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.