First Impressions/Review: Rockband 2

We'll make it no secret that we here at Kneel Before Pod are huge fans of Rockband. We're also huge fans of Harmonix in general. We loved the first two Guitar Hero games. After Harmonix left the franchise we kind of lost interest in the series, but found it's spiritual successor in their new series. So it is with a heavy heart, that I must say.... Rockband 2 ROCKS! Heavy heart? Maybe Heavy Metal Heart! Hells yeah!

Lets get down the the nitty gritty, there will be some people out there that will say this is more Rockband 1.5 or an expansion pack. They honestly wouldn't be too far off. I wouldn't say that it's a bad thing though. Unlike other games that will charge you $60, give you little to no new features and around 40 new songs, Rockband 2 delivers an all around better experience.

Lets just start off with the obvious. This title gives you over 80 new songs including the unlockable bonus tracks. Not only is this just a downright huge amount of songs, but they are also a wide range of genres. From Elvis Costello to Motorhead, Blondie to Panic at the Disco!, and even from Bob Dylan to Beck. There will be songs that you like on this disc. And I do mean that as songs plural. I promise you that you will find multiple songs that you like and fine even more that you enjoy to play even though you never heard them before this game.

Speaking of songs, do you own Rockband 1? Do you like the songs on it? Do you hate having to switch between discs just because your favourite song is on the old version of your music game? Well that need not be a problem any longer. With the latest update to Rockband 1 you can actually download the music content on your hard drive and use it with future versions of the game. All you do is pay a very small licensing fee (which goes towards paying the rights of the songs and is around $5) and you can play almost all your RB1 songs on RB2. Pretty sweet no?

Also, did you download a ton of DLC for it? I know I did (I'm looking at you Grateful Dead and The Who pack). Well, good news, that content all works on Rockband 2. So the tons and tons of money that you have sunk into the Marketplace for those song packs will not have gone to waste. This means with your back catalogue, the new songs from the RB2 disc and the weekly downloads, you will have nigh infinite replayability. Life is sweet.

So we have all the music covered, so lots talk about what's new. Well, the single player experience has changed a lot. The solo tour now plays like the band world tour in RB1. You form up a band using a name of your choice (which you can add people to later in multi-player) and start off in your hometown. You play gigs and choose different setlists whilst building up your stars and fanbase. As you progress you get bigger venues, more fans and more equipment. Overall, it is a much more entertaining process than the previous Rockband which pretty much just had you playing through a list of songs with no real progression with the exception of just going to a different town. There is also the inclusion of a new "challenge" system in place which gives you a setlist, if you pass it you unlock new songs and new challenges. So some solid and positive growth in the single player has occurred between the two versions of this game.

The biggest news for this title is that you can now play the multiplayer band world tour mode over Xbox Live. That means that if you and your friends don't always want to be forced to schedule a physical meeting or dedicate a whole night to Rockband, you can now just team up at your own home and play whenever you want. This is great for friends that are long distance or just have conflicting work schedules. Ryan and myself have yet to try this out, but I'm sure we will talk about it on the podcast once we do.

To continue on the multiplayer, the party game potential has been increased with an addition of a "no fail mode." When this is put into place, your band can't fail out of a song. This means that if you have friends with delusions of grandeur or friends that have never played a music game before, you can play without the pressure of ruining it for everyone involved. The game can be especially overwhelming for the new player and this will help bring in more of your friends into the experience, which is always a good thing.

Overall, this is just a great game. Rockband 1's gameplay was nearly perfect to begin with and Rockband 2 doesn't fix what isn't broke. The added features such as full online co-op, band vs band online competition, backwards compatibility, no fail mode, expanded single player and the fact that one created character can now play any instrument makes this a clear improvement over the previous title. Is it a true sequel? Though it can be debated, I personally feel it is. It has shown more growth than other franchises (looking at you Madden) and lot of added content. What I think everyone can agree on is that either true sequel or glorified expansion pack, the price is right and it's still the most fun you will have with a music based game.

Carl's Rating: 9/10
Ryan's Rating: 9/10
Overall Rating: 9/10