Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360)
Why the heck didn't they do it this way the first time around?
9/15/2008 7:03 PM | 3 Comments | Page 1 of 3
What's Hot: Finally the interface Rock Band deserves; Better campaign progression; Varied song list; Sweet new drum kit
What's Not: No significant gameplay changes; No new goodies for band avatars; Terrible AC/DC song
Let me make one thing perfectly clear:
Rock Band 2 is totally, utterly super-awesome.
With that out of the way, I'll elaborate a bit.
Rock Band 2 isn't much of a step up from the original
Rock Band. It is basically two simple things: a song list and fixes for a bunch of stuff that sucked in the original
Rock Band -- and that's it. It is otherwise almost entirely unchanged. When you're in a song, playing along solo or with friends, the experience is basically the same.
The song may not remain the same, but nearly everything else in
Rock Band 2 does.
As for the new song list, it's going to be a matter of taste, as usual. There will be some pleasant surprises, and you'll probably come away with some new favorite songs stuck in your head and under your fingertips. At least it's cost-efficient, coming out to 77 cents a song (even cheaper once Electronic Arts comes through with the promised 20 bonus songs, but there's no telling what they'll be or when they'll be released). Once again, Harmonix manages a broad appeal with its
list of playable tracks, which will be equal parts "Oooh, that song!" and "Huh?" However, I have to ask: Of all the AC/DC songs in the world, "Let There Be Rock" is the one we get?
As for the fixes, yeah, they're great. But sequel-level great? It's the nature of the videogaming industry that the first game is the proof of concept and then the sequel is the polish. That's clearly the case here. Playing
Rock Band 2 is partly an exercise in wondering why the heck they didn't do it that way in the first place.
For starters, the simple act of picking a song is dramatically improved (and it better be, considering Harmonix's announced goal of 500 songs by the end of the year). With the new sort options and filters, it's much easier to set up playlists. It's also easier to play in a social situation, which is how
Rock Band plays best. The "no fail" mode now makes this officially the Best Party Game Ever (collect your trophy at the end of the review,
Rock Band 2).
When someone invariably presses a red button after the playlist is set up,
Rock Band will no longer back up and eat the play list. Now there's a helpful confirmation dialogue that says, in essence, "Hey, some idiot pressed a red button. Did you really mean to back up all the way before the play list got set up?" It's also harder for someone to charge ahead during band selection by thrashing fret buttons or slapping the drums before everyone's signed in. Progressing past the band member setup actually requires a press of the start button. Why the heck didn't
Rock Band do it this way in the first place?
Also, no more band leaders. I'm pretty sure this is a good thing, but I can't be certain since I still haven't figured out how the whole thing worked in the first game. All I know is that it meant 5 minutes of mucking around with player profiles and characters after the 5 minutes of mucking around with USB hubs and instruments. It's a credit to the awesomeness of
Rock Band that those 10 minutes of mucking around before you got to play were totally worth it, but now you can skip most of that mucking around. Why the heck didn't they do it this way in the first place?
