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The most helpful favorable review
The most helpful critical review
86 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
Making a Great Game Better
I've been playing this for 5 days now, after a year of playing RB1. To give credit where it's due, it looks like the team at Harmonix read every angry, outraged post about the first Rock Band and then addressed the problems.
Gameplay:
-Bands no longer have a leader that must be present in order for the band to play. Any member of the band can play...
Published 22 months ago by James Felix
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Buyer Beware: Shoddy Drums & Short Warranty Period
We bought Rock Band 2 for the PS3 early this year, and had a great time playing for few weeks in January and February. We took very good care of the equipment. One time the wireless drums were a bit difficult to turn on, but we didn't think much of it at the time. Little did we know we should have acted on that problem right away...
We didn't use the game for...
Published 17 months ago by Godzilla Blitz
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86 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
Making a Great Game Better, October 23, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Playstation 3 Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)
I've been playing this for 5 days now, after a year of playing RB1. To give credit where it's due, it looks like the team at Harmonix read every angry, outraged post about the first Rock Band and then addressed the problems.
Gameplay:
-Bands no longer have a leader that must be present in order for the band to play. Any member of the band can play solo, and any character can play any instrument.
-You can now create an entire band and have them play with you ALL the time, giving you control over the look of it. You never need to have a random character model stand in. The might seem like a small thing but it makes a big difference. I don't know how many times my friends and I played, 3 of us looking like the Beatles, only to have some chick wrapped up like a mummy playing bass.
-You can be more in-depth in fleshing out your band, including designing a logo for them.
Drums
-First of all the drums are wireless, which in itself is a big improvement. They have a rubberized coating on the pad now which cuts the noise from striking them in half, and that's more a dull thud than the sharp, obnoxious crack of the old drums. The bass pedal has been beefed up and should stand up to adult usage. I see some users complaining about tech problems with the drums, but mine have thus far been flawless.
-Guitar
This is a huge improvement over the RB1 guitar. The start button has been put in a recess, making it much harder to accidentally pause the game while playing. The tilt sensor for going into overdrive works perfectly, the buttons are easier to use and the overall construction is sturdier. Best of all, it's wireless receiver has a USB port that you can plug the drums into, making it so that two instruments take up only one USB port on the console. This means that you can play as a full 4-person band without needing anything extra for your PS3. Again, a little thing that makes a big difference.
All the songs you downloaded for RB1 can be played on this game, and for a small fee you can also migrate all the songs from the RB1 disc onto your drive to be used with RB2. I think it's great that you don't have to leave any songs behind.
Bottom line: if you have RB1 you should definitely buy at least this game, even if you want to keep your old instruments. The expansion to your song library alone is well worth the price. But if you have the money to spend I think the improved instruments are worth buying.
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55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
RB2 on the Wii delivers! Best game on Wii yet., December 18, 2008
Fun:
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!!
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
Debating between RB2 and Guitar Hero World Tour as Family Games?, March 23, 2009
Fun:
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.
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic, October 21, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Playstation 3 Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)
After reading some of the negative press on RB2, especially the drums, my RB2 kit arrived and I had a non interrupted 2 hours of drumming joy.
Positives.
The Guitar has self calibration, which I have found to be good enough that I have not had to do any calibration manually (this was a right pain to get right in RB1). Somewhere (I could not see them from a cursory inspection) is both a sound and light sensor which auto calibrates vs a test beat and test flash.
I was most worried that the drums would not work (i'm the drummer in my family/friends) especially after all forum activity. They worked absolutely fine for me last night. Really like the softer/bouncier feel to the pads (i had the RB1 drums with silencer pads - these will not be necessary with the RB2 drums)
Menu system navigation is much more logical, as is the intergration of solo and multiplayer.
Drum trainer is excellent - 50+ patterns to practice, some with very complex changes, all at 40-200 bpm...
Song choices so far seem to have some really interesting drum rhythms and sequences with much more variation than RB1.
Overall really happy. Just hope I don't get some of the issues mentioned on the forums.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
Set is still worth buying, even for RB1 owners, November 24, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Playstation 3 Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)
We have had both Rock Band 1 and Rock Band 2 since their release dates, and I waited for a month of continuous gameplay so that I could make sure that I addressed some of the differences accurately.
Gameplay:
The graphics have never been the high point of this game, and they are slightly improved, still artsy-cartoony and PS2-looking, but still cleverly done (e.g., they are not that crisp HD cartooniness of "Buzz!" but they'll do). Gameplay is much the same as Rock Band 1, with the MAJOR exception that you can start a tour yourself and your character can play any instrument (previously, your character was tied to one instrument and if you played alone, you generally had to play 2 instruments to go "on tour"). Harmonix added in online challenges ("battles") that can be played weekly and are available for free over the Playstation Network. The extra downloadable songs are generally inexpensive and bring a massive diversity of artists (from Underoath to Devo to Paramore, and by now, RB has amassed an amazing amount of downloadable songs (over 500+ to date).
One minor quibble is that the same problem exists in RB2 as RB1, namely, that you cannot delete tracks that you absolutely hate. Thus, you can still fail out in the middle of a challenge because RB has picked an "impossible" song as one of its randoms, and I wish they would do a better job with their randomizer. Also, when you play in "Quickplay" mode, you cannot pick your character, unlike RB1. So I end up with "Earl Stevens, Jr." a lot instead of my own character, which is disappointing when I don't want to go through a tour (basically because I can't remember "which town" has the music I want to play - e.g., where is "Everlong," again? The Amsterdam amphitheater?).
Peripherals:
The drums are head over heels better than the old version. They are quieter, springier on rebound, have a metal reinforced pedal to slow down breakages (though the spring mechanism still makes your pedaling-leg tired after a session), and are just as easy to break down and put away. Wireless is awesome, but it is a DRAIN on your AA batteries (we went through the first set of 4 Energizers in less than 10 days), so invest in some rechargables. Love the fact that it has a port for fake cymbals (which don't change the gameplay, they just give you something different to hit on the greens/blues/reds).
The guitar is somewhat improved, with the Start button surrounded by a ridge of plastic, though if you've been playing on RB1, you may actually like that guitar better. The one in the special edition package does NOT come with a sunburst "finish" though - it's the same old Stratocaster body with a fake wood neck. The "auto-calibration" mechanism in the guitar (something missing from RB1) created some distressing results, so it was not as great of a feature as I initially hoped for, and we went back to manual calibration with our HDTV.
The mic is the same old, same old rebranded Logitech Vantage mic. But the Pelican and MadCatz upgraded versions aren't actually much better, so this mic will get you by.
Warranty Support:
The equipment is much higher quality than the first batch. We returned at least two RB1 guitars on warranty with the first set and are returning our RB2 guitar for failing to recognize overdrive. However, EA Customer Support has been marvelous EVERY time, so I highly recommend purchasing without fear.
Overall:
I was initially hesitant about replacing what I thought was an expensive RB1 set in the first place with a marginally more expensive RB2 set. However, I found the drum peripheral more than worth the expense - and after playing them, I was satisfied and did not see the need to cough up another $300 for the premium Ion. Conclusion? RB2 is just as fun as RB1, if not more. The track list is GREAT, the gameplay is slightly improved, and everyone loves it at parties. For casual gamers who just like to pick up a fake instrument every now and again, it's a must-buy.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Rock Band 2 fixes every disappointment from Rock Band 1!, December 20, 2008
Fun:
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.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
The evolution of a platform, September 29, 2008
Fun:
The prime difference between what the folks at Harmonix and the people at Neversoft/RedOctane are doing with their perspective games comes down to very important semantics. Neversoft's Guitar Hero series is a franchise. Harmonix's Rock Band is a platform. It's a huge distinction and the truth is that Rock Band's method benefits the consumers a lot more.
So when you're purchasing Rock Band 2, you'll getting a lot more value than you can imagine. Sure there's the 84 song (all master cuts) list and the 20 additional free bonus songs coming really soon, but what's important to note is the promise that Harmonix is keeping with: Rock Band is a platform, meaning every song under the Rock Band umbrella (with a few unfortunate nixes) will work with their games. So not only do all the songs you've been downloading for a year work, but also all but three songs in Rock Band 1 can be ripped to your hard drive (for a nominal $5 for licensing fees). This is a phenomenal value that values the customer more than paying for individual "expansion" packs that have no connectivity to one another. Platform versus franchise.
Alright, so there's a huge value here. But once you dig into the actual game, there's some good and some blah. Harmonix revamped the touring mode so that, regardless of playing single or multi, you have one World Tour. Previously, songs unlocked in solo play would show up in the multiplayer; here, though, regardless of whether you're playing by yourself or with friends, you're unlocking songs as you travel throughout the world. It's a lot more fun and emphasizes group play.
One of the issues I've run into is that the people I play Rock Band with aren't the best of players. We do it for fun and we'd invariably run into a brick wall in the tour where they'd have to move up to the next difficulty and couldn't. So far, we haven't run into that situation and have gotten a lot more out of touring that we used to. I hope this continues as this is the most exciting and fun aspect of the game.
Other game types have been included, as well. Your band can do the "Tour Challenge," which basically throws various set lists at you to get through. These set lists can be songs from a specific band or songs difficult on a certain instrument or songs of a certain theme, etc. A second game type is "Battle of the Bands" and puts your band against another band virtually, with a leaderboard to track your progress.
If you're looking for more character customization options, you'll probably be disappointed. There's a few more new hair types and a couple more faces, but for the most part it feels like the first Rock Band. This is a common thread throughout Rock Band 2: it feels a lot like the first Rock Band. It's more of a slow evolution. By far the best changes are ones that should have been in place the first time around, namely the fact you don't need a band leader and that you can have one character play any of the instruments. This is probably my favorite part of the new game (minus the songs).
But the songs are the real showcase. There's a lot of diversity here with a lot of new bands, some oldies and everything in between. But most of the songs are a ton of fun to play, which is the most important part. If you have Rock Band, this is a no brainer as the gameplay modes are more fun and you're not losing songs. If you're new, this is a terrific place to start. Many many hours have been logged so far and I can't wait for more.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
RB2 vs. GHWT, April 25, 2009
Fun:
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.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Buyer Beware: Shoddy Drums & Short Warranty Period, April 10, 2009
Fun:
This review is from: Playstation 3 Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)
We bought Rock Band 2 for the PS3 early this year, and had a great time playing for few weeks in January and February. We took very good care of the equipment. One time the wireless drums were a bit difficult to turn on, but we didn't think much of it at the time. Little did we know we should have acted on that problem right away...
We didn't use the game for a month or so, and then took it out this weekend to play some more. Bad news: the wireless drums are completely dead. They don't turn on at all. I switched out the batteries to brand new ones and made sure they were sitting in the container correctly. Still, nothing.
Fine, I think, there must be some options to return defective equipment. Wrong. Harmonix offers only a 60-day warranty on the equipment. Replacing the drums means buying a new set ($90). There are numerous complaints on Harmonix's support boards from customers who are running into problems with the PS3 drums shortly after the warranty expires, but Harmonix is ignoring the issue.
I can understand if we had beat on the drums or abused them, but outside of very minor wear on the pads, these drums look brand new. We've probably used them less than 25 hours in all. Harmonix claims they are dedicated to customer satisfaction, but a measly 60-day warranty period on the instruments isn't enough time to identify possible manufacturing defects. As a Harmonix customer, I am disappointed and am definitely not satisfied.
Buyer beware.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent game -- S.E. comes with 1 guitar, drums, microphone & game, November 25, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Playstation 3 Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Video Game)
This game is a lot more fun than I expected. I started this review mostly to confirm what is included in the Rock Band 2 Special Edition for PS3 -- It has the game, a drum set, a guitar, and a microphone -- the only thing you need to purchase in addition to have the full game is another guitar. You can also buy Rock Band 1 -- and import its songs into Rock Band 2. (there are also online songs you can buy) -- I have spent quite a bit of money buying new songs / Rock Band 1 -- in order to fill out my library. There is a cheat code you can enter to unlock all the songs (google rock band 2 unlock songs cheat).
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