• Format: Wii, Xbox 360 (version reviewed), PS3
• Release date: Out now
• Publisher: MTV Games
• Developer: Harmonix
• Players: 4
• Website: http://www.wesinggame.com/

When the Rock Band series officially launched at the end of 2007 it offered a huge evolutionary step forward for music games. No longer were players restricted to simply playing music games which offered single instruments. Harmonix innovative revamp of the Guitar Hero style allowed players to choose between guitar, drums and vocals or play along with up to three friends, each confined to their respective instrument.

The second instalment in the Rock Band series, which was released less than a year after the original, is essentially more of the same but makes amends to a plethora of issues that were raised by players concerning the original release.

Like the original, Rock Band 2 offers a great selection of songs and as you may expect, has a heavy emphasis on rock music. It offers quite a generous selection of 84 songs (“84 songs” hyper link:http://uk.xboxlive.ign.com/articles/902/902400p1.html),
With the game still receiving regular updates for further downloads from the Rock Band store. There are, of course, some terrible tracks hidden amongst the good but with original tracks from well respected bands such as -- Journey, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, Talking Heads and many more, the good content more than makes up for any duds hidden amongst them. One of the fantastic features offered in Rock Band 2 is the ability to transfer the tracks from the original Rock Band, potentially offering a huge selection of playable content.

The game can be an expensive buy if you want the full Rock Band experience. After buying the game, a microphone, 2 guitars and drums, an investment in the game can easily cost over $200. Fortunately, instruments from the previous title and the Guitar Hero series are fully compatible and the headset that comes bundled with the purchase of an Xbox 360 can act as a microphone, as can the Lips microphones. Although Rock Band 2 can become very expensive, the sheer volume of content justifies the price.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with either the Rock Band or Guitar Hero series, the gameplay is presented in the form of coloured bars that scroll down the screen towards a horizontal line which represent chords, riffs and drum beats. The player must then hit these notes using their respective Rock Band instrument as they reach the line.

For guitar and bass, the five lower fret buttons are coloured green, red, yellow, blue and orange. These match the same colours that scroll down the screen. In order to play a note the respective buttons will need to be pressed and the strum bar flicked up and down, mocking the style of a real guitar. At the lowest difficulty setting only the first three buttons will need to be used, with the highest setting using all five.

For drums the controls are, of course, a little different. The same colour scheme is used to hit notes with the exception being the orange button. This is instead represented as a horizontal line that scrolls down the screen and is played using the bass pedal of the rock band drum kit. Playing the drums peripheral closely resembles an actual drum kit with players needing to hit the respective colour coded drums as the notes appear on screen.

Vocals offer a completely different experience to the other instruments. Here, the gameplay is presented in the form of lyrics and bars that scroll horizontally across the screen. The bars represent pitches that need to be hit in order to earn more points, meaning players will need to actually sing in tune in order to advance through the game. During instrumentals and solos the mike will also double as a tambourine with players needing to tap it in tune to the circles that scroll across the screen.

Regardless of what instrument you choose, players will need to regularly hit notes or risk failing the song. A meter on the side of the screen indicates how well you are playing. When the meter is low, this warns you that you are at risk of failing. Should you fail the song it will come to an abrupt end and you will be given the option of retrying.

One of the key issues raised concerning the original Rock Band is the fact that players wanting to experience the games main mode of play were unable to do so unless accompanied by another player. It also restricted players to one instrument throughout the campaign. This has now been amended meaning players will be able to experience the world tour option individually and switch between guitar, drums and vocals as they please. The world tour option allows players to advance from city to city and country to country as their band earns more fans and modes of transportation. The 84 tracks that make up the games playable content are recycled as players perform different setlists around the world. Rather than making the game feel repetitive, this feature instead becomes a very clever way of extending the games longevity, offering challenge and incentive that makes you want to keep on playing.

The game allows players to add a touch of individuality, giving them the option of creating an avatar to act as their 3D Rock Star self as well as name the band and create logos for them. In the world tour mode players will earn in-game money which can be used to purchase further clothes and instruments for their characters.

As well as the world tour option that makes up the bulk of the games content, there is also a host of other features. In the drum trainer option, players will be presented with various patterns and fills that are commonly used in popular music. In order to progress, players will need to hit every note in a section and are given the option to alter the BMP (beats per minute), allowing them to practice and improve when trying to master some of the more difficult rhythms.

There is also the introduction of a “no fail” option. This feature allows less experienced players to jump into the action and, as the name implies, regardless of how terribly you play, you will always be able to play through the song from start to finish.

Should your 360 have an internet connection, it is also possible to play the game competitively and co-operatively online with other players around the world. This great feature means that even if you don’t have 3 people to hand ready to join in, it’s still possible to enjoy a full band experience. As well as playing online it is also possible to check how well you are scoring compared to other players around the world using the online leader board and download new songs from a constantly growing catalogue.

Rock Band is rated as 12+. Although there is no swearing, with any offensive language either being edited or censored, some of the content may raise some eyebrows from parents. Amongst the rock tracks that are offered in the game is a series of heavy metal tracks involving screaming and angry lyrics. It is also possible for players to brand their avatars with tattoos. Other than some very heavy alternative music and ability to tattoo characters, there isn’t really any content that really stands out as being offensive. Most of the game’s visuals simply involve the scrolling tracks of notes and 3D footage of the band playing.

Rock Band 2 represents the pinnacle of music game entertainment. The sheer quantity and ingenuity of the gameplay ensures that players will be enjoying the game for years to come. The only issue is the fact that the game is quite expensive for people wanting to build an instrument collection from scratch.

9/10