Rock Band 2 (Sony Playstation 3, 2008)

Harmonix launched music games into a whole new arena with the release of Rock Band last year. No longer did music games have to be about just playing the drums or the guitar or singing. All three elements were merged together into a cohesive and thoroughly enjoyable package. But while Rock Band was a breath of fresh air, it did have some issues. With the release of Rock Band 2 less than a year after the original, Harmonix addresses many of the past concerns and adds an awesome new online mode, certain to keep gamers rockin' for another year.

The biggest addition isn't a new feature or function, but 84 new songs. All master tracks, these 84 songs represent the single greatest collection of songs in a game to date. Headlining the new tracks is the first Guns N' Roses single in more than a decade, "Shackler's Revenge." Along with these are a slew of incredible songs that span the '60s right up to today. AC/DC, Metallica, The Talking Heads, Pearl Jam, Journey, Megadeath, Modest Mouse, Rage Against the Machine, Bon Jovi, Jane's Addiction -- I could keep going, but you get the point. There are some brilliant songs here. And while there are going to be a few tracks each person will not care for, there's far more good here than bad.

If you like music and wish you could play in one even if you can't play an instrument, this is the game for you. Although, the game will never let you really learn how to truely play an istrument. This game has it all. You can play with your offline friends and your PSN friends as well too. There are even online challenges too every week. So if you have all the new downloadable content you can compete with other ppl.
This game has so much more to offer than Guitar Hero. Making your avatar for the game is also very fun. You get to keep all the virtual money to collect items for your avator to make it very personal. So if you are a huge rock music lover this is the game for you.

I started with Rock Band 2 on the Wii. It worked quite well, but did not have much support (of the 600 songs available, less than 25% were available to buy for the Wii). Also, the 'cool' controllers (Rock Axe, Drum Rocker, etc) were not yet available for the Wii.

I picked up an older PS3 and ordered this game to see how it compares to the Wii version. On the plus side, many more songs are available to purchase. It works pretty much like the Wii version. I also got Guitar Hero World Tour; in my opinion Rock Band 2 is more playable than GH.

First of all, the background graphics for Rock Band seem 'better' than those in Guitar Hero. More lifelike in appearance and movement, and more different actions. I find the 'bars' in RB to be easier to index than the 'circles' in GH, and the special notes seem to be easier to distinguish in RB than they are in GH. GH has better play for the bass and drums (6 notes rather than 5 in RB). That is why I prefer Rock Band 2 over Guitar Hero World Tour, but of course Rock Band is the one I started on and am most used to.

So how does the PS3 version of Rock Band 2 stack up? Pretty much the same, with a couple of annoyances. As mentioned, the song and controller support is better for the PS3 version. There are 2 annoyances though. In many of the songs, the audiance sings along with the band. Perhaps this is 'more realistic', but it does make the song sound 'muddy'. And the PS3 network which you must sign up for to use many of the features of the game requires much more information to set up, and work to access. In the latter case, it appears that you can set it up to log on 'automatically', at the cost of saving your password in the console.

great game the only thing is is that the battery is very noisy by the plastic is made around the drums so Put your hands in the air for Rock Band 2, the incredible sequel to the game that put the dream of rock stardom within your grasp. Packed with even more music, a more expansive World Tour mode and much more, Rock Band 2 delivers a thrilling musical experience that will make you reluctant to ever leave the stage. Rock out to more than 100 on-disc and downloadable tracks based on master recordings from artists such as System of a Down, Foo Fighters, The Who and Elvis Costello. Savor a truly global rock experience as you take your band's tour online and compete against bands half a world away in Battle of the Bands mode. With the included peripherals you can easily live out your fantasies and let loose your hardcore superstar dreams.The great game

I loved rockband 1 and could not wait to get Rockband 2. I was a little unsure about buying rockband 2 because I had bought many songs to add on and was nervous that I would have to buy them again. This game is fantastic all the songs i purchased automatically showed up on my list screen. The one thing I was disappointed in was that you have to create a new band and characters you cannot use the ones from rockband 1. Other than that there are so many advantages over the first it is truly a great game. For all you people that want to practice there is a practice mode with no music and you can play until you are blue in the face and it is like playing a real drum set. They say there is nothing like the original but I beg to differ Rockband 2 is much better than the first.