Customer Reviews

Rock Band 2

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since I have both games, I'll highlight the differences. First off, I bought this primarily for my kids and I to play together (I have two daughters, 6 and 14 years old).

Since RB2 has no "strum only" mode, its difficulty levels are offset from those on GHWT (so Easy on RB2 is a bit harder than Beginner on GHWT, but easier than Easy on GHWT). Singing is the easiest of the parts to do (so my six year old usually does that), Bass guitar is (for most songs) next easiest, followed by lead guitar, and drumming is the hardest.

RB2 allows you to set up stand-ins for your computer-controlled players, so you can have the same band members when everyone isn't playing (for example, on very difficult songs my youngest will sit out, but I can still select "her" character as the singer, so she still feels like she's participating...also, we generally don't do the drums, but we can have the same character as our drummer, which gives us more of a band feel). There are several other subtle differences like this that give RB2 more of a roleplaying feel than GHWT.

Most importantly for those of us who are challenged in the area of manual dexterity, RB2 has a no-fail mode, which allows you to finish the song even if one of your members totally flubs it. If you're playing this as an occasional party game, or with young kids, that's very helpful.

In general, I'd say if you're more serious, looking primarily for a challenge and focused primarily on playing the guitar, GHWT is what you're looking for. If you're more into the atmosphere of creating a band, looking for a party game and something fun to do together in a family with members of different skill levels, RB2 is a better choice.

If you want to get both games (which I did), get the controllers for Guitar Hero, as they work for both games.

I managed to get my hands on Rock Band 2 a bit early, and spent the entirety of the evening playing. What a drastic improvement over Rock Band 1 on the Wii! This is identical to the Xbox 360/ PS3 versions of the game, and I was even more impressed than I anticipated. I was having a blast before I even had a chance to play a single note: The character creator tool was such a blast! You create a band and members, and then you hit the road. It was a really satisfying experience! This is really the first time that a Wii game has been truly competitive with other Next-Gen console games.

The World Tour mode is now available locally or online, and there are also challenges and battle-of-the-bands. There was a "Wii pre-release" battle available for the select few who managed to snag the game early, and I was able to compete head to head with other bands (there were only 3 other bands online since the game was not yet available @ most stores).
There are sure to be plenty of lengthy reviews, so I will just note some of my observations:

*Band Members - once you create your band-mates using the Character Creator, when you play a gig, there they are! I knew this feature was present, but I had no idea how exciting it would be the first time my character (who happens to look JUST LIKE ME!) appeared on stage! It was really satisfying! This feature was really well done. My first order of business was to create characters for my wife and all our friends. Whenever they come over and play from now on, they can use their characters. Also, these characters can be moved around, dropped etc. Also, whenever you select a character to play a gig with your band, they get a "cut", earning that character money which can be used to buy clothes, accessories, instruments, etc. Of course, my wife blew all her money on some designer jeans, some pink driving gloves, and some shoes before she even played one gig! Typical... =)

*Online - Some of the online features haven't been enabled yet, but I was able to play in the online battle of the bands. I was playing during a weather storm, and my internet connection was suffering. I had a hard time checking my email from my computer in fact! But, much to my surprise, the game chugged along, and I didn't see any problems with the online interface. The whole game is played "connected", so you don't have to keep logging on and off if you switch between local and online play. The interface was really polished and well done, unlike other Wii games that seem to tack on the online portion after the fact. A+++.

*Updated instruments - The new guitar and drum look and feel really good. The drums are sturdier, and also the pads are quieter. Other than that, not much of a change here, but I had no complaints about the previous generation of instruments.

*Music - This game seems to have a much more varied mix of music. Much like when I began playing RB1, I only knew a handful of the songs that I initially was able to play. A few of the songs that I initially played were somewhat familiar, but some were way off the radar for me. Still, what I have heard so far is great! As you may already know, there is a Music Store built in the game where you can use Wii points on your system to buy new songs, so there will be no shortage of great music to be played! I was also surprised to see that details about the band and even album art appear on the song selection screen. The interface is really clean and polished; it really doesn't feel like a "game" at all. There is really no end to this games replay value. There are already close to 500 songs available in the DLC catalog (and all of this will come to the Wii shortly), and new songs are added weekly. Guitar Hero: World Tour can't even begin to compete in this area!!!

Do yourself a favor and go buy this game. I loved RB1 on the Wii, and really didn't think I was missing out on much... as it turns out, the additional features in RB2 are really astounding! The solid gameplay of Rock Band 1 is there... the great music game is completely intact. RB2 adds the "Band" experience: Touring, Band-mate selection, losing fans if you quit a "set" prematurely, battle of the bands, never-ending amounts of fresh content to play, expansive leaderboards and band data, even the ability to order posters and figurines of your band!!! Rock Band 2 for the Wii delivers!!

Although Rock Band 1 for the Wii was a fun game, it was a huge disappointment compared to the other consoles. Have no fear, as Harmonix has made up for it with Rock Band 2!

PROs
+ Full World Tour. No more playing a straight list of songs. Choose from different cities and different venues in each city.
+ Huge improvements on the graphics. Rock Band 1 was a little rough to watch, but Rock Band 2 on the Wii is full motion and rendered in real-time. You can actually see your players instead of a static background movie.
+ Online Play! The game will automatically sign you in to the Nintendo WiFi connection and allow you take part in Online QuickPlay, Online World Tour, and Battle of the Bands. And, unlike Guitar Hero World Tour, you can play online against 4 other Wiis (GH:WT only connects a max of 2 Wiis)
+ Character Creator. Now you can actually choose and customize who you play as, with unlockable clothes, instruments, and more.
+ Compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour instruments and the Guitar Hero 3 guitar (and, of course, Rock Band 1 instruments)
+ DLC! The online music store wasn't available at launch, but will be coming in early 2009. The word on the street is that there will be 30 songs available at launch from the back catalog, as well as the same free 20 songs that were available on other consoles. Also, songs can be saved on an SD card (the Wii will accept a 2GB max SD card; otherwise, you only have 512MB onboard Wii memory)


CONs
- Still need to deal with Friend Codes if you want to add to your friends list (but that's not the game's fault, it's a Nintendo requirement)
- No tattoo creator... yeah, I'm sure that has a lot of people upset </sarcasm>

I purchased the disc only and used it with my Rock Band 1 instruments, so I can't comment on the new Rock Band 2 instruments. However, the Rock Band 2 fixes pretty much every complaint people had with Rock Band 1 on the Wii. The online play, DLC, and cross-instrument compatibility makes this a solid choice for every Wii owner's Christmas stocking this year.

UPDATE (1/13/09): The Wii Music Store is open and it was well worth the wait! As promised, the 20 free DLC songs are available, as well as 30 songs from the back-catalog. Songs can be transferred to a SD Card in about 5-10 seconds. I really haven't noticed any delay when loading a DLC song in-game. There are also sound previews in-game for DLC content (something Guitar Hero World Tour doesn't do). Songs are 200 Wii points to download -- equal to 2 dollars -- which is the same price as on other consoles.

As with most people, I was debating on which game to get: Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero: World Tour. In the end I got GHWT for Christmas, so I was able to save up and buy RB2 later. Having played both games, here's how it breaks down:

Instruments: the instruments for GHWT are much more comprehensive and better-designed than those of RB2. The drums in particular are a better simulation of what a real drum set acts like. Advantage: GHWT

Music tracks: GHWT has a lot of good songs going for it, such as "Sweet Home Alabama", "Purple Haze", and "BYOB", just to name a small handful. In addition, many of the songs you find in RB2 are already on GHWT ("Ramblin' Man", "American Woman", etc.). However, RB2 is no slouch in its own right, with songs such as "Let There Be Rock", "Alive", and "Battery". In the end, the music tracks are mainly about what you prefer as musical taste. Tie.

Downloadable Content: This is where RB2 slaughters GHWT. First off, for those of you (like me) who want to buy GHWT to get the Jimi Hendrix tracks, bad news: due to download and licensing issues, Nintendo was unable to secure the Hendrix tracks that are on the other systems. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, there's nothing that wrong with GHWT's downloadable content, particularly if you're a fan of Metallica's latest album; it's just that RB2's is waaaaayyyyy better. From The Who to Fall-Out Boy, RB2 has just about everything. Plus, they have Pearl Jam's "Ten" and Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood" already available to download, with more full albums to come. And they're slowly but surely putting all previously downloadable content from RB1 on RB2. And they update their catelog once a week, as opposed to GHWT's monthly to bi-monthly updates. So there's no contest. Advantage: RB2.

Intangibles (graphics, sound, etc.): There is a far greater character customization mode in RB2 compared to GHWT. In addition, because of the better graphics in RB2, your character won't come out looking like some horrible cartoon. The better graphics also mean the instruments look more real (plus RB2 uses the actual guitar, drum, and mike brand names, which is small but nonetheless is important for purists). Also, the framerate for RB2 seems better than in GHWT (although the difference is admittedly so small few people will care). However, the venues in GHWT are better (the ones in RB2 are nice but too many of them look the same), and there's a greater crowd interaction effect. Still, RB2 has a more comprehensive world tour mode that actually makes you feel as if you're touring the globe, as well as real consequences for what you do (i.e. electing to play a charity event will net you no money but will get you more fans). Plus, RB2 incorporates downloadable content into the game, meaning you could theoretically continue your world tour forever, while the downloadable content in GHWT is only playable in Quick Play mode. Advantage: RB2.

Gameplay: I wanted to like GHWT in this segment. I really did. And GHWT does have a lot of things going for it. First off the songs are more difficult to play than in RB2. Even something as simple as vocals is more difficult in GHWT than in RB2. For example, I can get a near-perfect score on Expert doing Gregg Allman's vocals for "Ramblin' Man" in RB2, but I can only do that same song on Easy in GHWT. While this difficulty might turn off some more casual gamers, those looking to push themselves are going to want GHWT (and if you can master the 3 Tool songs on guitar in Expert mode, God bless you). In the end, however, I have to give the edge to RB2. As someone who's not a hardcore gamer, I appreciate and often enjoy the difficulty of GHWT, but I play RB2 more often because a lot of times all I want to do is just belt out the lyrics to songs or jam away on my guitar for fun (I don't really use the drums because I stink out loud and can't bring myself to turn on "No Fail" mode). In addition, Online mode is just better on RB2 than in GHWT. There are different online band challenges virtually every day, there's a much better online band mode than in GHWT (be forwarned: if you want to play with your friends, you will need EA friend codes), and the experience is just better (although GHWT has a better online ranking and scoreboard system than RB2, so it's easier to compare your band's score to others). Even the unique stuff GHWT brings to the table is really not that great. Music Creator is a great idea, but if you don't know what you're doing it's mind-numbingly difficult to use (even people I know who have used computer music creators complain about GHWT's music creator). And Mii Freestyle I've found is fun the first few times you do it, but it gets really old really fast. Advantage: RB2.

The truth is that both GHWT and RB2 have their strong points. GHWT is more challenging, has a wider array of venues, and has better playable instruments. This is the game you want if all you're looking to do is challenge yourself as a gamer. However, if all you want to do is rock out with your friends in the dorm or at a party, or if you just want to play a lot of good music, RB2 is the better choice.

I picked up Guitar Hero World Tour during a gold box special and was completely surprised by how much fun it is. I'd always thought it was one of those things that only a kid would enjoy and/or that I wouldn't be able to get the hang of it enough to bother with but I was wrong on both counts. Eventually I decided to give Rock Band 2 a try (after I saw it marked way down too!) and at first I didn't really like it. It's a little different from Guitar Hero and being used to the one I was actually kind of critical of Rock Band 2. However, after spending more time playing Rock Band 2 and bouncing back and forth between the two I find Rock Band 2 to be more fun than Guitar Hero World Tour. They are definitely both great games (never would have tried RB if GH wasn't so fun) but there are a few extras that RB has that push it ahead. First, Rock Band is a little easier (although I think GH lets you go further before giving you a fail). If I switch from playing on medium from one to the other there is a real difference. Second, this may or may not be the case but at least for how I perceived it RB seemed to have more/better songs overall and the game play seemed like it was more fun and lasted longer (also, the character designs seemed better to me). Third, there are a few things that come up while playing RB that are fun that GH doesn't do. For example, RB has a unison feature where if everyone hits a specific note at the same time you immediately get overdrive (star power in GH). It's actually a nice touch because then everyone can go into overdrive together right after. Also, they have special finishes on some songs and that can be fun too. These are small things that I really didn't notice until switching back to GH and it just feels like GH is missing something now. Overall though it comes down to fairly subtle differences between the two games. What is most telling is that when it comes time to play the first choice is always RB2 over GH. I'm glad that I picked up GH first though since their equipment works with RB but not the other way around. So my advice would be to get the full band set up for GH and then just pick up the RB games.

I don't like Rock Band 2 as much as Rock Band 1. I've been playing the first Rock Band since it came out and finally got so sick of the same songs, went out and got Rock Band 2. It is really nice to have a change of pace and some fresh music to play, but I am quite on the fence about RB2.

Pros:
1) Customizable Characters - I was suprised to find how much I like this feature.
2) New Music - can't beat that, and the fact that you can purchase new music when you get sick of the track list that comes with the game
3) No-Fail option: my nephew's 5yo friend often fails out (even on easy) and he can really drag us down and get quite upset when that happens, so it's nice to have an option to include him without the stress or mess of frequent fail-out.
4) While this is not a review of the whole set, I must add that I really love the new instruments. Big improvement there!

Cons:
1) I am probably one of the few to say this, but I really really hate the tour mode. That's my only real con with the game, but it's a BIG one. While I do like the added flexibility of difficulty settings when playing on single tour mode (on RB1, if playing by yourself you were stuck with one difficulty setting for all 63 songs), everything else about the tour is really really annoying. I don't care about winning a bus, a plane, or some roadies who don't really do anything. I don't care if I'm supposedly playing in LA or Berlin or whatever. And I most detest that I have to replay a lot of the same music before unlocking new songs. On RB1 you play a song ONCE to unlock it and then you can move on. Now, you need to score high enough to get enough fans and then still hire a manager or something to unlock new venues. I really hate it. REALLY hate it.

I am not into Rock Band to satisfy some pseudo-entreprenurial rockband roleplay craving, I like it because I get to pound out cool music on fake plastic instruments. I don't like all these complications that detract from that.

So, if you are super into that whole tricked out "realistic" world tour option that other consoles have and just have to get it yourself, you'll be very satisfied with RB2. If, on the other hand, all you really care about is "playing" some music - and especially if you have young kids who don't care about any of that extra stuff - RB1 is way better. I wish the tour mode had two options, one like RB1 and one like the other RockBand versions...

Overall I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I got this for my husband so he could let his inner rock star out. It was rated "teen" so I did not think that it would work for our whole family (we have young kids). I stored it with all of his other "mature" video games.

Then I decided to give it a try since it looked like so much fun. It is a blast! You can make up your own personality and add more to your rock band. Even better, we can let our kids play along. The songs that are for mature audiences have a blue dot next to them to tag them for you. So we know to avoid those when our kids play. I've found the blue dot songs have mature lyrics or suggestive movements.

If you have wifi, you can download even more songs once you've accrued enough points with your rock band. I love this game! Now I just need to add more instruments....

I'm a big fan of Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero World Tour - Guitar Kit. My friends, family, and I really enjoy rockin' out to the tunes there. So far I have only played on the guitar (we don't have the mic or drums), but it's a blast! That game came with a new World Tour (or "Guitar Hero 4") Fender guitar. I also have the Guitar Hero Aerosmith Bundle, which came with the "Guitar Hero 3" Les Paul-style guitar.

I'm totally satisfied playing GH:WT and GH:A, but my Girlfriend wanted more music (specifically Duran Duran), so we bought Rock Band 2. We got the game yesterday and played RB2 for the first time last night. Our GH guitars work perfectly with RB2. And that was great! We saved money, didn't have to buy new guitars, or have so many lying around the living room. (Note: From what I've read online, only the wireless GH3 & 4 guitars work with RB2 (but not RB1) and the RB2 guitars will not work with GH, it only goes the one way.)

My first impression is that I like the "Look and Feel" of GH better. I mean the basic playing of songs between the two is nearly identical. There are some features playing RB that I liked, for example, the way it highlights the guitar solo in mid-song. But GH seems to Shine more. The graphics/animation seem brighter, flasher. My Girl says she preferred the subdued RB as it was less distracting to playing the notes. I like the glitz.

I haven't played the "career" mode in Rock Band 2 yet, just the quick play mode. I checked the Wii online store in-game, and as of Jan 14, 2009, there isn't any downloadable content (whereas GH has a couple dozen songs to download). I've read music is due to be added by Spring '09. I'm really hoping they do add songs, specifically the RB1 and RB1 add-on pack songs (as these games aren't compatible with my GH guitars).

I'm glad we bought RB2. Despite what I say above, the game still looks and sounds great, and jamming on the guitars is as fun as GH. I've heard the RB2 drums are built better than the GH:WT drums, and I'm looking forward to buying a set to try them out. Still, from my perspective Rock Band 2 makes a nice "add-on" pack to Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero World Tour - Guitar Kit, but it's an excellent addition!

Rock Band 2 is great for Wii. While the graphics are not as good as they are for the HD versions, the game still has all of the other features. Downloadable content is available and can be played from an SD card. I used Guitar Hero controllers (100% compatible) so I can't tell you how the RB controllers are. My only complaint is that there are limited options when it comes to creating/editing band members and logos.

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.