Top Ten Rock Band 2 Features

Rock Band 2 is set to be released this Sunday! (For the Xbox 360, at least.) As usual, ARSON News will be there to review it. In the meantime, here's a list of the top ten features you can look forward to.

10. Custom Setlists in Quickplay Mode

In Rock Band there's a lot of waiting for songs to load and then more waiting for the setlist to load again once the song is over. Rock Band 2 addresses this small annoyance by allowing players to create setlists in Quickplay mode. It's a small feature, but it's sure to save people some time.

9. No More "Band Leaders"

Rock Band forced one player to be a "band leader". The other players were locked out of many tasks. Rock Band 2 addresses this by no longer requiring this. This means less work when you need to change band members. It also eliminates people mashing buttons after selecting the menu option to try to lock in the leader spot.

8. More Great Songs!

Okay, so it's hard to say that people weren't expecting this - it's a music game after all! Still, Rock Band 2 includes songs from Journey, Foo Fighters, AC/DC, The Who, Soundgarden, and a whole lot of others. Guitar Hero IV is also set to include some great songs, which brings me to my next point.

7. Full Instrument Compatibility

I'm told that all Guitar Hero instruments will be usable on Rock Band 2, including the new ones introduced with Guitar Hero IV. However, unlike the previous versions, Rock Band 2 instruments will also function in Guitar Hero IV. I'd guess that Guitar Hero IV also supports original Rock Band instruments, but no word on that yet. Obviously, Rock Band instruments will work on Rock Band 2 and vice-versa.

6. Better Graphics

One of the things I noticed while at PaX was the new graphics. The selection screens look way nicer, the characters and stages are more detailed, and in general the game brings us much closer to feeling like we're watching an actual concert. As an aside, the song selection screen also lists much more information about the song, such as the difficulty levels.

5. Improved Instruments

Well, really just the Drums so far as I noticed; the Guitar and mic are mostly the same. The drums will feature improved bounce, a severe reduction in noise, and a metal-reinforced foot pedal. Further, it will come with support for actual cymbals which will be sold seperatly.

4. Song Importing and Compatibility

Rock Band 2 will be able to import most of the songs you played in the original. Because they actually had to re-license these tracks, we'll loose Enter Sandman by Metallica, Run to the Hills by Iron Maden, and Paranoid by Black Sabbath. It's not free, but at 400 Microsoft Points it's not expensive either. (That's about $4.99.)

All past and future downloadable content will work between both games automagically as long as you don't live in Japan. If you do, Monsoon by Tokio Hotel will not play on Rock Band 2, again I presume for license reasons.

3. New Modes

Rock Band 2 features several new gameplay modes, including No-Fail (where no one can fail), Freestyle (where you can play over any MP3 on your console), and Breakneck (like the Hyperspeed cheat on Guitar Hero III). Additionally, many new training sessions are available, including many for the drums, which seem to be a more difficult instrument for most.

2. Four Instruments, One Player

Supposidly, one character will be able to play all instruments. I wasn't able to confirm this, nor did I notice it at PaX. However, I can only assume this would be added, as it would make party play much, much easier. One note: characters from Rock Band will not transfer to Rock Band 2.

1. Rock Band in Real Life

Through Harmonix's website, players will be able to obtain real-life merch for their bands! Posters will be available, as well as six-inch tall figurines of the players' characters. The line between games and real life is already blurred with bands like the Guitar Zeros and the One Ups. The only thing they're missing is T-Shirts (which can't be far behind).

Photo credit: 8bitjoystick (CC-BY)