Customer Reviews

Xbox 360 Rock Band 2 Special Edition

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm a 36 yo mom with two girls. Rock Band 2 had become a phenom in our house. There's a magic in making music together, esp with loved ones, that can't be explained, only experienced. I have to say I'm woefully, pityfully unmusical, and frankly, Rock Band intimidated and scared me - embarassed me at the thought - and I was afraid to even touch it, and I never ever, in ten million lifetimes thought I would like it. Kids, sure-- kids try everything once. But me? Now here I am waking up at 6am to play the drums with them before they go to school? I have two pre-teen girls that are drummers now? Wow talk about your 'I never saw that coming' moment.

I know Rock Band is a little bit intimidating to us people who aren't musical. But just order the big box, let it come to the door and set it up in the privacy of your house and no one will be the wiser. It sets up in a snap, no wires at all, no plug-ins, no softwear -- very mom (or tech) friendly.

Rock Band 2 is much improved over Rock Band 1 in ease of set up, maintenance, totally wireless, no plugs, cords, etc., and zero STRESS. The drums have been improved so they don't hurt your wrists like the previous set which were like hitting concrete, they, now, have lots of give. I've been playing it about 60 hours in total, now, and no painful wrists like the previous Rock Band 1 set gave me. The pedal is also metal-reinforced now so you can't snap it, like it's purely plastic predicessor.

I am trying to reach down into my soul and explain to parents what a wonderful 'video game' this set is. How 189.00 is nothing when you think of how much gas, time, energy, and stress it is to run around entertaining them on a regular basis. With four positions to occupy (guitar, drums, singing, and a bass if you get an extra guitar) there is always something for even a little younger sibling of four to do: either sing along or play the drums, gosh they learn it fast. Four year olds are no slouches. Rock Band 2 also has a wonderful 'no fail' option so that the song doesn't crash if one of the members falls out of tune, you can keep playing with no stress, unlike rockband 1. Altho, admittedly, soon, even inexperienced players seem to dislike the 'no fail' option as, strangely enough, not 'failing' is really the key to it feeling like you *are* real band.

If your looking for a way to meld your family unit, the last thing you would dream in the world might do it would be rocking out to old classics together, but somehow, like a magical mystery tour, it works wonders on the family unit. No one is more surprised than me. I swear I was convinced this would be the last thing on god's green earth I'd could ever dream of having enough coordination to ever enjoy.

Quick Mom-like Points:

Pros:
-An amazing dads/daughters/sons way to bond. Not too hard to talk dad into a nice redition of 'Eye of the Tiger' when he gets off work--where as trying to get him to have a tea-party of play some basket ball is a bit more challanging. Dads LOVE this game, and kids don't get 'in the way' - everyone is an asset in rockband. Which is the sheer genius of it when it comes to familes and their differing ages.
-No musical ability or lessons required. Literally any age over 4 can play.
-Promotes family and sharing and harmony. Appreciation of each other's musical attempts, and that promotes respect as one 'musician' to another.
-Produces confidence and self-esteem via performing. We really don't get much of a chance to 'show off' or 'express' our selves infront of each other often. This experience really builds - do i dare say it - self-love and pride in self-ability. When you totally rock the drums or sing a great rendition of a song, or play an amazing solo on the guitar, everyone else knows how hard it is because we all take our turn at 'bat' so to speak.
-Great mental concentration, hand-eye coordination improvement as you make music.
-No painful learning curve. Each member of the band plays at their own skill level without it slowing down any other member.
-A fun way burn up all that pent-up energy, and surprisingly, emotion, we build up over the day.
-The drums are quiet. You can literally work in the same room and concentrate on a mental task on a computer while four kids rock wildly on rock band. Why? Becuase they shut up for 4 minutes at a time! WOO!! And they are in a good mood when they play. No one gets angry, it's such a singular thing of concentration to work as a whole (if that makes sense.)

Cons--
-might agrue over who is to play the drums next. I make everyone switch around ever few songs to play their favs. One of my favorite things about rock band is 'making' everyone rotate thru guitar, singing, and drums. Great experiences, all.
-someone or everyone in the house will be addicted. great 'when your homework is done' inducement tho.
-the vast majority of songs are classic rock and considered tame by todays lyrical standards as far as decency goes. Some of the songs are depressing and we flat-out skip. I am sure more varied rockband songs will be popping up soon in every possible genre. Christian rock, country, hiphop, etc. For the moment now it's the classic rock greats and some newer hits. So songs might need monitoring. I haven't unlocked 'you oughta know' by alanis morrisette yet, but I know that's not a song the kids will be able to play because of they lyrics.

All in all, amazing, wonderful, fabulous!

It's one thing to go to a concert and sit there and watch a flawless show - but, wow is it another to try to do it yourself. Now I really know what they mean when they say 'rock on.' It ain't no joke. I, now, have a whole new perspective and *respect* for the sweat and brains it takes to make a song work. Grab Rock Band 2 for your family, it's almost a sure bet to please everyone, including Mom and Dad!

First, the instruments are a big improvement over the previous Rock Band. I prefer wireless to wired, which is nice since I live in a small space and storing the wires is a pain. The face of the drums is made of a different material which makes them much less noisy. This is great for those who live in apartment complexes like me. A second smaller improvement, is that the base of the drums which holds the pedal is a different shape, which means the pedal doesn't rotate when the drums are lifted and moved.

Another major improvement over the Guitar Hero series is the ability to export songs. With Rock Band 2 you are able to play most the original Rock Band songs in Rock Band 2 by storing them on your hard drive (This cost 400 MS points and requires an XBox live connection). I really like this feature.

One game play improvement in tour mode, over the original Rock Band, allows you to use your character on every instrument instead of just one. This saves a lot of time on character creation. I also prefer the tour mode on Rock Band 2 as it seems more organized, however, this may just be my personal opinion.

The game play remains basically the same, though the song difficulty may have been made slightly easier, though its really hard to say.

The improvement of the drum face alone, makes the special edition worth it for me. If you're not interested in the quieter drum faces, the wireless instruments, and the drum expansion I would recommend just getting the game IF you have the original Rock Band.

Playing the original Rock Band game once at a party was all it took for me to ask my wife for the Rock Band 2 bundle as my birthday gift. Rock Band is a great party game. Friends look forward to coming over to play, or even just to watch. I organized an after hours Rock Band function at my office recently, and was amazed at how many coworkers came out of their shells to try their hand at singing or beating a drum - even those generally diinterested in video games.

When at home, you can open new songs and venues through the World Tour mode. You can play with up to three friends, or go it solo with "computer non-player characters" substituting for your human bandmates. Being able to switch instruments while playing solo is a great feature that can help you get past a tough spot. If you're playing guitar and get stuck on the solo for Pearl Jams "Alive", switch to drums and try it again.

Be forewarned - while not a big deal - know that the bundle currently ships with a solid black guitar with a white pick guard - not the sunburst wood grain pattern everyone describes as the new RB2 guitar. I was a little surprised and perhaps a bit dissapointed that I didn't get the new guitar pattern, but it is still the improved RB2 version with the stronger strum bar, auto-calibration microphone, and wireless screwless battery compartment.

This is a very fun game that makes you feel like you're actually participating in some creative musical adventure.

From a software standpoint this is superior to Guitar Hero. Unfortunately the hardware is still unreliable, and there is a good chance some part of it will fail after the short 60 day warranty.

I am now stuck with a broken drum pedal that has never been used. I purchased the set on release day in October (mistake #1), but didn't use the drums until a family gathering at Christmas (mistake #2) - just past the 60 day warranty window. Fighting with the drums during the event was not fun, and dealing with EA Support has been less so.

Make sure you use a credit card that will double the manufacturer's warranty and hold on to your packaging and receipt. You will probably need it.

There are plenty of reviews out there for this game. I just want to point out something to help with the decision many are asking. "Which one should I buy?" Well, personally, I've gotten both and think everyone should but if you are limited to one choice, consider this. The Rock Band 2 game currently overs you a much larger available setlist of songs via DLC (downloadable content). I personally have over 500 songs for my Rock Band 2 game and while I have more fun sometimes playing some of the songs on World Tour because of the new features that were incorporated, I would choose my larger setlist game in the long run. It seems the Rock Band 2 folks are working harder to get more songs for us than with Guitar Hero.

First off this is a great game. The sound track is excellant, the game play is solid, and the insturments do exactly what they should. The new and improved drumset is better then i could have hoped. The rebound on the new rubber pads is much better then the original set. The new pads also dampen the thunderous thuds you would have with the other pads. You can actually hear the music over the drums without your TV turned up to an ear bleeding volume. The guitar is solid and the wireless features make this well worth the investment. One last feature worth mentioning is the ability to download the RB1 songs (and for only 400 MS points) so you only need to have RB2 in your console to play everything.

The cons. To start with I am dissapointed that the solo career was taken out of this game. I really liked the solo career in RB1 as I could practice songs while earning game cash and feeling like I accomplished something. The fact that as a single player your only choices in RB2 are either quickplay or online battles takes a little away from the game, and the overall experience. I know youre probably reading this saying "It's called rock band, if you want a solo career get Guitar Hero". Honestly, I don't much care for the Guitar Hero franchise, and I don't always have 2-4 people on hand to rock out with. One other small gripe I had about the game is the fact that all the commercials have been showing the new "sunburst" fender strat guitar. This is NOT included with this bundle. You do get a guitar with all the new features including the simulated rosewood fretboard, but the body is still the simple fender black with white pick guard. I was really looking forward to having the sunburst guitar. The guitar also had some sort of strange white marks all over the back of the body. It was almost like there was a defect in the forming process and the body wasn't colored evenlly. Obviously these in no way affect game play, but if your going to charge almost $200 for the bundle, I think you can afford to give us the new guitar design.

Overall this game is a blast and I can see it giving me just as much enjoyment as RB1. I would have given it 4.5 stars overall, but amazon only lets items be rated in 1 star increments.

This was definetly one of my better buys. The set came sooner than I expected, and me and my friends enjoy it to the max. Thanks!

My usual gaming preference is RPGs, and in the past I would never even give this type of game a second look, but I have to give credit where credit is due. We've had family, friends, and neighbors over and there have been near riots over who gets to play next. Even my jaded, clinically depressed, and medicated family members, who normally respond to everything with "This sucks- you should die for even trying to get me to have fun" had a blast. One said, "Wow. This is better than crack." (Sadly, she might actually know if that's true.)

The whole bundle is a great value, especially as it has provided entertainment for so many. The wireless devices have worked flawlessly and seem to hold up well.

I took off one star the overall "Fun" rating because there aren't *that* many modern songs out of the box that I know people would want to play/sing, although I understand more are available for download. That's our next step.

Overall, good stuff, even for people who generally don't game.

Instead of spending money on all the Rock Band 3 instruments, I highly recommend buying this, then buying Rock Band 3 + Keyboard.

From the money you save, you can spend some of it to import most of the RB2 songs into RB3.

Still a great probably timeless game. This drum set is much better than RB1. The songs don't go out of style so it may be smart to buy this for the equipment, even if you plan on getting RB3.