Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360, 2008)

Rock Band; the first game got it right by incorporating all the instruments to a standard 4 piece rock outfit. It's a great game by anyone's standards and is absolutely perfect for any party or get-together. It is very customizable and has a great track list from all major genres of rock and roll that's fun for the whole family. The game just "gets it."

Rock Band 2 got it near-perfect. This game builds upon the first one without detracting from its iconic status; a feat nearly impossible to accomplish with a sequel of any sort. The songs are more precise and easier to navigate. There's more character customization. And best of all, ALL of your Rock Band 1 songs save 3 can be imported and managed just like downloaded songs on Rock Band 2.

Speaking of downloadable content, did I mention there are HUNDREDS of great tracks available, AND they're performed by the ORIGINAL artists. Nothing against cover bands, you guys rock too; but if I have to purchase a track to essentially "cover" myself, I'd really like to use the official recording rather than cover a cover. (Btw, there are about 5 songs that are covers left over from RB1 content, but compared to Rock Band's popular counterpart that almost exclusively uses cover bands that's not saying much.)

As far as gameplay goes, it's gotten slightly better in terms of accuracy and breaking the monotony of hitting the same note patterns for 8 or so different songs. Although playing a plastic guitar is no comparison to the real thing, the drums and vocals are pretty close. I myself don't play drums but have heard numerous real drummers state how close they actually get on Expert mode. I can speak for the vocals though. They have gotten much more accurate in reading the notes you're singing (or screaming).

Particularly screaming has become more precise. It's easy to scream and even clip the input on the "talking" parts and have the game still register that you're speaking into the mic. In the first incarnation of this game, screaming above a medium roar would, for lack of a better word, confuse the microphone and cause it to not register, thus killing your score and causing you to fail the song. It still has trouble registering the notes you are screaming to the point you have to be right on the money or nothing at all during the "singing" parts but hopefully that will be fixed in the next installment.

Overall, this game is nearly perfect in every way. The oh-so-few minor annoyances (such as no longer having default lag settings or the ability to play locally with your Xbox Avatar as a character) I could name are far outweighed by the sheer playability of this title. I highly recommend this game to anyone, even if you've never played a guitar game in your life. The learning curve is so low and has an awesome progression that is sure to keep you, your friends, and your family entertained for a long time. Thanks for reading and rock hard!

Cool game. Similar to the 1st so if you liked that, you'll like this one. I am saddened that there is just about as much customizable stuff as the first one meaning not very much. They could have done much much more with that, especially the character builder. It seems there is only like 10 different faces and like a handful of instruments. Seems odd to have customizable stuff if there is not many options. The tatoo's are customizable but I wish the characters didn't look so generic. The World Tour is here again and is very fun. It's a good time with some friends unlocking new venues and new songs. It would be nice if they would add like a medium hard difficulty since the gap from medium to hard is steep. I've noticed it and a bunch of my friends have as well and it would greatly appreciated. I know its probably nitpicky and it takes a while to fix it but it would help the gameplay. When someone is hitting upper nineties on medium but jumping to hard causes them to hit 70s that is frustrating. I haven't played any of the online stuff but that is new in RB2. I guess you can go online alone (?) er with friends and compete with others in like a mini showdown battle of the bands type thing. Sounds fun but im sure competition could be pretty fierce. This is the type of game I don't picture going on line because people could just play it tons and destroy anyone else. The calibration thing seems to be a little better than last game but for the tv I play it on, it takes some old fashioned manual calibration. The game lets you tweak the video and audio seperately which is very nice and lets you do strumming tests and gives you an estimate of what you should set it at. I play it on an older Samsung DLP so its a little bit off but once the calibration set it it worked pretty well. I can play some Expert ones on guitar and it was really really close so I didn't notice a delay on some faster songs. Overall, good game. Like the 1st one, it is a fun party game but the single campaign is not its best moment. With a lack of customization and any sort of storyline, its not going to steer anyone away from the likes of great single players like Mass Effect 2 or Oblivion anytime soon. But with the expanded setlist and the option to import RB1 tracks in, (ten bucks, what a joke) and the DC in the RB store instantly gets put into RB2 collection, its a good buy. Get it on Ebay. Way cheaper then the store. I got it for half price 17 bucks instead of 35 at gamestop.

Pros: Very good setlist with songs such as Panic Attack by Dream Theater, and Painkiller by Judas Priest. New songs are always released over XBOX Live for download every Tuesday. You can import the old Rock Band songs if you have your old Rock Band disc. New Drum Trainer feature allows you to practice your skills without failing in a real band. Online play works very well, of course there are minor hickups here and there. Tour is fun and can keep you interested in the game for many hours. Character customization, guitar customization, are also good ways to spend your time.

Cons: Some "filler" bands that aren't really known have weeded their way in the setlist and aren't the most enjoyable to play. There are far too many menu's to get through. Going on tour mode turns out to be a hassle if you forget to activate breakneck speed because you have to back out of about twenty menus. You can't use your character you've made in Quickplay. For each song you've played in Quickplay you can't see how many Stars you received. You might have to calibrate for a normal TV because they want you to buy the Stratocaster (which auto calibrates) instead of using 3rd party controller's like Guitar Hero's Les Paul which is what I use. Can be addicting!

I see many people on this site giving this game awful reviews. In my opinion this dose not make any sense. This game is amazing . . . The song chooses are extremely good. Yeah they ain't the most top rated songs in the world, but they have a lot of the ones we all love, even if they still ain't heard that much in our day an age.

Here are 20 of the ones that really stick out to me:

Alive - Pearl Jam
Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold
Chop Suey - System Of A Down
Down With The Sickness - Disturbed
Round and Round - Ratt
One Step Closer - Linkin Park
Master Exploder - Tenacious D
Night Lies - Bang Camaro
Let There Be Rock - AC/DC
My Own Worst Enemy - Lit
Today - Smashing Pumpkins
White Wedding(Part 1) - Billy Idol
Shooting Star - Bad Company
Pinball Wizard - The Who
Painkiller - Judas Priest
Give It Away - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
I Was Wrong - Social Distortion
Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups
That What You Get - Paramore
One Way Or Another - Blondie

There is lot more then that, but this gives you a look at whats in store if you buy this game.

A few more great things about this game. I think you get unlimited setlist option. I know other games like Guitar Hero: World Tour, Only give you the option of only having six. In Rock Band 2(RB2), I usually play a 12 song setlist every time I quickplay. It gets so lame just getting to only play 6 songs, cause if your like me there is always another song you want to add to your set.

What else . . . Aahh, yes. Rock Band 1, you could not play world tour by yourself or online. That didn't make any sense, because most of the time your friend are gone. I got pissed about that. It gets kinda difficult playing guitar and vocals at the same time, you know what I mean.(especially when you don't got a mic stand lol)But, yes people this game fixed that issue. If you wanna start a band by yourself, and tour the world, go for it. If you want to play world tour, but hate playing it alone. Go find someone online. Also "I" hate the fact that in the other music simulation games, when you play the story. You got these musicians on stage, who are all wearing outfits that do not match each other. How can you have a death metal performer on stage with a mountain man? I don't know if anyone found this out, most likely the did. In world tour you can create 4 band members, substitute them in, have them play what instruments you want, and BAM!!! You got a full band, that actually looks like that belong in the same band haha.

All in all. This is a real good game, but then again thats only my opinion. =)

first off the if you buy the prepackaged kit the drums are aweful get the drum rocker it is super expensive but very worth it...
The Game itself is almost perfect the songs are diverse and cover something for everyone from modern falloutboy to older bon jovi, from christian kutless to dark disturbed and just odd like system of a down.
i dont like the vocals you are forced to sing both main and backup vocals which at times you wont get a breath they should find a way to split it and maybe add another mic?!
the drums are great i am a drummer since age 12 and at first did not like drumming at all but i invested in the better set and moved up to medium and hard skill levels and find it is much more enjoyable and medium is a very good training tool for new drummers as far as keeping time and figuring out chops and fills - very helpful!!
The guitar is my favorate becasue it is easy and does not require much room to play. i can not get past medium but i have only been playing for a few weeks so i will give it some time.
Best of all is that my parents who are NONGAMERS absolutely love this game! they are in their late 40's and i cant pry this game out of their hands. By the way i am 26 and do not live with my parents - FYI
this game is fun for everyone and if only the drumset was better and the vocals were adjustable then it would be perfect.

i almost forgot you can download more music from xbox live there are like 500 songs. and if you purchase a new sealed copy of this game you get a code to redeem 20 free downloads from xbox live these downloads are predetermined, but definateky worth it.

this is as much as i could remeber about the game please forgive me if i have left anything out. just remember YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG GETTING THIS GAME!!
i have not proof read or spell checked this in any way