How Rock Band 2 helps you party harder

MASSbackwards, Play Journal, Previews

Less than a year after the original Rock Band launched, EA, MTV Games, and Harmonix pump out the sequel, simply titled Rock Band 2.  I’m sure many have wondered as I have how one produces a sequel to Rock Band to begin with.  What with downloadable content and songs being released religiously every Tuesday, it renders a sequel an unconvincing proposition.

However, there are several key additions that make picking up Rock Band 2 worth your rocking pleasure. 

Redesigned Local Multiplayer Set-up

I will never be able to fathom how Harmonix came up with such a bungled system of getting players to join a multiplayer, full band game.  It was mind-numbingly frustrating in Rock Band to simply get another person to join you on vocals, guitar, bass, or drums.  You would think this would be a massively simple endeavor, but it was not.  

I can remember nearly throwing hissy fits trying to wrap my brain around what was required to get your buddies to play.  There’s something called a band leader who’s stuck forever to one instrument.  You need to have actual profiles created on your Xbox 360 to sign anyone in.  You then have to sign them onto an instrument.  Getting off and on an instrument again… wait, why isn’t this working?  Get the manual.  Nothing.  Aw, fuck it; let’s play Guitar Hero instead. 

Rock Band 2 does away with all of this nonsense, greatly simplifying the how players join as it should have been in the first place.  So, hopefully, you won’t have any more buzz-kills at your party just figuring out how to get everyone to play. 

No Fail Option

Speaking of buzz-kills, nothing sucks worse for a group of casual, uncoordinated drunkards than playing along, having fun, only to fail a song.  And it’s always someone’s fault, singling out the particularly daft individual and shaming them forever, or at least as long as everyone’s short, inebriated attention spans can handle.  

Rock Band 2 does the worst of us a favour, and provides a much obliged No Fail option, so that no matter how much your friends suck, you’ll never fail a song.  That means everyone has fun, no more shaming (until you barf or shit yourself), and mildly buzzed or obliterated, you can continue to drink at your leisure. 

Massive Track List

There was an inherent problem with picking up the new Rock Band 2 list: What happens to all those songs sitting on the original Rock Band disc?  Well, Harmonix has an answer to that too: For a small fee, you can download a “key” that rips nearly all of the songs from the Rock Band disc to the Xbox 360 hard drive.  From there, they’re mixed dynamically with the Rock Band 2 disc selections. 

Ditto for all of your downloadable content, which, already stored to the hard drive, mixes in seamlessly as well. 

As for the Rock Band 2 disc, there are over 80 new songs on offer which would cost you more than the full cost of the disc if you downloaded them individually, and it’s an impressive list of songs indeed.  You also get to download 20 more songs for free with the purchase of the disc this fall.  All told, there will be over 500 tracks available for Rock Band 2 by the end of 2008.  

Anyone and everyone will be able to find a reason to raise a glass to Rock Band 2 and rock out this Fall. 

peachey @ September 18, 2008