Rock Band 2

by MTV Games

Product Features

• Tour Challenges - mini-campaigns focused on the best songs by instrument, decade, genre, etc
• Quickplay - with prefab or customized characters that can play on any instrument. Make customizable set lists and organize your song lists in different categories
• Customizable Set Lists keep the music rolling and your band rocking in Quickplay mode
• Drum Trainer - gives you the fundamentals of different beats and fills, translating gameplay into real drumming skills
• Character Creator - new choices in clothing, accessories, tattoos, hairstyles, etc

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B001BXACIA
• Product Dimensions: 29.5 x 16 x 8.8 inches ; 18.2 pounds
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: December 18, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (132 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,356 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Nintendo Wii | Edition: Special

Amazon.com

Continue Your Rock and Roll Fantasy

Rock Band 2 lets you and your friends take your band on an even more expansive and immersive world tour - in person or online - and continue your rock and roll fantasy.

Harmonix, deliver Rock Band 2, the next step to the platform that lets audiences of all ages interact with music in an all-new way. Rock Band 2 lets players vicariously jam out as some of the best guitarists, bassists, drummers and singers of all time.

Featuring a track list with more than 80 on-disc tracks from some of the most hallowed bands of the rock pantheon, Rock Band 2 by challenges rockers to master lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals.

Key Features Take your band on an online-enabled World Tour mode, record albums, tackle the addictive Set Challenges, or even compete against other bands, either in your living room or halfway across the world, in the "Battle of the Bands" mode... plus all of the modes you know and love from the first Rock Band game! Rock Band 2 will ship with 2nd generation hardware: more durable, wireless drums with an expansion port to support cymbal pads and improved wireless Fender Stratocaster guitars - with multiple colors - that will let you rock harder and longer than ever before. Rock Band 2 pushes music simulation farther than it’s ever gone with a tool that actually teaches you how to play the drums in real life - or you can just have fun jamming and playing along to songs like an animal in the Freestyle Drum mode. Track List Abnormality - "Visions" AC/DC - "Let There Be Rock" AFI - "Girl's Not Grey" Alanis Morissette - "You Oughta Know" Alice in Chains - "Man in the Box" Allman Brothers - "Ramblin' Man" Anarchy Club - "Get Clean" Avenged Sevenfold - "Almost Easy" Bad Company - "Shooting Star" Bang Camaro - "Night Lies" Beastie Boys - "So Watcha Want" Beck - "E-pro" Bikini Kill - "Rebel Girl" Billy Idol - "White Wedding Pt. I " Blondie - "One Way or Another" Bob Dylan - "Tangled Up in Blue" Bon Jovi - "Livin' on a Prayer" Breaking Wheel - "Shoulder to the Plow" Cheap Trick - "Hello There" Devo - "Uncontrollable Urge" Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel the Pain" Disturbed - "Down with the Sickness" Dream Theater - "Panic Attack " Duran Duran - "Hungry Like the Wolf" Elvis Costello - "Pump it Up" Fleetwood Mac - "Go Your Own Way" Foo Fighters - "Everlong " Guns N' Roses - "Shackler's Revenge" Interpol - "PDA" Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song" Jethro Tull - "Aqualung" Jimmy Eat World - "The Middle" Joan Jett - "Bad Reputation" Journey - "Anyway You Want It" Judas Priest - "Painkiller" Kansas - "Carry On Wayward Son" L7 - "Pretend We're Dead" Lacuna Coil - "Our Truth" Libyans - "Neighborhood" Linkin Park - "One Step Closer" Lit - "My Own Worst Enemy" Lush - "De-Luxe" Mastodon - "Colony of Birchmen" Megadeth - "Peace Sells" Metallica - "Battery" Mighty Mighty Bosstones - "Where'd You Go" Modest Mouse - "Float On" Motorhead - "Ace of Spades " Nirvana - "Drain You" Norman Greenbaum - "Spirit in the Sky " Panic at the Disco - "Nine in the Afternoon" Paramore - "That's What You Get" Pearl Jam - "Alive" Presidents of the United States of America - "Lump" Rage Against the Machine - "Testify" Ratt - "Round & Round" Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give it Away " Rise Against - "Give it All" Rush - "The Trees" Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye" Smashing Pumpkins - "Today" Social Distortion - "I Was Wrong" Sonic Youth - "Teenage Riot" Soundgarden - "Spoonman" Speck - "Conventional Lover" Squeeze - "Cool for Cats" Steely Dan - "Bodhitsattva" Steve Miller Band - "Rock'n Me" Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger" System of a Down - "Chop Suey " Talking Heads - "Psycho Killer" Tenacious D - "Master Exploder" Testament - "Souls of Black" That Handsome Devil - "Rob the Prez-o-Dent" The Donnas - "New Kid in School" The Go-Go's - "We Got the Beat" The Grateful Dead - "Alabama Getaway" The Guess Who - "American Woman" The Main Drag - "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" The Muffs - "Kids in America " The Offspring - "Come Out & Play" The Replacements - "Alex Chilton" The Sterns - "Supreme Girl" The Who - "Pinball Wizard "

Grab the Mic View larger image Rock the Songs View larger image Give the Crowd a Show View larger image

Product Description

Special Edition Kit contains: • Wireless Guitar • Wireless Drum • Drumsticks • Wired microphone • Batteries • Software • RB Stickers --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RB2 on the Wii delivers! Best game on Wii so far IMHO., December 18, 2008

By 

A. Jefferson (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Wii Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)

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 a welcome bonus! 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!!

60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New to Rockband, December 22, 2008

By 

P. M. Campisi (Sunnyvale, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Wii Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)

Rhythm type games never interested me much, until now. I played guitar hero way back and was left unimpressed so I never thought much of checking the progress in this genre. For Christmas, I received Rock Band 2 for the Wii as a gift and immediately loved it.

Overall, all the instruments are easy to play and are fun. The freestyle, training, and solo mode allow to progress at your own pace. (Currently, I'm terrible but am improving). Challenge and band tour mode prove more difficult as your progress.

As mentioned previously, I don't have experience with RB1, GH, or GHWT so I cannot compare but I'm totally thrilled at how much fun my entire family is having playing this TOGETHER.

The only possible downsides I can see are:
1) At the time of this review, the Rock Band store for the wii is not up yet - so I cannot download the free songs or buy any new ones. According to Harmonix, it will be up soon.
2) The memory on the Wii is limited so downloading a lot of songs can be a problem so buy an SD card if you plan to purchase new songs. I wish I knew how much each song and it's data took up on my SD card. I can't test yet since the wii RB store isn't open yet.
3) It's pretty costly, but at least the quality of the instruments feels good.

I highly recommend Rock Band 2, it's a blast.

Edit after playing for 2 weeks:
I'm still playing every day and loving it.

For those interested about the instruments and playing:
Drums - To me, the drum set looks a little kid-like but it's durable and I haven't had any problems. The included drum & fill trainers help you get the beats down so you can move to the harder levels. I love that you can move the bpm up and down to further test yourself. I find the drums are the hardest of the 3 to play as you need to learn limb independence, but they are also the most fun IMHO. In my family "band", I'm the drummer 90% of the time.

Guitar/Bass - Nice looking guitar. Plays great. Easiest of the 3 to learn. Look into learning different strum techniques and moving your hand up and down the neck of the guitar on harder difficulty levels.

Vocals - Well, I'm not a singer but after spending a couple days learning how to match my pitch/tone with the indicator, I can generally do OK. I think I've become a slightly better singer too, because I'm better able to slowly shift between the tones.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Silence is Deafening!, December 21, 2008

By 

James Michael Bone "WiiBaron" (Glendale AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Wii Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)

Ahhh the sweet sound of nothing!!! Finally, a "band" game where the instruments Don't make more sound than the songs do (at apt. dwelling reasonably volumed levels). These guitars are nearly silent when being played. And the drums are 50% quieter. In addition, the between song cut scenes aren't amped up sooo ridiculiously loud (like another "band" games' are) that you are always reaching for the volume control. The new instruments are upgraded very nicely. The guitars even have a photocell & mic built in to sync up with your TV when you calibrate. They look nicer with a 2-tone wood neck/head and the whammy bar is better at not sagging down. And did I mention they were soooo quiet? This actually creates a small problem of not sometimes knowing if you pushed the button or not. The new drum set is improved nicely too. The pedal has a metal plate added and the crossbar is more tighter fitting for less noise. The pads sound simular to RB1 drums with the silencer pads added, so that cuts the noise down as well. I have bought the add-on cymbals (2 set) and they aren't so quiet, but when you have them plugged in, you can still hit the regular pad also (so you can have 2 yellows or 2 greens) that you can have a choice of which to hit, so worth $20 extra. They are now wireless (3 batteries and a dongle) and are black/silver instead of white. It seems a mic is a mic is a mic, but cant they make it wireless? You can be on the internet in a subway for pete's sake!!! So now for the actual game itself: 4 out of 5. The "TOUR" (which you must do to open all songs) is maddeningly repetitive. I have played some songs 6 or 7 times because they are part of the "gig" you are playing. This is the only flaw I can find in this game. I just want to play each song once to open, and quickplay my life away! Of course song selection is personal, so no complaints here. There will be DLC, so that shouldnt be an issue with anyone. (it is not active as of this review) The game also keeps lists of 100s of scores so you can go look to see how you stack up with other wifi players. After 3 days of playing, I am very happy with 90% of this game. And I cant wait till Xmas to have a 4 man band (WIIBARON) rock out in peace and reletive QUIET! BEST BAND GAME YET . 3/13/09 UPDATE: After 3 months of ROCKIN', I am happy to say that I am 90% thrilled with the game/experience/fun that is RB2. (or GH:WT) The drum hardware had issues, but I cannibalized RB1 set and all's well. Guitars are still awesomely quiet, and durable too. It was very hard for me to get game/instuments synched-up, but once I finally got it bliss was achieved. Being able to download is better than sliced bread and I have 20 songs so far. Eventually, they say the entire 500+ catalogue will be available so I better stock up on Wii points and SD cards! This game (&gh:wt) are the most fun (by yourself or with friends) ever invented. And only 6 months (9/9) till The Beatles version cometh! Can't Wait.....

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