ARSON News Reviews Rock Band 2
I just got back from playing Rock Band 2 at Tyler's house, and I have to say, it is a major let-down.
New Stuff:
The thing that most stands out about Rock Band 2 is the Battle of The Bands function. Knowing that somewhere in the world some guy is crying over losing to you is a real motivator, and doing it with friends is even better. The World Tour mode has been upgraded with cool venues, it's easier to earn money and, as expected, there are more guitars, hairstyles, etc.
Gameplay:
The two bandmembers of Internet Love Machine, /b/LACKUP and Sn4tchbuckler, experienced deja vu when they realized it's almost exactly the same as Rock Band 1:
How disappointing. It's exactly the same as Rock Band 1, except that the menus look different and Harmonix's choices for songs are, unfortunately, terrible. Oh sure, there are a couple songs that are pretty good, like Eye of The Tiger or Float On, but a lot of the songs lack that feeling that almost all songs had in Rock Band 1. without that feeling, the songs just aren't fun anymore... they just throw notes at you until you get through the setlist... it's more work than fun....
Red Octane, however, has proven time and time again that they have good taste. Each Guitar Hero sequel having challenging songs that are also FUN, unlike Rock Band 2 here. Red Octane also changes up their menus with more innovative art, instead of Harmonix's "let's take the Rock Band 1 main menu and put a tiger over yonder" approach. And combined with the addition of a touch pad guitar and song editor (yeah. a song editor!), I expect great things from Guitar Hero: World Tour.
But now you can play other instruments at least....
6/10
I'm sorry, Harmonix... I'm leaving you....
Halloween Revisit
After last night's awesome Halloween party, I feel like I was a little harsh on Rock Band 2. Maybe it was the lack of the party the first time... and the songs actually aren't that bad... but anyway:
8/10
I'm still getting GH4 though.
6 Responses to “ARSON News Reviews Rock Band 2”
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About Itwongo
Cole Estes is a Certified Guardian Of Vitality from Redmond, Walrunian Empire. He is known to comment on video games for ARSON.
From what I saw at PAX it was apparent that it was exactly the same as Rock Band 1. I guess my hope for something new overpowered the truth as I watched them demo it. I'm also disappointed that they are letting Mad Catz make their cymbals as an extra peripheral instead of making them under the Rock Band name. I guess i'll wait to see how GH: World Tour is.
I share a different opinion than the above. I felt that Harmonix did a great job on Rock Band 2. One improvement that's worth mentioning is being able to grab your guitar and play w\o your vocals, and unlock venues and rank up fans. I felt that all of the qualities in Rock-Band 1 remained and we're improved upon in RB2. If you are a serious Guitar player, and typically play on Expert you'll notice some things you can't get by with anymore, and that if you play to the rythm rather than just pound away on the heavy driving you'll get a lot farther.
Regarding Guitar Hero World Tour, which I bought at the Midnight release (While up playing RB2), I was not at all impressed. The sound is a bit off, the calibration was hard to get right, and there's too many distractions. I felt like I was playing asteroids, and one mistake cause multiple distractions. And it's missing a lot of the qualities of Rock-Band. I felt the songs in both we're great. On RB2, I've got all of the original songs from RB1, plus the hundred and something with RB2, and about 60-70 that I've downloaded to include Red Hot Chili Peppers full albums, Oasis, NIN, STP, and much much more. I regret buying Guitar Hero (Anyone want it?). I'm keeping w\ my investment in RB.
Forgot one comment on Guitar Hero. The "Song Editor" is blown way out of proportion. You can't take a mp3 or CD and insert it, and have it figure out the key patterns for you. Nor can you set them yourself. The song editor is nothing more than adding notes (A, G, F#) to a score, then choosing which key to hit to play them. You can dub vocals onto it, but everything is real-time editing. Which you can add a drum score to. Imagine editing a song which sounds like fur elise played on a cheap keyboard, with drums, and vocals. Maybe I need to explore it more, but I was expecting something like "Frets On Fire"
Now that I read it, I really think I did a bad job reviewing this....
And I knew about the "not setting the key patterns for you" thing, but I have patience. The thing which strikes me is this making a score for it, which I, unfortunately, do not have the patience for.... and Frets on Fire didn't do so well on the song editor either, in my opinion....
I apologize for this review. I promise to make it up in the Left 4 Dead review.