Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Amazing"

Harmonix released the original Rock Band back in 2007 to massive critical reception and sales and has followed up with an amazing sequel. Rock Band 2 removes all the bells and whistles of gaming like story, fancy graphics, and characters. Instead, we get a game focused on producing fantastic gameplay that is extremely fun to play. This is why we do what we do for a living!

At the main menu, you have several options. Quickplay lets you jump into a song right awaym World Tour lets you go on tour in an actaul band, and training gives new players a chance to shine. In all the modes, more than one player can join in as a drummer, base player, or vocalist, both in the same room and over xbox live.

It should be noted that any instruments from Guitar Hero World Tour onwards can be used in Rock Band and in reverse. If you already have guitar hero instruments, you can jump right into Rock Band 2 no problem.

What you get on screen is a highway of notes in which you must hit the corresponding color button on the guitar as well as the flipper on the body of the guitar. While playing a song, you'll be playing solos, hitting the whammy bar, and tilting your guitar in overdrive. Drums and vocals play the same way but have different abilities than guitar.

The setlist for Rock Band 2 is simply incredible. Harmonix has done a great job of picking artists that are up and coming as well as famous. Bon Jovi, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Jimmy Eat World, Beck, are just some of the great artists included. And if the songs on the disc aren't enough, you can download individual songs or entire albums of the Rock Band music store. Tons of value and the game could literally become an entire platform for your music playing needs.

Rock Band 2 succeeds on a one factor above all else. It is just plain fun. No story, fancy visuals, rpg elements/leveling up, none of that. Rock Band 2 does nothing more than provide tons of fun, and that's what makes the game so special.

Multiplayer is cleary an imprtant part of the game and is great. You can play with 3 other people in the same room or play over xbox live. There's nothing quite like playing in a band, jamming out to some of your favourite tunes.

Rock Band 2's presentation is fantastic. The visuals aren't a major component of the game, but they're quite nice, and the game runs perfectly. The audio is the real standout with anamazing setlist, and very high quality. The crowd singing along as you play is a great touch.

When you get down to it, Rock Band 2 is just plain fun. The simplcity of simply having a good time without hours of tutorials or fihuring out a story's plot twist is so refreshing in this dag and age. Rock Band 2 is an amazing achievement in the genre and an absolute must purchase for any fan of the genre.

Visuals- 8
Audio- 10
Controls- 9.5
Replay- 10
Gameplay- 9.5
Multiplayer- 9.5
DLC- Not played at time of this review

Overall- 9.5