Rock band 2 review!

I remember a year and a half ago buying rock band 1, getting to the closest place i could go to with a tv. I opened it up as quickly as possible and set it up. Then me and 2 other friends started rockin. It was the most fantastic music experience i had do date. I was a huge fan of the guitar hero series, and rock band stepped it up by adding drums and a microphone into the mix. Then a year later harmonix released rock band 2. And i just had to have it. The set list is amazing, just with what's on the disk. Not to mention the song's you can download from either the Playstation Network Or Xbox Live. And Harmonix released a import key so that you can import all the songs from the rock band 1 disk and play them with rock band 2, which can end up giving you hours of play time, and i mean hours. 

The game mechanics haven't really changed at all from the first game, which in my opinion didn't need to change at all. the biggest difference from rock band 1 and rock band 2 is the set list menu and what is going on in the background with your characters. The new set list menu is really attractive, giving you the album artwork, info on the cd and a difficulty rating on all instruments. Your characters look better and the animations are smoother now, altho still not perfect, if you watch them you definatly feel that they are not real. And yes some games now are getting to that point. But its nothing to complain about, just something to notice. 

                                    

a look at the new set list menu 

While I am a husband and recently a father, i was so broke to buy the bundle. I was only able to buy the game. But from what i hear Harmonix listened to what people had so say about their first peripheral's and improved them a lot. The drums aren't as loud and are impact sensitive, which means that if you hit the drums softly they will sound softer on the game, and if you hit them like Animal from the muppets they will be really loud on the game. 

The tracks are a lot harder this time around to. The songs that are on the impossible level are really freaking hard. I myself can play all the instruments on hard, sometimes i can get through on expert on the easier songs. But the difficulty like i said has definitely stepped up a notch. Songs like "Almost Easy" are so hard to play it makes your eye's bleed on expert. 

While I haven't completed the "World tour" mode in the game. I still feel that i can review the game with just about all the knowledge i need. Truth be told I don't think I ever could finish the world tour mode. Trying to keep fans while playing on expert is too much for me and my band mates :)

Overall Rock Band 2 is by far the best, and I mean best music game out to date. Nothing compares to its expansive library of songs that has something for everyone. The gameplay is finely tuned for precise and exact note hits. It has had a huge graphical overhaul from the 1st, but its still not the best looking game out there by far. It is so much fun to play with a group of people it is well worth the $180 smackers for the whole set. Do not pass it up

Graphics- 8

Gameplay- 10

Sound- 9 

Replay Value- 10

Overall- 9.3