Rock Band 2 (PS3) > Reviews (2)

ARE YOU HAVING A GOOD TIME MANCHESTER ??

(Or any other concert venue)
Cue loud screaming and cheering in response..
"YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST CROWD EVER."
More cheering . .
"YOU GUYS WILL CHEER AT ANYTHING WON'T YOU?"
Applause, foot stamping, whistles.
"BACON SANDWICHES . . . ?"
Screams, more applause . .

There are different views on this type of game, Rock Band and the Guitar Hero franchise, including Band Hero:
Some critics say it isn't anything like playing real music and only stops what could have been decent musicians from actually trying to set up their own band, and the other which believes it can pique an interest in rock music, especially in the very young and introduce them to bands they may never have heard of.
Once their interest has been grabbed, then who knows where they may go with music.

ON LEAD GUITAR, MY VERY GOOD FRIEND. . .

Even more whistles, thunderous applause. .

So you want to shred some tunes duuude?
Whoaa, chill out there Mr Hendrix:
You get four instruments to choose from, including Drums, Lead guitar, Bass Guitar and Vocals.
The practice mode is your first port of call, and if your friends aren't the most diplomatic then best practice on your own.

"HEY YOU REALlY SUCK"
"Yeah thanks mate"
"No I mean really, hey do you want me to get you a shoe box and an elastic band?"
"Why don't you just . . . . . . . off and leave me alone"

Oh the banter we had. . ha ha haaaa

The Guitar, if you have the Rock Band kit, resembles a small Fender Stratocaster, with 5 fret buttons on the neck, and a plectrum bar on the body.
The Drums resemble a simple four pad electtronic drum kit, and a bass / kick pedal.
The Vocals? You get a microphone, simple as that, but you also need a standard controller to be able to make selections.
The game itself, when you select a track to play, takes the form of a scrolling screen, like a narrow road you are travelling down, The notes you need to play appear on this "road" and as they reach the bottom you play the note. Each player has their own road. Although after a long gaming session staring at scolling notes, wierd effects can be noticed:

"HEY, the walls are moving, ooooooo"
"Whoa, look at that, it's like I'm drunk"
"Cool, what we playing next then?"

The vocals are seperated onto their own section with a karaoke style display, similar to other games such as Singstar.
You can select difficulty level from Beginner, through medium, hard and to expert. Each player can select their own skill level, so no need to worry about being too hard or too easy for another player.

I said, ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL?

The music tracks, for the majority, are original master recordings by the artists themselves, although a small number are by session artists, either when the master track wasn't available, or because the original artist refused permission.
There are so many tracks available I won't try to list them here, and you can also download extra tracks by original artists from the playstation store. Indeed some artitsts release new Rock Band versions alongside their latest single.

If you have the Rock Band 1 game then you can import most of the songs onto your hard drive for a few pounds, which means all the songs are there to play without swapping discs over. Also with RB2 you get a code which allows a few more free downloadable tracks.

Playing some of the tracks, especially on expert for those non-musicians, you start to appreciate the talent of the original artists, when it becomes obvious just how many notes you have to play.
I actually now have a set of drumsticks taking pride of place as they have my blood on them after I attempted to complete Everlong by the Foo Fighters on expert.
How rock and roll is that ?

Boo, BOOO GET OFFFF

To the gameplay then:
There are quite a few different game type options, from a career mode which sends you around the world playing at various venues, and unlocking more songs as you progress. to a quickplay mode where you can choose which songs you want to play. You can play on your own, or with friends, including online ones.
After selecting your character, the track and then difficulty. The song starts, with your characters in the background appearing usually in the setting of a Rock Concert infront of screaming fans. As you play more notes correctly, and on time, the more your score increases, and the more your crowd will love you. If you're playing particularly well, the crowd will even join in, and you will be able to hear that gig like sound as they sing along to the vocals with you - quite an addictive sound I have to add.
Get it wrong though, and the heckling will begin,.

"HUNGREE LIKE THA WUUUUULF ! ! ! "
* THUMP THUMP THUMP *
"Was that you?"
"No, next door"
"Oh HELL! Look at the time - its half past one !
"Damn, best make this the last one then"

Any player regularly missing their notes will drop out of the song, and then the trouble can really start, with the bands overall performance dropping until they are all booed off stage. This in itself can be funny, with the on screen characters throwing their instruments to the floor, shaking fists at each other, or storming off in anger. However you can save any player twice by careful use of "energy", which is explained in detail in the game.

*tap tap* Is this thing on?

If you manage to finish the song, the crowd will cheer and you will be taken to a results screen, rating each band member, and the bands overall performance with up to 5 stars, or if you really wowed the crowd, 5 Gold Stars, Whoo Hoo . . shh steady on now . . .
Fail the song, and you can either restart (Huh yeah really) or just choose a different song. ( I never liked that song anyway)
Obviousy the vocals will be as loud as the player singing, the guitar controllers make a slight clicking sound, which isn't too bad, but the drums?
Ohh the drums. Its like having Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly having a tap dance battle on a concrete floor right next to you

CLACK CLACK CLACKITTY CLACKITTY

"Happy Birthday"
"Aw thank you . . . erm, what are these?"
"Drum pad sliencers, make sure you DAMN WELL USE THEM"

.

. . . It is probably wise to invest in some drum pad silencers. (GAME store do a good Rock Band set), unless you want the Police Armed Response Unit firing tear-gas through your lounge window after they received reports of "Shots Fired"
But I do have,next to my blood soaked drumsticks, a discharged tear gas cannister, How rock and roll is that ? ?

It's awkward to rate longevity for this type of game, as new tracks are being released all the time, and the main thing which will stop you playing it, is when a newer version with improved features is released, or your house collapses due to the structure being weakened by that New Years Party when evenyone was howling along to Eye of the Tiger . .

The game itself is quite good value for money, but then there's the instruments, which can be expensive depending on where and how you buy them.
Shop around, some online deals are good, some in store deals are good. Generally it works out cheaper to buy the Band in the Box kits, which contain Microphone, Drums and a Guitar.
However the kick pedal on the drum kit can be fragile and prone to snapping, leading to small businesses supplying replacement heavy duty pedals which I have had to buy.
The guitar too: the tremelo (or whammy) bar has a weak spring, but this can be easily fixed using the spring from a clothes peg !
With the Playstation kit, the advantage is that it will work on the PS2 and PS3. (Yes you can get Rock Band games for the PS2 and while some features are missing, it's a damn good version).
If you already own the Guitar Hero World Tour kit, then it should be compatible with Rock Band, and vice versa. You can also buy unoffical instruments by other manufactures, which are cross platfrom, ie a Wii controller will be able to work with Xbox and PS3. (NOTE: The official instruments are not cross platfrom).

For a game that can have all the family around, enjoying themselves, (with suprisingly little argument ! !). from little kids, to grandparents, with the wide range of songs available, it's got to be brilliant.
The instruments may not be real, but I don't think this game detracts from music, I think it makes you appreciate it even more.

If you have the Rock Band 1 game, then there are a few enhancements over the original.
Calibrating the system lag is easier. This can be the problem caused by how your television displays the picture and causes the audio and visual to be out of synch - which. in turn, leads to the game being unplayable.
The practice modes are improved for each instrument, especially the drums.
You can choose a set list from the song listings, rather than one track at a time.
Online play has been inproved with more options such as battle of the bands.

And just to annoy my sister, even though I mainly play the drums, my party piece is to play the lead guitar and (with a mic stand) sing the vocals aswell.
And STILL get 5 stars on Kids in America . . .
So ner . .