Rock Band 2
- Thread starter BiG D
- Start date
The Rock Band site now has some insane, awesome-fueled game integration. You can generate pictures, t-shirts, and figurines(!) of your band members in the merch section.
They've also got some other things, including full descriptions and difficulty listings for all the songs, and a battle of the bands section to track the challenges (which I haven't talked about yet but will
)
They've also got some other things, including full descriptions and difficulty listings for all the songs, and a battle of the bands section to track the challenges (which I haven't talked about yet but will
)
Now that it has finally managed to break me, (or more specifically, my knee,) I might as well do a writeup.
Essentially, take Rock Band, and think of every little annoyance it had. Then fix all of those, add a ton of new content, and then add a few excellent and completely unexpected new features. That's RB2.
I'll start with the improvements to the old stuff. The change that you'll appreciate the most is definitely the new song selection menu, though you may not truly appreciate it until you go back and try to use RB1's. It works very much like the music store. You can change sorting, jump around through the list quickly, and view the difficulty for each instrument separately. On top of that, you can now queue up as many songs as you like to form a setlist, so you don't have to drop back to the menu after each song.
Drums: now have marked solo sections, just like guitars. Also, during fills the green pad now sounds the floor tom rather than the crash cymbal (aside from the last marked note.) This is more important than it sounds.
Guitar: the formula here is pretty much perfected, this being... what... the seventh game to use it? Nevertheless, they've added hammeron chords. Deceivingly difficult to hit sometimes.
Tours: Solo tour is gone. In its place, you can now play Band World Tour mode alone or play Challenge Mode (more later.) You can now play Band World Tour mode online. The bands are no longer tied to the character that joined first. More cities, more venues, more random gig decisions. World tour is the heart of the game, and they've went all out this time.
Controllers: They've also made a new guitar controller and a new drum kit to go along with the game. I can't claim to have tried the new drums, but I did purchase the new guitar. Visually, it's the same size and shape as an RB1 Strat, but has a faux wood-grain finish. I personally don't really care what it looks like, but there you go. Functionality-wise, it's exactly the same, aside from two major differences. The strummer is much looser than the RB1 version. It's much like a GH controller without the click. Unlike a GH controller, though, you won't get that fucker to double strum, no matter how hard you hit it.
The second difference is, to me, deserving of its own paragraph. One of the major (mostly unknown) issues with modern HD audio/video equipment is the lag it introduces. It doesn't matter for most games, but rhythm games suffer. For a while now, rhythm games have had config options to set lag compensation, either by manually setting the lag numbers, or by having the game run a wizard of sorts. Both those methods involve a human, so they're subject to bias and/or ignorance. (Try having someone with no sense of rhythm run the calibration wizard in a game.) What Harmonix have done is create the most brilliant, elegant solution to a problem I've ever seen. The RB2 Guitar has a small camera and mic in the front. To calibrate your TV & soundsystem, you hold the guitar up to a speaker and let it beep a few times, and then you hold the guitar up to the TV and let it flash a few times. That's all there is to it. The game knows the exact amount of audio/visual lag you're dealing with, and can adjust everything accordingly. This is, without a doubt, one of the most incredible ideas anyone has ever had.
Moving on to the completely new stuff, now, I'll start with what I think is the most important: the Drum Trainer. Essentially, you get three modes: beat trainer, fill trainer, and freestyle. Freestyle works as you'd expect. The game sits there, and makes noise as you hit corresponding drum pads. The xbox also has the ability to play music while you're ingame (I can't speak for the PS3, perhaps someone can confirm/deny?) so you can also play along to whatever music you have. Personally, I've got a slightly more expensive method, but I assume RB2 would be sufficient for those who don't.
The beat and fill trainers are basically the same thing. They send down notes, and you hit them and receive a % rating at the end. Aptly enough, beat trainer focuses on beat patterns you'll need to be familiar with, and fill trainer sends you fills you can use to activate overdrive. The game tracks what patterns you've mastered, and at what tempos. These modes are incredibly helpful, and probably the closest games have ever come to teaching practical skills.
The second greatest new feature, I'd say, is Battle of the Bands mode. It doesn't work like you'd expect. Every day, a new challenge is issued. You'll have anywhere from a day to a week to submit a score, and the rules vary. Some challenges require a certain instrument. Some are single player only. Some are full band only. Some are scored by stars rather than points. Some have difficulty level constraints. Etc. When you start up a challenge, it matches you up against another band that has already submitted a score (generally favouring a band from your friends list first, it seems.) As you play, you can see how your current score compares to the band you're playing against. Once it's over, your score is uploaded and you can view your progress from ingame or on the Rock Band website. Because battles are limited time affairs, a little luck and good timing can snag you a high place on the leaderboard.
The new Challenge gametype mostly fills in for the lack of a solo tour. Simply put, it's just a bunch of constructed setlists (generally themed) to play though. You can play individually or as a band (though some challenges require certain instruments.) Beating challenges unlocks more challenges. Pretty straightforward. From easy (the Weezer Blue Album challenge) to not so easy (the drum fill nightmares challenge) there's dozens and dozens to unlock. And as you download music, more challenges appear.
The last thing I want to mention is the overall difficulty. It's hard(er). A "Solid" song in RB2 will be harder than its RB1 counterpart. It doesn't seem to be difficulty due to ridiculously charted songs (see GH3 for details,) it seems to be a much more eclectic tracklist that does the damage. Swing beats were nowhere to be found in RB1, but there's a few in RB2. Maiden's Run to the Hills was pretty much as hard as it got band-wise in RB1, but they've outdone themselves this time. Metallica's Battery, Dream Theatre's Panic Attack, and Judas Priest's Painkiller all make an appearance, and are more or less guaranteed to leave your band in ruins.
As I've mentioned before, if you own RB1 (and enjoy it,) you would be an idiot not to snag this one. The disc itself has 84 songs, and comes with a code to download another 20. An extra $5 lets you play all the RB1 songs in RB2, and all DLC is forwards (and backwards) compatible. There's really no excuse not to add it to your collection.
Essentially, take Rock Band, and think of every little annoyance it had. Then fix all of those, add a ton of new content, and then add a few excellent and completely unexpected new features. That's RB2.
I'll start with the improvements to the old stuff. The change that you'll appreciate the most is definitely the new song selection menu, though you may not truly appreciate it until you go back and try to use RB1's.
It works very much like the music store. You can change sorting, jump around through the list quickly, and view the difficulty for each instrument separately. On top of that, you can now queue up as many songs as you like to form a setlist, so you don't have to drop back to the menu after each song.Drums: now have marked solo sections, just like guitars. Also, during fills the green pad now sounds the floor tom rather than the crash cymbal (aside from the last marked note.) This is more important than it sounds.
Guitar: the formula here is pretty much perfected, this being... what... the seventh game to use it? Nevertheless, they've added hammeron chords. Deceivingly difficult to hit sometimes.
Tours: Solo tour is gone. In its place, you can now play Band World Tour mode alone or play Challenge Mode (more later.) You can now play Band World Tour mode online. The bands are no longer tied to the character that joined first. More cities, more venues, more random gig decisions. World tour is the heart of the game, and they've went all out this time.
Controllers: They've also made a new guitar controller and a new drum kit to go along with the game. I can't claim to have tried the new drums, but I did purchase the new guitar. Visually, it's the same size and shape as an RB1 Strat, but has a faux wood-grain finish. I personally don't really care what it looks like, but there you go.
Functionality-wise, it's exactly the same, aside from two major differences. The strummer is much looser than the RB1 version. It's much like a GH controller without the click. Unlike a GH controller, though, you won't get that fucker to double strum, no matter how hard you hit it.The second difference is, to me, deserving of its own paragraph. One of the major (mostly unknown) issues with modern HD audio/video equipment is the lag it introduces. It doesn't matter for most games, but rhythm games suffer. For a while now, rhythm games have had config options to set lag compensation, either by manually setting the lag numbers, or by having the game run a wizard of sorts. Both those methods involve a human, so they're subject to bias and/or ignorance. (Try having someone with no sense of rhythm run the calibration wizard in a game.
) What Harmonix have done is create the most brilliant, elegant solution to a problem I've ever seen. The RB2 Guitar has a small camera and mic in the front. To calibrate your TV & soundsystem, you hold the guitar up to a speaker and let it beep a few times, and then you hold the guitar up to the TV and let it flash a few times. That's all there is to it. The game knows the exact amount of audio/visual lag you're dealing with, and can adjust everything accordingly. This is, without a doubt, one of the most incredible ideas anyone has ever had. Moving on to the completely new stuff, now, I'll start with what I think is the most important: the Drum Trainer. Essentially, you get three modes: beat trainer, fill trainer, and freestyle. Freestyle works as you'd expect. The game sits there, and makes noise as you hit corresponding drum pads. The xbox also has the ability to play music while you're ingame (I can't speak for the PS3, perhaps someone can confirm/deny?) so you can also play along to whatever music you have. Personally, I've got a slightly more expensive method, but I assume RB2 would be sufficient for those who don't.
The beat and fill trainers are basically the same thing. They send down notes, and you hit them and receive a % rating at the end. Aptly enough, beat trainer focuses on beat patterns you'll need to be familiar with, and fill trainer sends you fills you can use to activate overdrive. The game tracks what patterns you've mastered, and at what tempos. These modes are incredibly helpful, and probably the closest games have ever come to teaching practical skills.
The second greatest new feature, I'd say, is Battle of the Bands mode. It doesn't work like you'd expect. Every day, a new challenge is issued. You'll have anywhere from a day to a week to submit a score, and the rules vary. Some challenges require a certain instrument. Some are single player only. Some are full band only. Some are scored by stars rather than points. Some have difficulty level constraints. Etc. When you start up a challenge, it matches you up against another band that has already submitted a score (generally favouring a band from your friends list first, it seems.) As you play, you can see how your current score compares to the band you're playing against. Once it's over, your score is uploaded and you can view your progress from ingame or on the Rock Band website. Because battles are limited time affairs, a little luck and good timing can snag you a high place on the leaderboard.
The new Challenge gametype mostly fills in for the lack of a solo tour. Simply put, it's just a bunch of constructed setlists (generally themed) to play though. You can play individually or as a band (though some challenges require certain instruments.) Beating challenges unlocks more challenges. Pretty straightforward. From easy (the Weezer Blue Album challenge) to not so easy (the drum fill nightmares challenge) there's dozens and dozens to unlock. And as you download music, more challenges appear.
The last thing I want to mention is the overall difficulty. It's hard(er). A "Solid" song in RB2 will be harder than its RB1 counterpart. It doesn't seem to be difficulty due to ridiculously charted songs (see GH3 for details,
) it seems to be a much more eclectic tracklist that does the damage. Swing beats were nowhere to be found in RB1, but there's a few in RB2. Maiden's Run to the Hills was pretty much as hard as it got band-wise in RB1, but they've outdone themselves this time. Metallica's Battery, Dream Theatre's Panic Attack, and Judas Priest's Painkiller all make an appearance, and are more or less guaranteed to leave your band in ruins.As I've mentioned before, if you own RB1 (and enjoy it,) you would be an idiot not to snag this one. The disc itself has 84 songs, and comes with a code to download another 20. An extra $5 lets you play all the RB1 songs in RB2, and all DLC is forwards (and backwards) compatible. There's really no excuse not to add it to your collection.
There's to be a press conference by MTV this morning. Sources say it's regarding them managing to license tracks from The Beatles for use in Rock Band...
So it looks like it's a new non-Rock Band game. It's being developed by Harmonix, so it should be interesting, at least.
waterproofbob
Junior Administrator
If I can get the money together, I'll be getting it with a guitar for the time being.
Worth noting that no RB2 peripherals are available in the UK as yet. Last I heard, someone said "December" for them, but the third party ones are listed as January on Amazon.co.uk.
I'll look at picking this up when I'm at home more, and perhaps when I can afford to replace my guitars at the same time (as both of them are GH2/3 ones and are now very worn and starting to fail).
I'll look at picking this up when I'm at home more, and perhaps when I can afford to replace my guitars at the same time (as both of them are GH2/3 ones and are now very worn and starting to fail).
Traxata
Junior Administrator
Aren't they still in warranty? or has it been over a year now
Over a year by now, certainly for the first controller...