So if you know absolutely anything about me at all, you know that I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Rock Band 2 since it was announced back in June. The announcement was a bit of a surprise as it's been less than a year since the first one came out (an event I happily stood in line for at midnight in front of a Best Buy in San Francisco). And I'm pleased to report that even though it's not really, technically, a true sequel, it trumps the first in pretty much every way. It almost feels like last year's game should have just been called "Play A Bunch Of Songs With Your Friends", and this game should be called "Rock Band".
Harmonix could probably have just stuck to releasing a new pack of songs every week as downloadable content ("DLC") and never bothered to release a new game on disc. The DLC, by all accounts, has been incredibly popular, and they've kept it interesting over the last year with releases by such diverse artists as David Bowie, The Pixies, Jonathan Coulton, and even Jimmy freakin' Buffett. But Rock Band delivers much more than just a new setlist. Don't get me wrong, the new setlist is impressive. We'll talk about that more later, though.
The game itself has been given a real overhaul as well; not necessarily graphically, but in some other very important ways.
Band creation and "touring" was needlessly difficult in RB1. Once you created the perfect guitarist in the character creator, you'd be dismayed to find he'd be stuck with that axe strapped to him forever: characters could not move from one instrument to another. And if the "band leader" was not playing, then the whole band would be stuck in the practice space. Both of these annoyances have been removed in RB2.
Once you went on tour in RB1, though, it was tons of fun. Unique pathways through the game's songs, interesting setlists, surprises along the way... it all combined to really keep you on your toes. The solo game, however, was still stuck back in Guitar Hero land: play a set of 5-6 songs, unlock the next set... lather, rinse, repeat. And what if you wanted to show some love to the unsung anchor of the band, the bass player? No dice, Entwistle. You're stuck in Quickplay mode, where they don't even pretend to reward you for your progress.
The solution for RB2 was dead simple: no more solo tour. There's just the Band Tour now, and it can be played solo or with up to 4 players. And solo players can tour with any instrument, bass included. If I unlock a new set of gigs playing solo, then I get to play those gigs with the whole band next time they're over. Or I can go on tour with friends over Xbox Live, something you just plain couldn't do in RB1.
Even that single change would have made the touring experience in RB2 far more enjoyable, but then they had to go and add just the slightest smidgen of an RPG element to the mix. Yes, you heard me. See, as you progress through your tour, you not only get the usual roadies, sound guy, etc., you now have the option to hire a staff. Staff members could be a street team, stylist, promoter, tattoo artist... the list goes on. But you can only have one staff member on your team at any time, and the benefits each one offers are different. Your street team might get you more fans, but not as much money. One promoter might give you access to gigs you couldn't book otherwise... but only on the West Coast. In my experimentation, this feature provides far more replayability than the tour had in RB1.
The song selection also seems to have been fixed in RB2. Used to be that certain songs (*ahem*) crept up far more than others in mystery setlists in RB1, but that hasn't been the case for me at all in RB2.
A couple of other tweaks to the gameplay have come along for the ride as well. Guitarists are no longer the only players who can enjoy the thrill of a solo; drummers get 'em now too! They're not as frequent as guitar solos, but still a nice surprise. Vocal recognition seems to have been greatly improved, especially on the "talkie" bits. Initially the thought of stepping up to the mic for "So Whatcha Want" by The Beastie Boys was daunting, but the game picked up my dope rhymes just fine. Yes, I typed that.
There's also been a ton of new customization options added to the Rock Shop. This isn't a huge deal for a lot of people, but I really like being able to change my on-screen avatar's look every so often, and more options is always better than less. Plus it's just plain fun to watch your friends find the perfect look for their character, then take 'em onstage to play alongside you.
Which brings us to, really, the most important part of any rhythm game, and that's the music. I was a big fan of RB1's setlist, but I think RB2's blows it out of the water. It's incredibly diverse, with more than 40 years worth of music on hand. Artists as huge as Metallica, Bon Jovi and Duran Duran appear right alongside such obscure yet worthy indie artists as Sonic Youth, Silversun Pickups and Bikini Kill. The Guitar Hero games have increasingly gone after more and more difficult songs, while Rock Band seems content to pick songs that are fun. Fun to listen to and fun to play. Compare the note charts in Guitar Hero 3 (or the videos that have been released from the upcoming World Tour) to Rock Band 2. In GH3 notes are tossed haphazardly around the chart with almost no bearing on the actual sound of the song. The designers at Harmonix have said that their focus while charting their songs is not difficulty, but making the charts accurate to how the songs are actually played. And even though I've got no experience with a real guitar, I can tell the difference. One of the lead chuckleheads at Activision recently said something along the lines of "of course our note charts are going to be better, we've got a staff of hundreds putting them together!". Sorry, Bobby, but I'd rather have one guy making the charts who actually likes and cares about the music than a huge staff of frat boys who'd rather be making Tony Hawk's Extreme Super Road Rage Crash Jam 9.
And that's not even taking into account the fact that practically all of your existing Rock Band songs can be played in RB2. So you get not just the amazing 84 on-disc tracks, but 55 tracks from RB1 if you own it (and pay 5 bucks to transfer the songs), and all of the DLC you might have bought over the past year. When I fire up RB2, I can choose from about 270 different songs... and I didn't even buy all of the DLC. Harmonix is promising over 500 available tracks by the holidays, with
some pretty awesome stuff already announced. And I haven't even mentioned the 20 free DLC tracks that will be available later this fall for anyone who bought RB2.
I haven't even mentioned the Tour Challenges and the Band Battles, which breathe new life into the whole touring concept. I'm sure I'll be talking even more about Rock Band 2 over the coming weeks, but suffice it to say I couldn't be happier with the game. It allows me to geek out over music in a way I can easily share with friends, and that's about the neatest thing a video game can do.
(note: the title of this post is a lyric from one of my favorite songs in the game, Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups. You should totally buy it.)