Wow, I was so excited about Rock Band 2 coming out! I have been thinking about it for months now and have had it pre-ordered for just as long. I looked through the set list a couple weeks ago, and there seemed to be a lot of good ones in there, which only added to my anticipation. I finally got to try it out on Sunday afternoon, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Rock Band 2 resembles Rock Band 1 in a lot of ways, which is fine, because Rock Band 1 was great. There was supposed to be a ton more ways to customize your rockers, and there is some new stuff, like the Thrift Treasures clothes (which is a new style added under the Goth Garb, Metal Merch, Punk Pieces and Rock Rags that were available in RB1), but they didn’t really add any new oufits to the old styles, which was disappointing. There are a few new hairstyles and hats and things. New accessories like piercing and bandanas, new tattoos and make up, but overall they really didn’t add as much as I was expecting in the customization category. I am sure this isn’t a big deal for most Rock Band fans out there, but dressing up my character was always something I really enjoyed, and was sort of expecting more.
The songs are good so far. There are a lot more songs with “talky parts” for vocals, but they seem to have made the “talky parts” easier to get Awesome on, which is nice, because in Rock Band 1 the “talky parts” were always the only things holding me back from Gold Stars. I have played through most of the starting songs on Hard and Expert Guitar, and they seem about the same, if not easier than the songs in Rock Band 1. The Tour Mode is basically the same as in Rock Band 1, but you get a lot more “Make a Setlist” and “Mystery Set List” things now. You can also hire certain people that will do things for your band, like a West Coast Promoter, who will unlock gigs on the west coast faster. There are also a lot more of those offers you can accept or decline before you play set lists, which are good for keeping things exciting!
I have played through some of the Challenges now as well. They are sort of like a cross between the single player tour mode from Rock Band 1 and the band tour. You can do most of them alone, and you get achievements and can unlock songs as you work through them. There isn’t like a specific Solo Career anymore, so I guess the Challenges are to add more to the game than just the World Tour. You can play through the Band World Tour on your own though, and there is even an option to make “stand in” characters so that your band members are always the same! I like that a lot, because I do enjoy playing alone sometimes (I can sing as loud as I want when I am alone, lol).
I haven’t finished unlocking all of the songs yet, which is a bit frustrating because two of the songs I was looking forward to the most seem to be pretty far along in the game (Disturbed – Down With The Sickness and Avenged Sevenfold – Almost Easy). Luckily I really enjoy most of the songs I have unlocked so far, so I don’t mind playing through them all a few times. Hopefully I can have everything unlocked by tomorrow night though, I seem to be getting there!
I haven’t been able to try out making an Xbox Live Band yet because I don’t have Xbox Live right now, but I am very excited about working through the world tour with a few of my closest XBL buddies!
Overall I am very happy with Rock Band 2 so far. It has fulfilled my expectations and beyond, and it is just as addicting as the first one. There is a wide variety of songs (and any you have downloaded previously are playable in RB2), tons of set lists to play through, fun new clothes (even though I’d like to see even more fun new clothes), challenges, XBL play, and you can even play through by yourself on Bass! Oh, and the achievements look good too! If you were at all into Rock Band 1, without a doubt you need to go out and get yourself Rock Band 2 right away! It rocks…. hehe
