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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