library but you can transfer almost all (all but 3) of your rockband 1 songs over for a small fee as well. Plus EVERY aspect of the game is improved. The songs alone are worth the sticker price. I could go on and on and on – but in short – if you’re even thinking about it – GET IT!!! It’s worth it.

Rating

I played Band Hero for the first time at age 44 with my nieces and nephew while on vacation….had such a great time…they only had Rock Band 1. So, I wanted to send them a summer time gift, so purchased this for them as a gift! It was a huge hit! The whole family plays, and even when the adults entertain, they will get everyone to play. Great price, and worth every penny!

Rating

Rock Band has taken a step in the right direction with Rock Band 2. Not only can you join up with your friends on-line to destroy the World Tour, you can go it alone. Challenges are also available which increase in difficulty as you climb to the top. Song difficulty has increased overall which leaves you with a feeling of accomplishment (or disgust). Get ready to rock….HARD!

All instruments work with RB2.

Rating

This is the greatest invention in the universe!

You can play your own music, get fans and earn millions!

It’s good for rainy days, holidays, and just a regular day.

It’s fun, educational and it teaches you some music.

Rating

I purchased GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR back on Black Friday, and as much as I like the GUITAR HERO games for their decent catalog of songs, I’ve never been a huge fan of their on-screen interface. There’s a little too much graphic intensity on the game itself and it makes prolonged gameplay almost impossible without battling some intense vertigo. After about 4 songs (depending on length and difficulty), the walls start to breathe and the room starts to spin. I know that this is a pretty common issue with GUITAR HERO. And for the most part, I’ve never really been a huge fan of the songs that GUITAR HERO has offered. I think it’s a decent catalog, but it could be a lot better.

Then I got ROCK BAND 2. And that is how a music simulator game should be!

I had the first ROCK BAND for PS2, and I loved it comparitively to the GUITAR HERO games because of the plain facts that A: Most, if not all, of the songs were the original artists (which was lacking from about 90% of the first 3 GH releases) and B: The instrument interface is so much easier on the senses. I can play RB for literally hours without feeling the effects that 3-4 songs on GH would have. RB 2 is even better, and for the Wii, it’s just great having the wireless freedom.

Also, thru the Wi-Fi connection for the Wii, there is an amazing catalog of downloadable songs that include songs from the previous two RB TRACK PACKS, and it’s updated constantly. ROCK BAND was already, in my opinion, the best of the music simulators out there, and RB2 just solidifies it at the top of the heap. I mean, just for the fact that downloadable content includes songs from Nine Inch Nails, Boston, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and James Brown… well, that’s just eclectic enough to keep my interest!

Great game. Great playability. This is the way to go!

BRING ON ROCK BAND BEATLES!!!!

Rating

My nephew love this game since the first moment! Hi and his friends have too fun with it!! They have formed a band.

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I have the Rockband Beatles and you can only download more beatles songs. With Rockband 2 you can download all kind of groups! I think the price per song is somewhere aroung 1,5$

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I love this game, I mean truely love this game. I am in my mid 30′s and my wife is in her early 30s. Her passion for video games is this, when I play she goes shopping. For the first time in our marriage we have played a game together, and not just once but for hours. Rock Band brings people together. It has brought out a side of my wife that I never knew exisisted…I thought she would mumble thru the song as a singer, I was wrong she warmed up with loud HELLO BOSTON (the venue we were in) and than did her best Axle Rose impression. Than she played drums and it was like sitting next to Animal from the muppets. Needless to say we had fun. For the first time since we have lived in our new house we have asked people to come over to complete “The Band”.

Ok I love the game but what else. First the instruments are constructed well enough and I have faith they will last. The microphone is heavy enough to make you believe you are holding a real one. The drums seem to hold up to a beating. I feel safe in saying that they will hold up to our future performances. The song list is the best set that I have seen and I compared it to Guitar Hero before we made the purchase. Some of the songs are hard to mimic and should be left to the pros but they did cause us to laugh when we attempted them.

Ease of game, we had no problems and like I said from the start my wife is not a game player and she was able to pick it up the first try. Future challanges, the harder your level the more realistic the game so I dont really see anyone getting bored.

Fun for all ages and really a great game to play with friends. BUY BUY BUY!

*****I realized that i reviewed the entire package that included the instruments, this reveiw was meant to go under the delux pacakage. However the songs in this version are still great************

Rating

Rock Band 2 fixes all the nagging issues of the first Rock Band and adds a some cool new features as well. I especially like the fact that you can now play World Tour online–something I missed out on in the first game because you could only play it locally and I have lazy friends. I appreciate the addition of the drum and fill trainers. Get this game.

Rating

Rock Band 2 is a great addition to any music lover’s library. The game play is excellent and the song selection is sure to keep you entertained.

The online play is great, haven’t had any problems with finding a stranger to play with online. This is great for those who aren’t fond of being seen dancing to the Donnas while in PJs.

In addition to that, Rock Band 2 supports all of the Rock Band 1 instruments, as well as the Guitar Hero brand guitars. That means now you have yourself a bass as well (for when you do have people over) if you own one of those games.

I’d definitely recommend this, they did a great job.

Rating

The most thing we like about RB2 is the fact to personalize your character. IS too cool to see ourselfs like a rock singer or guitar player. Definetely a must to wii fans and a Plus to Rock Band. plus service quickly and eficient. Cant Complain!

Rating

Let me start by saying the game playing is the same (as far as I can tell). So far the song selection is really good but to me the most important thing is….

All the songs I bought in the original Rock Band I can play in this version.

I’m not a huge gamer but I have never bought extra’s for a game and they have worked in the next version of the game. I’m sure there maybe some games where this exists but let me say I probably bought 30 songs for the first game and I can play them all so why not upgrade!

Rating

Although Rock Band 1 for the Wii was a fun game, it was a huge disappointment compared to the other consoles. Have no fear, as Harmonix has made up for it with Rock Band 2!

PROs

+ Full World Tour. No more playing a straight list of songs. Choose from different cities and different venues in each city.

+ Huge improvements on the graphics. Rock Band 1 was a little rough to watch, but Rock Band 2 on the Wii is full motion and rendered in real-time. You can actually see your players instead of a static background movie.

+ Online Play! The game will automatically sign you in to the Nintendo WiFi connection and allow you take part in Online QuickPlay, Online World Tour, and Battle of the Bands. And, unlike Guitar Hero World Tour, you can play online against 4 other Wiis (GH:WT only connects a max of 2 Wiis)

+ Character Creator. Now you can actually choose and customize who you play as, with unlockable clothes, instruments, and more.

+ Compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour instruments and the Guitar Hero 3 guitar (and, of course, Rock Band 1 instruments)

+ DLC! The online music store wasn’t available at launch, but will be coming in early 2009. The word on the street is that there will be 30 songs available at launch from the back catalog, as well as the same free 20 songs that were available on other consoles. Also, songs can be saved on an SD card (the Wii will accept a 2GB max SD card; otherwise, you only have 512MB onboard Wii memory)

CONs

- Still need to deal with Friend Codes if you want to add to your friends list (but that’s not the game’s fault, it’s a Nintendo requirement)

- No tattoo creator… yeah, I’m sure that has a lot of people upset

I purchased the disc only and used it with my Rock Band 1 instruments, so I can’t comment on the new Rock Band 2 instruments. However, the Rock Band 2 fixes pretty much every complaint people had with Rock Band 1 on the Wii. The online play, DLC, and cross-instrument compatibility makes this a solid choice for every Wii owner’s Christmas stocking this year.

UPDATE (1/13/09): The Wii Music Store is open and it was well worth the wait! As promised, the 20 free DLC songs are available, as well as 30 songs from the back-catalog. Songs can be transferred to a SD Card in about 5-10 seconds. I really haven’t noticed any delay when loading a DLC song in-game. There are also sound previews in-game for DLC content (something Guitar Hero World Tour doesn’t do). Songs are 200 Wii points to download — equal to 2 dollars — which is the same price as on other consoles.

Rating

If you liked Guitar Hero or the original Rock Band, then this game is a must buy. And if you have never tried it, you owe it to yourself to unleash your inner rock star.

Mainly this game offers a ton of new music. It comes with 85 songs on the disc and a code to download 20 more. Plus for about $5 you can copy all the songs from Rock Band 1 over to play! They have plans to offer 500 songs for this game by the end of 2008. And the cost for downloading new songs is way cheaper than Guitar Hero.

It’s a fun game to play alone, but it is a really fun game to play with friends or at parties. They have also added a no fail mode so you can get through songs no matter how bad one person might be!

Rating

There is nothing bad to say. If you liked Rockband I then you will also love Rockband 2 CD!!

Rating

Rock Band was fun, but you could finish it in a day and playing the same songs over and over again got pretty boring. The track packs were fun for a few hours, but that’s about it. The investment certainly wasn’t worth what you got out of it.

Then came Rock Band 2.

This is so much more fun! The addition of your own character ROCKS! Although it is a little weird seeing my lady singing with a man’s voice… but still, it’s *me* now. Part of the joy of the Wii is your Mii, and that’s been brought into this game.

I also love the idea of making money to buy things! It adds another level to the game that makes playing the same song over and over OK because you’re making cash to buy the wicked gargoyle shirt! (Oh, you know you love it!)

The fans thing is a little annoying – my dongle was acting up and I had to restart songs because it kept disconnecting, and when I went to restart I’d lose fans… well life happens, Harmonix! Give me a break! But it’s neat to build up a fan base and have that be how to move on to higher levels.

The challenges are lame – you’re playing the same songs as the tour, just to open more songs? *Yawn* What’s worse is that you HAVE to have drums, or a guitar, or a mic, but what if you have a band of one? You just can’t finish all the challenges! If that’s going to be the case, then once you open a challenge with a band it should be open *for everyone*.

The venues are cool and the graphics are OK – I find when we have 3 people playing the vocals bar blurs very badly every 10 seconds or so.

Overall, I love this game and it’s a huge leap from RB1!

Rating

There are many rhythm games out right now. This is the best one I have played, they cleaned up some of the game mechanics that I disliked from Guitar Hero. This was also the first one to do sets instead of single songs, which is fun.

Some friends and I play together occasionally and it is lots of fun. This may be the most enjoyable coop game out there.

Rating

I generally don’t buy a game new when it first comes out but I made an exception for this one. At first I was disapointed because the notes and playing style is similar to the first game and at first glance it seems like nothing really changed…but then as I played on, there were several changes which made this new game worth it plus more. Not only do you get a huge amount of songs with the game, but you are able to play your Rock Band songs (with the purchase of a $5 key) plus your downloaded songs. They got rid of the “solo tour” from Rock Band and changed it so that you can do the regular world tour single player. My favorite change is that you can use the same “rocker” for multiple instruments…so say your singer wants to take a break and drum for a bit, you don’t have to have a different “rocker” in order to do that. The band leader is also based on the leader’s username, not a particular rocker…so you can change rockers if you want as long as your username is signed in. There is a new feature battle of the bands…I’m not too familiar with it though so therefore won’t comment on it. There is also a new ‘challenge’ mode where you basically beat a set of five songs from different categories…this seems to have replaced the ‘solo’ tour. You can also hire people to help you out with your band…create a band logo, etc. A lot of improvements with the world tour. The game is smoother than before…and the graphics are better. There is a very wide selection of songs. They’ve added many new clothes and some new accessories…although I was slightly dissapointed that they didn’t add many new facial structures or hair for your character. Hands down though: 100% worth it. This new expansion adds so much to the game and makes a great game even better!

You don’t really need to get the new instruments…they all work fine…from what I understand the big difference between the old ones and the new ones is the fact that the new ones are wireless and the new drum set has some extra padding on the keys and has expansion ports for a possible future release of symbols, etc.

Rating

We have Rock Band 1, with those instruments, and Guitar Hero World Tour with those instruments. We bought Rock Band 2 game only, and use it with either set of instruments. Many of the songs on RB2 are the same as GHWT, but RB2 is more fun in actual game play. We can use both guitars, and we prefer to use the drum set from GHWT (softer feel than RB1). We don’t use online play, so I can’t comment on that. I love hanging with my friends and playing this game. I will do any instrument, but my favorite is singing.

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I am not a huge rock fan. This game has made me reconsider my music tastes. I have even hosted “Rock Band Parties” with friends and neighbors! LOL! But true. Great purchase!

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As with most people, I was debating on which game to get: Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero: World Tour. In the end I got GHWT for Christmas, so I was able to save up and buy RB2 later. Having played both games, here’s how it breaks down:

Instruments: the instruments for GHWT are much more comprehensive and better-designed than those of RB2. The drums in particular are a better simulation of what a real drum set acts like. Advantage: GHWT

Music tracks: GHWT has a lot of good songs going for it, such as “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Purple Haze”, and “BYOB”, just to name a small handful. In addition, many of the songs you find in RB2 are already on GHWT (“Ramblin’ Man”, “American Woman”, etc.). However, RB2 is no slouch in its own right, with songs such as “Let There Be Rock”, “Alive”, and “Battery”. In the end, the music tracks are mainly about what you prefer as musical taste. Tie.

Downloadable Content: This is where RB2 slaughters GHWT. First off, for those of you (like me) who want to buy GHWT to get the Jimi Hendrix tracks, bad news: due to download and licensing issues, Nintendo was unable to secure the Hendrix tracks that are on the other systems. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, there’s nothing that wrong with GHWT’s downloadable content, particularly if you’re a fan of Metallica’s latest album; it’s just that RB2′s is waaaaayyyyy better. From The Who to Fall-Out Boy, RB2 has just about everything. Plus, they have Pearl Jam’s “Ten” and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood” already available to download, with more full albums to come. And they’re slowly but surely putting all previously downloadable content from RB1 on RB2. And they update their catelog once a week, as opposed to GHWT’s monthly to bi-monthly updates. So there’s no contest. Advantage: RB2.

Intangibles (graphics, sound, etc.): There is a far greater character customization mode in RB2 compared to GHWT. In addition, because of the better graphics in RB2, your character won’t come out looking like some horrible cartoon. The better graphics also mean the instruments look more real (plus RB2 uses the actual guitar, drum, and mike brand names, which is small but nonetheless is important for purists). Also, the framerate for RB2 seems better than in GHWT (although the difference is admittedly so small few people will care). However, the venues in GHWT are better (the ones in RB2 are nice but too many of them look the same), and there’s a greater crowd interaction effect. Still, RB2 has a more comprehensive world tour mode that actually makes you feel as if you’re touring the globe, as well as real consequences for what you do (i.e. electing to play a charity event will net you no money but will get you more fans). Plus, RB2 incorporates downloadable content into the game, meaning you could theoretically continue your world tour forever, while the downloadable content in GHWT is only playable in Quick Play mode. Advantage: RB2.

Gameplay: I wanted to like GHWT in this segment. I really did. And GHWT does have a lot of things going for it. First off the songs are more difficult to play than in RB2. Even something as simple as vocals is more difficult in GHWT than in RB2. For example, I can get a near-perfect score on Expert doing Gregg Allman’s vocals for “Ramblin’ Man” in RB2, but I can only do that same song on Easy in GHWT. While this difficulty might turn off some more casual gamers, those looking to push themselves are going to want GHWT (and if you can master the 3 Tool songs on guitar in Expert mode, God bless you). In the end, however, I have to give the edge to RB2. As someone who’s not a hardcore gamer, I appreciate and often enjoy the difficulty of GHWT, but I play RB2 more often because a lot of times all I want to do is just belt out the lyrics to songs or jam away on my guitar for fun (I don’t really use the drums because I stink out loud and can’t bring myself to turn on “No Fail” mode). In addition, Online mode is just better on RB2 than in GHWT. There are different online band challenges virtually every day, there’s a much better online band mode than in GHWT (be forwarned: if you want to play with your friends, you will need EA friend codes), and the experience is just better (although GHWT has a better online ranking and scoreboard system than RB2, so it’s easier to compare your band’s score to others). Even the unique stuff GHWT brings to the table is really not that great. Music Creator is a great idea, but if you don’t know what you’re doing it’s mind-numbingly difficult to use (even people I know who have used computer music creators complain about GHWT’s music creator). And Mii Freestyle I’ve found is fun the first few times you do it, but it gets really old really fast. Advantage: RB2.

The truth is that both GHWT and RB2 have their strong points. GHWT is more challenging, has a wider array of venues, and has better playable instruments. This is the game you want if all you’re looking to do is challenge yourself as a gamer. However, if all you want to do is rock out with your friends in the dorm or at a party, or if you just want to play a lot of good music, RB2 is the better choice.

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Great game! Thought it would be a lot like the first, and it is. However there is a lot more variety to the things you can do, and the game gets you into the action faster. Awesome party game, can never go wrong with a little Rockband.

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I bought rockband special edition new for $[...] and then bought rockband 2 and now have them both for less than what some people pay for the 1. Rockband 2 is a great game and has a lot a songs on it to rock out to. You can play alone or as a group and even on-line. You can tour different cities or play locally and so on. I like it and my 3 sons really enjoy it also.

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Well I own Rockband 1 and guitar hero III. With the new rockband 2 being designed for wireless instruments, the better responsive wireless guitars from guitar hero III now work with rockband 2. This is good news because I can now replace my original rockband guitar with my guitar hero guitars. I can live with my original rockband drums. So the upgrade from rockband 1 to 2 only cost me the price of the new diSc, which is great

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Let’s face it, there are tons of different music games out nowadays. Seems like every year 2 or 3 new games come out based around playing in a band or by yourself using an instrument. Even though this game is mostly just Rock Band with a new set of songs, this is the best deal around if you want a game of this genre.

I’ll admit the song selection is a little on the lackluster side, but that’s not the reason you should get this. You should get this because of three reasons. The first being that the world tour/career mode is probably the longest of any game of this genre’s. There will even be the occasional online competition made available to you if all those playlists you have to go through didn’t do it for ya. The second reason is variety. You’ll find songs from the 60′s up until today being played in the best form possible. There is something here for everyone in that respect. Finally, and most importantly, this game prospers from an immense downloadable content section on the Playstation Network. There are literally hundreds of songs to choose from, and considering each is only one or two dollars apiece, it’s a much more cost-effective means of getting a hold of your favorite songs without having to spend $[...] everytime a new guitar hero comes out. Plus you’re not getting a bunch of songs picked out by a bunch of monkeys in a room somewhere. You’re choosing songs YOU want.

So if you don’t have this game, and you’re getting bored of Guitar Hero or DJ Hero or whatever other Hero you have…go on the Playstation Network and check out the content for this game. The list of songs will boggle your mind, and not only that, but you can import the songs from your Rock Band 1 game to play in this game…for absolutely free. Sure, Lego Rock Band lets you import songs, but you have to pay a $[...] fee. Seems like a waste of a lot of money to me. The price on Rock Band 2 is very low right now, and you can easily get 10 songs with a $[...] Playstation Network card. The graphics may not be the best, but you’re going to be looking at a stream of notes anyways. If you don’t have this, do yourself a favor and get a copy. You won’t be disappointed.

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I loved the first one and this one is even better.

They made selecting the songs easier. Now you can see the difficulty of songs per instrument.

Added band challenges for a third way to play the game.

If you like the first your really going to like this one. It’s better.

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I think the title says it all. If you liked the first you will like this one just as much or more. Also the ability to basically download all the RB1 songs for a few dollars, makes this the obvious choice out of all the other band games there are with the biggest possible music library out of any other game.

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The only thing I had to do “extra” with this game was to reset the lag calibration because I use an old CRT TV and not an HDTV, which probably won’t need that extra work if that’s what you use. Other than this, I love this game, enjoy it so much, and I’m really happy I bought it. I hope this helps.

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Just for reference I have the 360 version of Rock Band 2. I must say they is easily the best music/rhythm ever made. Period. I would also says its one of the best games ever. It took the great features of the original (full band play, weekly DLC, great charts, etc.) And tweaked them slighty to make the near perfect RB1 completely flawless! The 84-song-setlist on this game is IMO the setlist of any Guitar Hero or Rock Band game and don’t forget about the 20 free songs you get just for buying the game! Along with WEEKLY DLC (epic winsauce), RB1 exportability, and Rock Band Network coming this fall (Google it) there is a nearly endless amount of playable tracks in the game, all with great charts provided by Harmonix (expect for RBN of course). This game is perfect and you should buy it, enough said.

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A lot of people were just happy with having only a guitar when “Guitar Hero 3″ came out but then in came Rock Band and completely blew people away by not only having guitar but being able to sing and drum as well. Once the face of music gaming, seems strange to find Guitar Hero trying to copy Harmonix and release their own “Rock Band”. It’s like trying to copy your neighbor’s delicious apple pie recipe only not knowing how to actually make the thing so yours is tasty, but the other is pure sex…in food form. Anyway, in comes Harmonix to deliver “World Tour”‘s biggest contender, the sequel to Rock Band. With some great song choices, improvements and features as well as past compatibility with the first, Rock Band made not have the name of their rivals but they have arguably a better game.

With a music game it all comes down strictly to the song list and to that end, Rock Band 2 succeeds quite well. From Bon Jovi, The Who, AC/DC, Jimmy Eat World, Mastadon, Metallica, Lush, Lacuna Coil and many others, it’s hard not to feel jazzed going through the gigs and have a cool song pop up and go “ooh, I love this one”. That being said there is some rather dubious choices as well with a couple of “who the hell are these guys?”-type of bands to song choices that while good, could’ve had better selection. “So Whatcha Want” is rather…boring on one instrument but then you have this one song called “Rob the Prez-o-Dent” which is just awful. They sound like a Spinal Tap parody only with the hilarity. The bonus about all this is that the songs from the first game can be shuffled over for a MS point deduction and your DLC will transfer over.

The other thing I prefer in Rock Band 2 that World Tour doesn’t have is a real sense of audience and interface usage. Be awesome at a song and the audience will actually sing along (which goes amazingly during “Livin on a Prayer”) and even hum riffs or guitar solos and you really feel like you’re onstage…sort of. In World Tour you only have one shot to nail the song and if someone fails, then poof! Booed and knocked off the stage. Here, you can save or be saved. Overdrive is activated by fills where you can do anything whereas in World Tour you have to do it within the song which can be slightly tricky on some of the more faster expert songs.

Changed around is the tour mode which is different than the “play 5 songs and move to next gig” style of the previous game. Now you can have mystery setlists, themed marathons, playing for extra cash or fans, shoot a music video, do benefit shows, hire staff and the like. This makes it a lot more of a progression than last time. They also added online mode which is also cool though sometimes you run into people who are um, shall we say, less adept at saving and overdrive usage than others. Only thing I wish solo tour had and it’s really a small gripe is that your band members keep being replaced. It’s like I have this weird rotating cast so one gig I’ll have that weird goth freak with the spiky hair for a singer than all of a sudden it’s some exercising nerd with glasses and a purple coat? Bah.

With drum trainer and fill trainer modes for practice, battle of the bands and challenges, there’s plenty to love about Rock Band 2. Does this mean it’s a better game than Guitar Hero: World Tour? Well it’s really a matter of preference since the instruments are better on World Tour yet the songlist and gameplay is better here so if you want to experience both, better to just buy a World Tour full set and Rock Band 2 separately. However, if you’d rather not have so much stuff from past GH/Rock Band purchases, better to just stick with this one. Your neighbors will hate you for it and that’s the whole point, no?

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Gah! I love both Rock Band2 and Guitar Hero, but I gotta admit Rock Band has more fun songs. Most songs are pretty easy and fun to play along to. I was surprised at how many of the songs are focused on the singer, tho. A couple of the bass guitar or lead guitar parts could get a little boring, but drums and singer parts are fun!

So, if you can do Dragonforce songs on expert you should get that other game, cause it’s more challenging. If you want more popular songs, or have young’ns who are just starting up, or are just starting up yourself, get Rock Band 2! (Once you get good you can just buy the disk for the other one to compare.)

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Rock band 1 was amazing. Rock band 2 is amazing. With an even larger selection of songs than RB1, this game is nothing short of hours and hours and endless hours of fun. With all the downloaded songs, you can easily have a library of more than 200 songs. All without having to switch disks and what not. Amazing. Paying for the license for RB 1 is worth it, that adds 55 songs. The song selection is great, the game modes have been improved, and anybody who likes to think they play the drums: freestyle mode. Drum out to any song you want via music streaming. Sweet. Great game, go get it.

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amazon did a outstanding job on get my item here and on time ,amazon have alway been helpful when i order and the items is alway to my standed .

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Rock Band 2 – if you liked Rock Band you will like Rock Band 2…not much more to say. Huge library of songs – Guitar Hero World Tour will really be starting out in a hole…so many people will have a lot of money invested in their Rock Band library that it will be hard to get them to make the switch……….unless they are a big fat nerd like me and they plan on having both games. I have not purchased any of the new instrument controllers – I want to wait and see the GHWT controllers and find out if they will be compatible with RB2 before I buy. I really need a new drumset since the one I got with RB is horrible…or maybe I just can’t play the drums.

Get Rock Band 2, invite some friends over to the house and prepare to be awake for about 3 days straight.

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Loved Rock Band, and now loving Rock Band 2! My husband and I play together and with our friends, and we all have a great time!

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I have the whole set of Guitar Heros for PS3 (III,Aerosmith, and World Tour), and this game hangs right there with them. Both GH World Tour and This game are extremely comparable, share some of the same tracks, and allow full band play with online. Rock Band Definitely has more tracks available, but GH World Tour allows you to make your own tracks. Both have their advantages, and I like them both. The graphics are outstanding in both of them, but I do give the nod towards GHWT, because the backgrounds occasionally blend with the note board and make it difficult to follow the songs. I still highly recommend this game, since it is the first Rock band to be fully compatible with the Guitar Hero III Guitars (les paul models), and The World Tour Guitars, Drums, and Mic. That’s right, Playstation made the two companies put aside their differences and patched the peripheral, so no big room full of plastic instruments to play each game. Buy Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour, enjoy them both!!! Too bad they did not do this for Rock Band 1.

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Very good game. Very easy to play and a lot of fun for our whole family! Love a lot of the songs on there!

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I was concerned that the hardware may fail but RB2 hardware seems to be higher quality than the original equipment.

The game is entertaining and a good way to keep your brain active and unwind after work.

Everyone can play this game, even if they don’t like video games.

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I loved the original Rock Band. Rock Band 2 is even better! Lots of improvements and many more songs!

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If you enjoyed the first game you’ll love this one, the guys in Harmonix took it to a entire different level, the setlists gives you an idea of what playing live is, if you play hard, like me, you’ll find it a little more challenging, in resume, it’s a must have, even if you don’t know how to hold a guitar or if you’re an experienced player.

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We all have fun with the great selection of music to play/ sing and it is really nice to be able to go online and play with others! Awesome game!

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Played it as soon as it came through the door. Fun with friends especially with the no-fail mode.

Unlocked almost all the songs, now to try the infinite playlist set… O boy.

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Rock Band 2 is, in a nutshell, Rock Band 1 with improvements. Better song selection (no covers?!), better features (no instrument or band lock, for example), better graphics (the backgrounds and character selection are tweaked and improved significantly), better experience overall. My old drumset, mike, Rock Band guitar and GH3 Wireless Guitar all work FLAWLESSLY, and I can’t imagine I won’t pick up and try out the new drums soon. As with the previous Rock Band, the folks over at Harmonix know how to make you feel like you’re actually playing the song rather than playing the game. This is why the Rock Band series is still the undisputed king of rhythm games.

Really, the whole of the review can be summarized as this – Did you like Rock Band? Yeah? Then buy 2. NOW.

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Wow this game is really fun if you liked the first one you will like the second one even more. However if you didn’t like the first one then skip this one and stick with Guitar Hero because its not that much different. The only thing that is different is to unlock songs but its actually easier this time around and less time consuming. Also when you unlock songs you can play any instrument (as long as its required) to unlock it so you can actually play bass or sing on any song if you wanted. This time around they eliminated solo mode, so this time to unlock songs you have to play in tour mode or challenge mode and they give you challenges to do so eventually you will unlock all the songs. This game is almost identical to the first one except they added a few things here and there like Modifying the game so you can’t fail or speed the songs up or select the venue you want to play. The graphics look basically the same as the first and the gameplay is the same as the first. This time around you can do World Tour Mode online as well. You can also export songs from the Rock Band 1 disc to play on Rock Band 2 which is probably my favorite feature because I liked all the songs for Rock Band 1 and now I don’t need to switch discs and of course all DLC automatically loads into the game and all your Rock Band 1 instruments work just as well. So pick this game up if you like the first one you will not be disappointed.

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After playing through Rockband 2 with my flatmates for awhile and going through the functionality that has changed since the original I’d have to say this game lives up to the hype.

Songs:

You’re able to use any of your downloaded content for Rockband 1 within Rockband 2. It’s unfortunate that the base songs from Rockband 1 aren’t able to be used given I don’t like having to switch disks to hear specific music but given it would be hard to prove I owned the original and didn’t just borrow it to get the songs if they had that functionality. As for the included songs… it’s a vast selection of music that would appeal to many audiences and you’re given 20 free song downloads as part of the purchase so you can expand that library further from your own favorites. I like the music but have to admit, for many of the songs I usually know the artists but never have heard of the songs.

Mutliplayer:

One of the biggest flaws of the original Rockband was that you could not play on XBox Live with your friends in anything besides quickplay. What this meant was that you’d have to coordinate with friends across the states to play one or two songs but never be able to actually sit back and play through the adventure aspect of the series. This has been added in the sequel.

Local Multiplayer / Solo Mode:

Another huge improvement to the game is the ability to play through as a band without needing all members of the band present. So if my flatmate is out of the apartment and I want to advance our band I can start up my solo career as the singer in the band and do a few of the songs. If he’s there later I can join with him again with all the progress I made as well. The real benefit to this is that honestly many people, especially when you have friends over, want to play the game but aren’t willing to make a band just to setup each scenario of whether anyone wants to play a particular instrument or not. With the system like this anyone can pick up an instrument and join the band without having to worry about this.

In general the game finally has a pretty strong core engine for multiplayer online and locally which vastly improves on the original. Improves to the game could include a stronger avatar customization option for users who would like to put the time into designing their characters, a better library of songs, and the ability to port over music from Rockband 1 given no one likes switching over disks to play certain tracks. Even without these changes though the game is solid.

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I received my RB2. Very cool, but almost exactly the same as GHWT. Therefore, the initial excitement of the new ideas seemed a little diminished. I will have to admit that this game is far more sophisticated using the same concepts as GHWT. As an added benefit, as I was hoping upon speculation of previous reviews that I had read, the GHWT guitar is completely functional with RB2. This made a world of difference to me. I like GH guitars much better and find them easier to play. I was so excited about that feature.

My only other complaint is that I can’t play the challenges because it tells me that I have to have at least a two person band to play. That was really disappointing because I thrive on a good challenge, whether I win or lose. It seems discriminatory against us single gamers just rocking out alone. Am I missing something? I am connected to the internet, but haven’t tried competing yet. Any suggestions on how I can become at least a two person band? The game didn’t offer me any solutions. Many thanks if you respond!

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I have played a lot of music games, including Guitar Hero World Tour and I must say: Rockband2 impressed me.

I am a musician; I actually feel like I am a part of an experience that encompasses my senses. I may not smell the notes, but everything else is enhanced by this game.

There is a continuity to the AI that is not equalled in the game.

GHWT has great NPC graphics,they spent the money making Ozzy a blast to be, (who doesn’t get a kick out of ALL Aboard! Ha HA HA, from Crazy Train),but in RB2, you are the star. You make the choices how and why you tour and what focus you have in career challenges. It actually gives you a small glimpse into the things real bands go through. It is not all glamourous parties and night-life: The van breaaking down sucks!

Just my 2 copper worth.

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If you have a teenager and they liked the guitar hero. They love this game

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What can I say? My son and his friends have played this for 7 nights in a row. In my opinion, this ranks in the top ten gifts for teenagers- especially if they like classic rock. They could improve it by including ear plugs for parents.

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By Zach Wingerter

Western Courier

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois

Forget about the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Harmonix blew that theory out of the water.

Still reaping the benefits of the original “Rock Band,” released last November, Harmonix made adjustments to an already-successful system and took “Rock Band 2″ to a whole new level.

At first glance, “Rock Band 2″ does not look much different than its predecessor. This is a good thing. The performance format of notes scrolling toward the screen on a semitransparent black conveyor belt remains the same, though the graphics are noticeably improved. Characters are sharper, venues are more detailed and the crowd is better animated. No adjustment is required to rock like your face is on fire in Quickplay mode.

The real progress lies in the little things: Characters can now cross over and play multiple instruments, eliminating the headache of having to create a drummer, a singer and a guitarist/bassist. Rather than spreading money won playing different instruments over three characters’ bank accounts like in “Rock Band,” your multitalented alter-ego can work up quite a bankroll to spend on clothes and equipment.

Instead of the straight-up solo tour mode and a cooperative mode that have been so consistent in the evolution of music-rhythm games, “Rock Band 2″ features three gameplay options: Tour mode, Battle of the Bands and Tour Challenges. None of the three is strictly solo or multiplayer.

Tour mode allows players to form bands with friends over Xbox Live for the first time. Tour mode is very similar to the Band World Tour from “Rock Band,” with the largest distinction being that two or more players are not required to make progress.

Battle of the Bands is an intuitive addition that should keep “Rock Band 2″ from getting stale. Players can participate in daily and weekly competitions over Xbox Live. Some battles require a single-song solo performance on a given instrument (such as a competition to see who can get the longest note streak on guitar) while others are judged by overall star count and can be entered by one person or a whole four-member band.

Tour Challenges most closely resembles the recognizable set list progression of former games: You play increasingly difficult lists of songs, and beating one challenge unlocks more challenges. There are separate challenges for each individual instrument (vocals, drums, guitar and bass) as well as full-band set lists.

“Rock Band 2″ also offers a new Drum Trainer mode. Drummers can learn percussion fundamentals in Beat Trainer and hone their fill skills in Fill Trainer. Both modes map out the notes and let users control the speed, from 60 beats per minute to 200.

The best mode of Drum Trainer is the Freestyle Mode. Players can choose from several diverse drum kit sounds and either play along with music via the Xbox Music Player or turn up the speakers and have a jam session with an acoustic guitar-wielding friend.

Also new in “Rock Band 2″ for drummers is the long-awaited drum solo. In songs such as Beck’s “E-Pro,” the drum part is highlighted with a blue background (like a guitar solo). While this doesn’t accomplish a whole lot, it gives drummers the same satisfaction that guitarists get when “Perfect Solo!” flashes across the screen.

The tweaks made to the Tour mode are the most impressive new aspects of the Rock Band franchise. “Rock Band 2″ puts control of the band squarely on the shoulders of the player, such as deciding whether to hire a merch girl to increase profits or a stylist to increase fans. As more cities and venues are unlocked by completing songs, more staff members, each with unique ways to aid the band, become available.

It seems that the margin of error has increased slightly in “Rock Band 2,” making the game easier (but in no way less fun) than “Rock Band.” It is reminiscent of the improvements made in “Guitar Hero II” when compared to the original “Guitar Hero” – the sequel is more forgiving than the first game because developers have had time to fix the things that gave gamers trouble. This may be important to keep in mind when “Guitar Hero World Tour,” the first multi-instrumental game of the Guitar Hero franchise, arrives in stores next month.

“Rock Band 2″ is backwards-compatible with all but three of the 58 on-disc “Rock Band” tracks. For $5 (to cover licensing fees), payable over Xbox Live, players can transfer “Rock Band” songs to their hard drive for use in “Rock Band 2.”

Some must-play “Rock Band 2″ songs include: “Let There Be Rock” by AC/DC (this is the first music-rhythm game to feature a song by the Australian rockers), “The Trees” by Rush, “Battery” by Metallica, “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters “Any Way You Want It” by Journey and “Pinball Wizard” by The Who.

You will yearn for your junior high school days when you hear Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know” or The Presidents of the United States of America’s “Lump,” and you just may giggle a bit when you start the intro to Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf,” but no other music-rhythm game comes close to rivaling the diversity of the 80-plus songs on the “Rock Band 2″ disc.

“Rock Band 2″ has set a high standard for the other music-rhythm games hitting shelves in the coming months. Already available for Xbox 360 for the game-only price of $60, “Rock Band 2″ will be released on Oct. 19 for PlayStation 3 and Nov. 18 for Wii and PlayStation 2.

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Rating

This might be one of the most impressive games I have seen for the PS2. I’ve been playing guitar games since GHII, and Rock Band II is without a doubt the best of the genre.

The play quality is flawless, the graphics are perfect, and to be honest it looks even better than Rock Band I. All of the instruments I have (GH2, GH3, RB1 guitars and RB1 drums) play without a hitch or hint of lag.

The game play is much improved over RB1. They still don’t allow custom avitars (apparently they just can’t do 4 avitars plus the 4 tracks) however they do have a much improved tour mode, much better ratings on the songs for complexity, and a much better training mode. Game play is a lot more fun; you can have people join you as you progress, and it’s a lot less linear. You get groupies, tour bus, airplane, manager, the works.

In short it’s a lot of fun. The songs are all pretty neat, and the vocal quality is much improved over RB1.

Overall I have to say that Harmonix really did an excellent job with this port of Rock Band to the PS2. They took their time, and the result is an amazing product. I’m not sure how they fit it all on a single DVD, but this pretty much takes the Emotion Engines of the PS2 to the absolute limit.

Chris

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This is the perfect sequel. Everything you did not like about Rock Band 1 is gone in Rock Band 2. It is more fun to play alone, or with a band. Online World Tour is in it, which is awesome! Lots of new play modes like Battle of the Bands, and Band Challenges that get changed from time to time so it doesn’t get stale. You can import all your downloaded songs as well as nearly all the songs from the first game (for a small fee).

The vocal mechanism has been redone, so that it seems easier. Medium in Rock Band 2 seems to be the equivalent of Easy in Rock Band 1. This makes the game a little more enjoyable in my mind.

Its a blast!

Rating

I was slightly hesitant to buy Rock Band 2 because I had the original. Now, after spending a few days with it I’m asking myself why I didn’t buy it sooner.

I bought the original specifically to have access to the drums. Rock Band 2 adds a ‘Drum Beat Practice’ mode, which is so good that I would have bought it as a standalone package. Include some classic tunes (e.g. ‘Eye of the Tiger’), compatibility with the Rock Band drums, and make it compatible with the Les Paul from Guitar Hero III and you’ve got the most fun you can have legally.

So, are there some cons? Probably, but the program meets all of my expectations and adds some great features, so this one is a definite recommendation.

04/09: The game has been a blast compared to RB and GHIII, however I did run into a big con when it comes to down loadable content. There is a heck of lot of music that “isn’t” available for the Wii compared to some of the other systems. Perhaps that will change, and while it probably isn’t worth a full star rating drop, I could see a half-star.

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A lot like the first Rockband but with some new songs. I really liked the individual difficulty ratings too

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I purchased this for my 29yr old son, and soon he got me involved playing the drums! It is great to have a game everyone can participate in.

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Rock Band 2 is an excellent sequel to the original. Most of the minor quibbles with the first title has been solved. For instance, the band is tied to your account instead of a single character so you can use the band of anyone playing with you. More clothing options have been added, including the ability to add art to certain shirts, allowing you to really customize your look. The art in the game is excellent and the menus are all very quick. It doesn’t revolutionize things the way RB1 did, it just cleaned up all the messy parts of the original. The training is much improved and the drum simulator is very cool.

Of note: if you have a copy of Rock Band 1 you can transfer all those tracks [...] for use in Rock Band 2. You can rent it, or borrow it from a friend, and all it requires is 400 MS points and the game will rip all the RB1 tracks to your HDD. You can delete any unwanted RB1 tracks at any time. All downloaded songs (even for RB1) will work with RB2. If you own RB1, I don’t see how you could rationalize putting off this purchase. You know how good RB1 is, and this is better.

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This has so much more variety than the Guitar Hero games I own. I don’t have World Tour but I rented this to use with my GH3 guitar and it worked flawlessly. I bought this on Amazon within a week. This also has more originals available than GH3. GH Aerosmith obviously is kind of a gap filler so its ok. Don’t pay full price for it though. With more than 500 songs already available and more to come, RB2 is definitely the way to go.

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First off, I agree that this game is more of an expansion pack than a full sequel. I also feel they made up for that by allowing you to import all your songs from the original Rock Band (yes, you have to buy a license for $5, but it’s worth it).

Two things that bugged me about the first game that they fixed with this one:

1) World Tour mode in single player. It was only available for multiplayer before, so I’m glad they added it for single player.

2) One character, multiple instruments. In the old game, you had to create a new character if you wanted to play a different instrument. Now characters can switch freely between instruments without losing any game progress.

If you’re a fan of Rock Band, this is well worth the purchase price.

Rating

I love music, and a wide variety at that. I was very impressed the first installment of the Rock Band franchise. It took everything Guitar Hero laid down as a blue-print and built one of the best, most accessable games ever to hit a console.

One of the best perks about this game: If you own the first Rock Band you can rip the tracks to your hard drive and play them in RB2 doubling your tracks instantly. No disc swapping involved. What a stellar idea! I hated swapping with GH series.

The track list is quite impressive. A nice variety that will satisfy a lot of music lovers. That track list expands nearly every week via Xbox Live with downloadable content. All of the DLC from the first RB works with RB2, no money “wasted” like the GH series. You’re getting more than your money’s worth before even starting the game up!

The gameplay is addictive and fun. You never really feel forced to complete a song. They are all fun to play and offer a perfect balance between fun-to-play and challenging at the hard and expert levels.

Character customization is much imporved from the first! My fiance play this game together and had an absolute blast creating our characters and customizing our guitars. You can truly get in depth with the customization and should set some time aside to do so.

Xbox Live is where the game really shines. I’ve already mentioned the huge amount of DLC for the game. The multiplayer is sooo much fun. I live in an apartment and cannot justify buying the drum kit and mic, my neighbors would not appreciate that one bit so I did not purchase them. With XBL you do get to play with a full band. It’s quite the expierience just beating the #@#% out of a song with some buddies over XBL and checking your score against everyone else. You can actually play through the entire game on XBL with song completions, points, etc counting for everyone. A true co-op mode!

There is a downside – the guitar itself. The hardware feels flimsy. I’d recomend buying a Guitar Hero 2 Explorer guitar for the game. It feels more responsive. I’m sure you can snag one here on Amazon

I can’t rave enough about what a fun and worthwhile investment this game, this franchise has been. There are few games that I can enjoy with my fiance and friends at the same time.

For a more detailed review check out IGN’s reivew (gaming website) to get a better idea about what you’re getting.

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This game is awesome! Originally the only music based game that I had was band hero. This game is WAY better! I love the songs, and because of this game I learned to love new songs that I never would have considered. I have never played rock band 1 so I can’t compare, but everyone tells me that this is much better. The graphics on this game are really good. I will definitely be buying rock band 3!

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They simply made it more enjoyable. The Online Challenges encourage new music and practice, which have forced me to re-invent my approach to playing the game. Plus, they did it right. Allowing backwards compatability was the ultimate and the small fee for ripping old tracks was a brilliant ploy to get me to buy the 120GB drive.

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Rock Band 2 for the Wii blew the doors off of the original Rock Band:

World Tour mode is so much better than just the list. Yes, you can get “lost” easily, but just have someone remember what city you’re in to speed up gameplay.

The graphics are so much better. They don’t look cheesy and it looks professional this time.

The songs are a pretty good mix. I can’t say that I knew every song in the game, but I’d heard about 80% of them at least once before.

The ability to download new tracks online is INCREDIBLE. When they release something you like, you can get it with WiiPoints. Just wish they would focus more on the back catalog instead of adding whole albums of garbage.

This is a great game. If you’re on the fence, jump off and buy it.

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This is the best music game ever! Rock Band 2 fixed some of the previous problems that the first one had, including two major gripes, you had to have a leader be present to play world tour and the second was your character was limited to one instrament well not no more! Other things in the game have changed as well. A new revamped world tour replaces solo and can be played local or you can start a band over xbox live. A battle of the bands feature is introduced but wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be, you don’t compete with other players on screen, its done by scores and ranks on the leaderboard. Tug of war and score battle are still here too. Something that I thought was useful was when you use the drums and go into practice mode they have three different modes to go into. A beat trainer that has 76 different beats you can play at various speeds, a drum fill trainer that has 40somthing different beats that you could use in freestyle drum fills during songs, and last a freestyle mode where you can mess around with. Character creation was a little disappointing because all of the options are still the same pretty much except one new clothing store, a couple new faces, and pirecings. The soundtrack is obvisouly the biggest sell point of these game. 84 songs from damn near every genre and decade you could think of and some songs I found myself saying its about time. If you have any downlaoded songs don’t worry they are fully compatible with RB2 and a cool thing I thought was if you have xbox live and some extra points, you can buy a key to rip 55 of the songs from RB1 onto your harddrive and use them on RB2! So in the end I had close to 230 songs to use in the game. This should hold me over til october when Guitar Hero World Tour drops.

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This game is absolutely awesome. After you master one instrument, there is still more left over. After you master all the songs on disc, there are still more songs left for you to play. After you master playing single player, you can play with other players in a variety of game types. This game is absolutely amazing. Infinite fun!

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Okay, I never played the original “Guitar Hero” that started this whole guitar peripheral band game thing. But I played the second at friends’ houses and borrowed it once. Thought it was pretty great and lots of fun. But the first I owned was Rock Band with Guitar Hero 3. And Rock Band really did it for me. The blaring colors of Guitar Hero were replaced by mellower tones that focused more on the music. And rather than generic rockers you could make your own guy, which I had fun with. What finally got me to quit playing it so much was… I started to run out of songs. I still had some favorites I’d play: Welcome Home, Reptilia, The Hand That Feeds, Afterlife (downloaded), Black Hole Sun. But other than that there wasn’t much left to do. Other than go through on the drums (boring) or five-star everything on Expert (not interested).

And then here’s Rock Band 2. Basically it’s the same thing, but without any of the problems from the first one. There’s new songs and quite a lot of them. You can make all the characters in your band and play through tour mode with a single player. Some album information is even given when selecting songs from the list. And it’s still the same great fake guitar playing I loved.

But what really clinched Rock Band for me (and the Guitar Hero games as well) was that it opened up to me so much music… So many artists that I’d heard of or had heard a few seconds’ worth of songs from, but ones I never could give a chance. A lot of good music is represented here, forcing me to expand my horizons and really get into some stuff I should have liked already.

To sum it up, if you liked the original Rock Band or any of the Guitar Hero games, this is a given. If you’re new to the franchises, this is a fine place to start.

(But you may want to use a Guitar Hero controller if possible. The puff of the strummer on the Rock Band model doesn’t have a very good return spring, so you kind of have to hammer it on those faster songs. The Guitar Hero controller has a more noticeable click and a fast response so I prefer it. Some people may think differently, however.)

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At the time of purchase, it seemed like a lot of money to pay, but we have gotten our money worth with the family time together, or just individual play. Our one child who does band at school has done particularly well, moving to expert on the guitar quickly. Definitely recommend especially families with older children or teenagers.

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After the ubberly limited Wii port of the first Rock Band, Harmonix really went all out to make sure the sequel wouldn’t suffer the same. Luckily they not only delivered, but released a very competent version for all rhytym game lovers that own a Wii.

RB2 plays pretty much like the first one, and if you are familiar with it and/or Guitar Hero, you’ll be right at home. The objective is to clear songs by correctly following the on-screen color commands which match those of your controller, which could be either drums, bass or guitar. The experience is supposed to mimic playing music in a band, and that’s were the whole fun of “playing rockstar” lays. Not only that, but working together as a team is very important to make sure everyone makes it to the end. The 4th would be the vocalist, and gets to actually sing along, karaoke style. This makes Rock Band the ultimate party experience.

RB2 Wii is thankfully compatible with all Guitar Hero peripherals, but sadly no Rock Band peripherals are compatible with Guitar Hero. RB2 Wii also features online play, and a massive DLC store so that you can increase your music collection.

Greatly recommended.

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This product was excellent compared to any other music experience game out there. The song selection is so much better than Guitar Hero’s newest World Tour. The game play could however be improved. I still love the solos.

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This game is great fun! I am 10 years old and enjoy it thoroughly. It is great for all ages and I can even see my dad singing. You can even customize your own character! The few problems would be the format, for example you can’t unlock new songs on quickplay, and you have to play unlocked songs on it (you need to unlock them on tour), and that the guitar is much easier than on guitar hero 3. Overall, I think it is a great choice and beats guitar hero. You can play in a band as well.

Music selection: A

Format: B

Fun: A

Compability: A

Overall: A

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This game is AWSOME! The guitar playing is actually smoother than Guitar Hero, the DLC alone is a LOT better too. My only complaint is the create-a-player isn’t as deep, I would’ve loved to make a Ranma Saotome just to say ‘I jammed with Ranma!’ Yeah, I’m an otaku.

Anyway, great game, great music, great DLC, great overall.

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Old and new songs. Purchased along with the drum set for a 13 year old boy. Keeps him entertained for hours.

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i got this for my family for christmas. My family loves it. A great gift for everyone to get together

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Hands down, this is the best rhythm game on Wii, and one of the best games on Wii overall. Harmonix/EA have really stepped it up with Rock Band 2, providing a complete experience that is on par with 360/PS3. You get online gameplay, the complete DLC catalog with the same weekly releases (downloadable to your SD card), world tour mode, create a character…it’s all here. I have to give credit to Vicarious Visions and Guitar Hero World Tour for paving the way for a fully-featured rhythm game on Wii (Rock Band 1 on Wii was more like Rock Band 0.5), but RB2 trumps every rhythm game offered on the Wii so far, including 2009′s Guitar Hero 5.

There are a number of things I hope they fix with the next installment on Wii, including support for SDHC cards (RB2 only supports SD cards up to 2GB, despite that Wii officially supports cards up to 32GB) and access to the Rock Band Network (songs submitted straight from the artists/labels). I’m also a little disappointed that you can’t import songs from RB1, Lego Rock Band, or the Track Packs, but again, that would require a larger SD card.

Despite those limitations, I still highly recommend this over any of the Guitar Hero games or Band Hero. The DLC in RB2 is unmatched; there are plenty of songs here that everyone will find something they like. And if you already have any of the Guitar Hero games on Wii, RB2 is fully compatible with its instruments.

I bought it a year ago for $49.99; Amazon now has it for [...], which is an incredible value. But I don’t regret buying it for full price, as it’s provided hours and hours of fun.

If you own a Wii, you absolutely need this game.

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with the Key form the ps store and all the downloaded songs i have and the songs this game has is just an amazing selection i decided to get this because of down with the sickness! which ended up being way harder then i thought… i relay wanted to play the Tool songs on guitar hero world tour but down with the sickness prevailed. so for the downloadable content and transport of rock band 1 songs this is a better buy then gh world tour. but for songs you cant find anywhere else and the new metallica album guitar hero wins. but ima wait to see if rock bad will get the Tool songs! then i will not need it!

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Bought this for our 3 boys (8,12,14). They can all play it together and have a blast. Fun for all ages—even mom and dad!

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this sequel of the original game features a shift toward songs from the classic rock genre. world tour feature also allows closer interaction between participants. if you like the original rock band, you won’t be disappointed. highly recommend.

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I usually don’t play most video games for long, since I get bored of them after a couple days. This game however is one of the few that can keep my attention, WoW and Counter-Strike being the others. What is great about this game is that I can import my songs from Rock Band 1, buy other songs online or in the store. I basically just keep trying to improve myself, started off on easy and now making my way through hard. This is a great game to play alone, or with a group of friends. A must buy for all gamers.

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Eh, maybe not my most creative review title…

I won’t say much here. Rock Band 2 took Rock Band 1′s flaws and did away with them.

Rock Band 1 was a great game, but fell flat on it’s face if you didn’t have a lot of friends who lived nearby. I’m almost 30 years old. I don’t have a lot of friends who have time or interest in coming to my house to play video games. So when I couldn’t progress in Rock Band 1 because it requires two or more players to progress through the “World Tour,” I was literally FORCED to stop playing.

No more!!! Rock Band 2 not only let’s you progress through World Tour by yourSELF, but also allows you to jump online and be joined by friends as “stand-in” players. The best part – your friends continue to earn money and achievements for playing with you. It may not progress THEIR band, but you can alway take turns swapping bands to help each other out. The difference this makes is absolutely remarkable, and it gives the game incredible depth.

Other than that, RB2 is essentially identical. The playability feels the same, the characters are pretty similar, etc. I’d really like to see a deeper character customization, but in reality, you never see your own character that much – you’re reading notes. A replay mode would be cool maybe – where you could just watch your band rock out, but how long would that really be entertaining?

Yes, some better songs would be great. I don’t know who picks some of this stuff. But the truth remains that you’ll never make everyone happy, and though there are probably a dozen songs I could live without, there are also a few dozen that I can just play over and over and over again. It’s really not Harmonix’s fault – the music biz is a nightmare when it comes to licensing, rights, etc. Believe me – I used to WORK in it.

Rock Band 2 is 100 times more fun than Rock Band 1 simply by taking emphasis off of the “band” and yet making band play that much easier. I’m also really glad to see that my instruments from RB1 still work (and still work well.)

Rock on.

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This is a must have title for anyone that enjoyed the guitar hero series or the original Rock Band. Tons of new songs, and all of your old instruments will work on Rock Band 2.

One great thing about RB2 is that you can play all of your downloaded songs from the original game on this disc. There’s no need to switch discs in order to play your favorite downloads from Rock Band. The new songs are wonderful, and definitely add to the Rock Band experience.

The number one reason why I gave this game 5 stars? Not only can you play regular online coop like the first game, now you can start a band via Xbox Live. This is the only thing that was missing in the first game, and the developers obviously heard the cries and pleas from the fans.

Overall, a great game to play, and hours and hours on enjoyment to be had. 5/5

-Kyle (SkatingCrippled)

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I LOVE this game! I am a 44 YO SAHM and I totally love this game. The music is fun and brings back good memories! I like that I can sing with the artists. I especially like that most of the songs are originals. Some aren’t and they are real close, but some are WAY off. No worries there is maybe 2-3 of those. I don’t care at all for the guitar. I am not a player, but my DH is and even he has trouble. We have had this game on a Wii Platform and the PS3 Platform and the guitar is no different on either. The drums are wonderful, I think they are better on the new version. We sold our Wii version and bought the PS3 RB2. Much better graphics this time around. When I wanna rock, this is where I get to do it and all of my family is happy with that. My 5 YO daughter loves it when mama says “I wanna rock”. She will ask me if I am ready to rock…lol! The good thing about this too is that she gets to learn some of my music that I grew up on. My DH is even learning some rock too! Check it out! You will be happy!!!

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I used to play video games quite often and could’ve been considered a ‘gamer’ at one point. I usually hate these simon says type games like dance dance revolution. I never really liked guitar hero much and was more interested in games that required thought, talent and had a good story. When rockband came out i was intrigued. Drums, singer, bass and guitar seemed like it could be interesting and it undoubtedly was. I love playing games with my friends and not alone. This is the perfect game for anyone. It doesnt matter if you’ve never played a video game before you can play this AND have fun. For people who arent as good they can select a easy difficulty. for more experienced players they can select hard or expert. all four players can be on their own seperate difficulty. my mom is in her mid 40′s and has a blast playing the drums, she never played a video game before but its great.

Moving on, Rockband 2 isn’t a whole lot different. All the instruments work still and the songs are much more appealing to me as a 22 yr old i didnt know many of the classic rock songs from the first rockband. there are a few different game modes, they try and have you follow like a venue like playing different cities and things, i dont really care about that crap. its the same thing as just playing them all in a row in my opinion. there are a few challenge modes i havent done them all yet. Overall this is a great game and at just under thirty bucks it was a great buy as well.

A couple people have said it didnt play on the older ps2 systems which made me very very nervous in purchasing it. I have the original ps2 system from when it came out like 7 years ago or something. It still runs and had no problem with this game. I’m very happy with it.

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My friends and I play this game all the time- there is also a ton of songs to choose from online. Rock Band is such a revolutionary game.

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Rock Band 2 is by far the best music game yet released. It takes everything that you loved about the first and amplifies it X100. If you like music at all you must buy this game!

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The only thing I didn’t like about Rockband 2 is that you have to own Rockband 1 and buy a $5 export program at the “Rockstore” in order to send all the Rockband 1 songs to Rockband 2.

I had traded in Rockband 1 at gamestop and tried for weeks afterward to just rent it from Blockbuster, but the word is that they don’t make it anymore, so it’s hard to find. Anyway, buy rockband 2, export your old songs from Rockband 1, THEN you can sell Rockband 1.

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We got the Rock Band 1 set for Wii as a group Christmas gift for the kids.

The Rock Band 2 program was then released, and we picked that up in January.

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The kids don’t play the Rock Band 1 program any more. Only Rock Band 2.

There are MANY more aspects to game play with RB2. You can customize your Avatars, buy clothes, hire an agent to promote your band, and some of the lag issues have been addressed through a more complete calibration routine.

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We have the Wii set up to play through the wide-screen 61″ TV using the S-Video connector. Action is smooth without pixellation. The kids have their friends over all the time – - 2 guitars, the drum set, and a singer, all going at once.

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I wonder if the Wii will ever come out with a program for meditation??

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Merlin

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Compatible with Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock Controller, This Wii game is very nice. The only issues i have are that

1: you cannot import older games’ songs onto it, but must buy them separately, some of which are not available.

2: the largest size SD card you can use with this is 2gb, and it CANNOT BE HC (or High Capacity)

3: Songs cost 2 bucks… jeeze…

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One of the best games I’ve ever played. Rock Band 2 is almost impossible to beat and that is part of the pleasure of playing it. The world tour goes on and on. Unlocking 84 songs plus performing all of the setlists is a blast and a challenge. The achievements are well placed and often unexpected.

The biggest challenge that sits at the edge of your awarness throughout is the Endless Setlist 2. In this superlist you have to play all 84 songs in a row without rest. This idea seems outrageous only until you try it. My girlfriend, my brother and I found ourselves bored on a random Sunday and took it to task. Peforming on medium and using the pause button every twenty songs or so we were able to complete the entire list in only eight hours. Rock Band 2 is more consuming and satisfying than most anything I have ever played. It has to be one of the biggest thrills in gaming.

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very nice game and addicting!

i own other rock band ritles and this is a must if you want to buy songs feom the rockband store..

highly recommended!

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This game is so much fun!I rock really hard on medium. I think a lot of people play this game. Sometimes people ‘nod’ at me and I think it’s like a secret ‘I play RB2, too’ kind of nod.

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Since I have both games, I’ll highlight the differences. First off, I bought this primarily for my kids and I to play together (I have two daughters, 6 and 14 years old).

Since RB2 has no “strum only” mode, its difficulty levels are offset from those on GHWT (so Easy on RB2 is a bit harder than Beginner on GHWT, but easier than Easy on GHWT). Singing is the easiest of the parts to do (so my six year old usually does that), Bass guitar is (for most songs) next easiest, followed by lead guitar, and drumming is the hardest.

RB2 allows you to set up stand-ins for your computer-controlled players, so you can have the same band members when everyone isn’t playing (for example, on very difficult songs my youngest will sit out, but I can still select “her” character as the singer, so she still feels like she’s participating…also, we generally don’t do the drums, but we can have the same character as our drummer, which gives us more of a band feel). There are several other subtle differences like this that give RB2 more of a roleplaying feel than GHWT.

Most importantly for those of us who are challenged in the area of manual dexterity, RB2 has a no-fail mode, which allows you to finish the song even if one of your members totally flubs it. If you’re playing this as an occasional party game, or with young kids, that’s very helpful.

In general, I’d say if you’re more serious, looking primarily for a challenge and focused primarily on playing the guitar, GHWT is what you’re looking for. If you’re more into the atmosphere of creating a band, looking for a party game and something fun to do together in a family with members of different skill levels, RB2 is a better choice.

If you want to get both games (which I did), get the controllers for Guitar Hero, as they work for both games.

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I’ve only had it for a day, but love the game so far—the soundtrack especially. It seems like the little nitpicks we had have been addressed, so I can see why some have touted this Rock Band 1.5. Whatever the name, I’m a satisfied customer.

I was just as happy with the old drums that I added the Rock band drum silencers to and Metal Petal to the bass pedal, but if you don’t have those I highly recommend the new Rock Band 2 wireless drums also.

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Got my nephews Rock Band this is a great additon to give them move songs to play.

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Wow! It’s hard to believe that a game that amounts to a fancy version of the old “SIMON” game could be this much fun! It works on several levels.

First, it’s a skill-based game: the harder you train, the better you’ll do. You are immediately ranked against the rest of the Rock Band world (if you’re online), so you can see how well you’re doing.

Second, it’s fully socialized – PARTY ON! It’s almost as fun to watch and listen to as it is to play (as long as you like the music choices being made…).

Third, it puts you in touch with the music you already (or used to…) love. You learn the words (that you thought you knew, but didn’t) and the skill the original players had. You gain an appreciation for the REAL talent, as well as respect for those that do well at the game. In seeing all that, you gain perspective on what it must be like to stand in front of 100,000 people and just put yourself out there like that, to get it right or tank.

Last, RB2 is quite a lot better in ways big and small that all the other stuff out there, including RB1.

Needed improvements: moving songs. When I go over to a friends house to play, I want to take my songs with me. Memory card or something? And easier switching of controllers. I’m singing, and want to stop and play guitar without killing the band or redoing everything.

THIS GAME IS A MUST HAVE!!!!

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no guitar game can match the perfectly executed game play of guitar hero 3. hands down no argument. rockband 1 stunk. but rock band 2 is great. better than gh4. game play much improved. once i cleared gh3 on expert i found gh4 just plain dumb. the notes seem random. on rb2 the notes make more sense like gh3. now we all know we are not playing a real guitar but rb2 feels fun like gh3. now go out and get the logitech premium guitar and jam! and to all you real guitar players who hate these games just stop hating! you do what you do and we will do what we do.

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In one fell swoop you get 84 new songs, plus another 20 free to be downloaded by year end which gives you new 104 songs without even going into the improvements made in the game, which have already been aptly described in other posts. In addition, in a genious move and show of loyalty to existing customers, this game also allows you to download the original 50+ games from the first Rock Band for only 5 dollars.

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We got this delivered quick, and it is a blast, there is a little something for everyone in the family.

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In case it was still in doubt, your RB1 instruments will all work with RB2 and they work well! Not to mention my GH:WT instruments all work with RB2 and work well!

I own both GH:WT and RB2 and RockBand 2 wins round 1 and here is why:

- amount of songs I can play is double on RB2: I usually play when friends come over and time and time again we choose RB2 simply b/c you can play and pick from soo many more songs with the inclusion of all my RB1 songs and downloadable content as well. GH:WT makes you re-insert any old GH disc if you want to play songs from previous discs.

- song search criteria in RB2 is way better: not only can you search for songs by title, artist or difficulty but now RB2 also allows you to search for songs by decade(70s, 80s, etc) and genre(alternative, classic rock, etc.) Very polished and easy to find any song from the 100s you might have. GH:WT only has one option and that is by song title.

- ability to save band members: since i usually play when friends are over the ability to “save” my beginner band members is crucial since a lot of times they are just learning how to play and want to have fun with it. GH:WT will automatically fail the whole band out if one band member fails…there is no option to change this. This is not very good when friend or family are over and want to just have fun playing with you.

- RB2 has drum solo sections and song ending solos which are fun: to achieve starpower on drums in RB2 you simply hit the last note of randomly inserted drum solo sections…which i enjoy!! You can go wild during the solo sections and do whatever you want as long as you hit the last note. GH:WT has no designated drum solo sections or song ending band solo sections. In addition GH:WT makes you hit the two symbals(two center drum pads) to trigger starpower. It might be me but it is nearly impossible to pull this off in the middle of a fast paced song.

- RB2 has ps3 trophies and GW:WT does not! Rock Band 2 offers about 40 ps3 trophies to unlock via challenges and GH:WT offers none =/

When it comes down to it both RB2 and GH:WT are very similar and both work as advertised however after months of owning both the winner goes to the one I play almost exclusively now for the reasons i have listed above. Cheers for RB2 continuing to add to my music collection.

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I have all of the rockband games for Wii and this one offers the most downloadable content so you can keep it fresh and not get worn out on the same songs every day. The rockband instruments are the best also. If you want to cross play between guitar hero and rock band, keep in mind that rock band instruments work with GH5 and Band Hero, but won’t work with GH World Tour or with GH Smash hits. Of course, they work with Lego Rock Band and Beatles Rock band. All of these games are great!

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Rockband2 is the popular sequel to the original Rockband. I love that downloaded songs for the original Rockband are visible in both Rockband2 and Rockband and for a few hundred XboxLive points you can transfer (copy) all your original Rockband songs (that came on the game DVD) to your downloaded tracks and play them in Rockband2. Therefore, in Rockband2 you can play all the original Rockband songs, plus all the Rockband2 songs plus all your downloaded content. Other than that, the game works pretty the same as the original Rockband. I play Rockband2 several hours a day (avg). Very excellent game. VERY worthwhile investment. MANY hours of great fun by yourself, with friends, with family or online with complete strangers! I’ve met a lot of great people online that I jam with virtually every week. GET THIS GAME!

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The genre of music games has been a sweeping sensation on the gaming market in the past few years. At the forefront of all this are two battling franchises that center around four-player band play: Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Harmonix, after making a couple Guitar Hero games, gave up on the franchise to start Rock Band, which released in 2007 to huge acclaim and success. Rock Band 2 (RB2) endeavors to be a solid follow-up to the original game that so many gamers have so greatly enjoyed, and it certainly succeeds in, well, everything.

RB2′s main attraction right off the bat is Tour mode, which allows you to create a band with customizable band members. The Rock Star creator gives you plenty of options, allowing you to make a character look however you want. There is also tons of clothing and instruments to buy with the money you earn in the game to further customize your avatar. When you start the Tour you first play a few gigs in your hometown (which you select when you start) and then slowly move to more and more cities around the world. Within each city there are one to three locations, and within each location there are generally three or more gigs of various types. There’s the custom song list, random song list, individual songs, or sets that have already been put together, all varying in length. The final set in the game even has you play through every single song on the RB2 disc without turning the system off!

Tour mode really succeeds with its depth and the way it makes you feel like you’re actually in a virtual band. With each gig you play, you earn fans and money. Earning more fans allows you to play more gigs in more locations, and you use money to buy new clothes and instruments for your customized rockers. There are also plenty of opportunities for you to make a decision before a set, like playing a benefit show for no money but double fans, or double-or-nothing sorts of options. There are many varied band opportunities offered as you play, which really makes you feel like you’re in a band making the kinds of choices bands are offered. You also hire staff for your band, and depending on who you hire you can gain more fans, more money, or be offered those opportunities more frequently. These elements along with a few other nice touches make RB2′s Tour mode totally top-notch.

The backbone of games like RB2 is the music, though; otherwise all of these nifty features would be useless. So it’s a good thing that RB2 has a great selection of music, offering tracks from decades past or from within the past few years. The variety also carries through in style, as you get some true hard rock songs (“Battery”), some other diverse rock tunes (“Alive” and “Carry On Wayward Son”), alternative rock tracks (“Everlong” and “Drain You”), and whatever you care to call “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” (which is probably the weirdest song I’ve ever heard, by the way). About 90% of the songs in the game are fun to play, even among the minority of dull moments. Some songs are definitely questionable in various ways, though, such as the flat-out weirdness of “Rob the Prez-O-Dent,” the equally strange and insane metal song “Visions,” and other songs with some words and content I would rather not hear. Overall, though, RB2′s setlist does a great job of keeping the game fun for a long time with its 80 songs.

Well, that’s 80 songs on the disc. But 80 is such a small number when compared to the Rock Band music store, which just recently released its 1,000th song. The Rock Band music store is huge, offering tons of music. There are even 20 tracks available for free, a couple of which are really good (‘The Feeling’ is actually better than most songs that you have to pay for). There are plenty of great songs available from bands like Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Weezer, and many more, with each song available for 200 points ($2). RB2′s DLC (downloadable content) is a strong and expansive addition to the game.

Once you’ve played Tour mode like crazy and have gained millions upon millions of fans, you may decide it’s about time to check out the other ways to play RB2. QuickPlay mode is obviously next in line, allowing you to play through any song you want whenever you want with whatever instrument you want with however many people you want. There is also an online mode, completely lag-free, that allows you to play with friends and advance on Tour mode. You can also join in with strangers over Wi-Fi to play cooperatively, and conversely you can invite random players to join you. RB2′s extra modes will keep you into the game even beyond the vast Tour mode.

Gameplay-wise, RB2 does everything we’ve come to expect from music games like it. Using guitar and drum controllers or a microphone, you can play guitar, bass, or drums, and you can also sing. All four of these options work flawlessly and very precisely. The game also balances out the difficulty nicely with plenty of easy songs, plenty of hard songs, and a lot in between. While rocking out alone is fun, playing as a band is clearly Rock Band’s strong suit, and it’s as fun as ever in RB2. Playing songs cooperatively with friends is tons of fun, and the uses of Overdrive to gain cooperative band multipliers and save your band from failing the song by saving a player work nicely in the band experience.

RB2 also features some clean, sharp presentation. Granted the 360 and PS3 versions have sharper visuals, the Wii version still looks good, unlike a certain other music game franchise. The cartoon character models look great, they animate smoothly, and even look like they’re playing the instrument! Now there’s something you don’t get on Wii versions of Guitar Hero. There are also some nice video effects added in, and even the note highway looks sharp. The menus are cleanly laid out and easy to follow as well. RB2′s presentation is sharp and clean, even if it isn’t as quite as refined as on other consoles.

In the world of music games, Rock Band 2 really stands out. It’s tons of fun and really makes you feel like you’re making decisions like a band does. There’s a rather large selection of songs on disc and a thousand more readily available on the music store, giving you a massive supply of songs with more being released every week. Rock Band 2, well, rocks. Yeah, that was cheesy. But we all know it’s true.

Positive:

+ characters are highly customizable

+ Tour mode is huge and deep

+ great selection of music on disc, not to mention…

+ the Rock Band music store is huge

+ online options are great and lag-free

+ band play is a blast

+ sharp presentation

Negative:

- a few song selections are questionable in various ways

LAST WORD: Rock Band 2 is an excellent music game because of its deep Tour mode, great song selection, stellar band play, and sharp presentation. If you like music games, well, you just have to get Rock Band 2. And that’s all there is to it.

9.5/10

*NOTE: (This information only applies to the Wii version) Guitar Hero instruments DO work to play this game, despite what companies like Activision and game retailers tell you! The Guitar Hero instruments do not, however, work for the original Rock Band game.

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After several months of playing Rock Band 2 and comparing it with Guitar Hero 3, we’re ready to provide our review of how Rock Band 2 stacks up!

First, we have been playing all the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games since they first game out. We are musicians and have a sense for how musical systems should work. We spent the months to fully evaluate Rock Band 2 against Guitar Hero 3 and to see how both held up for long term play. We also played both games both with other experience and novice players.

Despite my appreciation for Guitar Hero, I find Rock Band 2 to be head and shoulders better for many reasons. First, simply in terms of playability, it is much easier both for newcomers to pick up and for experienced gamers to easily use. New players who have trouble can be “saved” by their bandmates and the song can keep going. When you’re all experienced and playing on harder levels, the wonderful screen layout means you can easily keep an eye on how the group is doing and help each other out.

I enjoy the way you progress through the different cities, unlocking physical gig locations, mixing up new songs, gaining helpers and items.

The character customization, of course, is awesome. I like the detail I can put on my avatar and smile every time I launch back into the game and bring her up.

The song list is great and I really enjoy that the songs I previously purchased for Rock Band 1 are right there, playable and waiting for me.

I love how the band bus in the background goes by with my name on its side, the tiny details in all of the gig locations, the way the characters interact with each other.

It all comes down to great gameplay, though. The game is simply SO much fun to play. I’ll go back and forth between this and our other games, and while Guitar Hero can get frustrating, Rock Band 2 is always a joy. I’ll play long past when my fingers are sore. It’s that addictive.

I really don’t have any complaints at all about this game. As long as I can keep downloading new songs, and buy the solid drum kit so that I have the best drum experience I can with it, I am completely happy.

Highly recommended!

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I got this game a day earlier than Amazon told me I’d receive it. Already a plus. This has more songs than the original, you get to see a music video in the background when you do the Battle of the Bands. My son and I started on medium as soon as we got the game because we already had enough practice on the original Rock Band. We’ve been playing this game every night since we got it. The Rock Band 2 version has a few more songs that I’m into (i.e. Duran Duran and the Go-go’s) compared to more of what I consider ‘rock’ songs so I definitely like this version better. We like it!

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Love that you can keep all your DL content and even pull RB1 songs forward into RB2! Great Idea. Same great game with more options available.

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Bought this item new, it is a terrific game offering hours and hours of entertainment for the family.

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This game is just as much fun as the first version, with just more songs. My friends always enjoy coming over to play it (we’re in our 30s). If you like singing out tunes and playing with friends, then you have to own this game. Even my girlfriend, that doesn’t like video games at all, is now hooked on this game.

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My son did not preorder this game and of course it sold out everywhere locally on release date. We ordered it that day and it was here a few days later. He and his friends are having a blast with this game. They tell me it is better than the first. Very pleased with this purchase.

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Rock Band 2 is a really great, and fun game to play. I own the first Rock Band, and Guitar Hero World Tour, and I must say, this is the best of them all! Rock Band 2 has a tad bit more features than the first, and has a huge setlist of over 100 songs when you count the already over 80 great songs on the disc, the 20 free downloads that come with buying the game new, and the awsome songs you should already have bought from the Rock Band store, and if you haven’t shame on you. Anyways, theres not much of a difference graphic wise, and this time around Band World Tour can be used Online, as well as locally, and theres alot to do in this mode. This time you can have sponsors, hire your own managers and other assets, earn vehicles to travel with, gain or lose fans, and of course earn money to customize your rocker. I bought the game only, because I already own the instruments from the first Rock Band, so I saw no reason to buy the newer instruments. Overall, Rock Band 2 should be fun for the whole family, and if you dont have a family, play online and meet up with people and make a band to take the world by storm. 5/5.

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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.

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This is a great game and I am totally impressed with the compatibility it has with Rockband and all downloaded content.

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Purchased this for our Grandaughter as a Christmas present and she loves it. Our Daughter mentioned that she couldn’t find on at the local stores and was supprised that the price we paid for it at Amazon.com was much lower.