Rock Band 2 Preview

by Ashley Coomer - 2008/08/03 8:17am

It has Nirvana in it… sold!

We love Rock Band! Granted, Team PlayStation Beyond have always regarded the rhythm action genre as one of our favourites, but regardless, taking the formula that made Guitar Hero successful and adding drums and vocals to it is the best decision Harmonix ever made. It’s pretty telling when a game has stayed in your disc tray since its release, so it goes without saying we’re hyped for the second game in what will hopefully be a long-running series.

Let’s get to the point, Rock Band 2 is going to be even better than the first. What once seemed impossible is now, well, not! Harmonix heard our prayers and has made numerous changes to the gameplay to make the party experience better, which we’ll talk about later. For now, what tweaks have been made to the instruments? Rather than making drastic changes, the drum kit has been improved instead. Other than being quieter when hit and having improved response, the thing we can be thankful for is a metal-reinforced foot pedal which will take a lot more punishment than before. Also, there are slots to connect optional cymbals at a later date. The guitar has mainly undergone cosmetic changes; it’s still a Fender Stratocaster, and it now sports a sunburst finish with a white pickguard and the equivalent of a rosewood neck (false, of course) and metal strap holders. One small change is an auto-calibrator which means fixing lag on HDTVs will be even quicker. The microphone remains unchanged.

The track list consists of 84 songs – all of which are master tracks – with Nirvana’s Drain You, Billy Idol’s White Wedding, The Muffs’ Kids In America, The Who’s Pinball Wizard and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Give It Away standing out as highlights for us. If an 84-song list doesn’t do it for you, you’ll be able to expand it to hundreds… but how? For the first time in videogame history, you’ll be able to export most of the songs from Rock Band and put them in Rock Band 2. This means you won’t have to switch between the two games if you don’t feel like it, and by doing this you’ll have 142 songs to choose from. Going beyond that, downloadable content is backwards compatible, so everything you see in the Rock Band Music Store will work with the second game, and vice versa. With over 180 additional songs available, by purchasing everything you’ll have over 320 songs, and that’s not counting future content!



Solo Tour and Band World Tour have been made into one mode known as Tour Mode, which is both single-player and multi-player. This allows you to create a band, but it doesn’t matter how many people are playing; if you want to progress when your friends aren’t anywhere to be seen, you can connect your instrument and go it alone. This mode is also the home of Tour Challenges, which are mini-campaigns asking you to complete songs by difficulty, decade, genre, artist, and so on.

When you’re ready to take things to the PlayStation Network, there are several modes at your fingertips. Quickplay is once more an online mode if you just want to jump in and play some songs, whether it’s with friends or random people, and now Tour Mode can be taken online as well, thankfully. If you just want to play with your band and work your way through the set list without having to put up with their BO, the option is there. What we like the sound of, though, is Battle Of The Bands, a brand new mode which, as the name suggests, sees your band facing off against another over the Network. Harmonix will be creating daily challenges and we imagine there will be simpler score and accuracy challenges to go with the more complex ones.

You’re bound to have played with less skilled players before, and instead of having to avoid a song because of them, a no fail mode has been put in place – even if said noob stops playing completely the song will go on. Speaking of which, there is a jukebox-style mode in Rock Band 2 as well, which lets you listen to any of the songs without having to play… great for parties! On top of that, you can create custom playlists in this mode and Quickplay. They’ve thought of it all!



We haven’t felt anticipation like this since Rock Band was announced. Guitar Hero may have jumped on the bandwagon (pun not intended) with World Tour, but it’s clear to see Rock Band 2 is the better of the two with all the aforementioned features and improvements. Now sorry to leave in such a hurry but we’ve got a freezer to jump in – thaw us when it arrives in Europe!