Music battle

Three years ago developer Harmonix and peripheral maker Red Octane, took the gaming industry by storm when they teamed up to release Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero, played with a gaming controller shaped like a guitar is rather simple in theory; you 'play' songs by hitting scrolling notes that come down the screen, racking up points. Of course the theory is not quite as simple as it sounds. The gaming match made in heaven came to a rather abrupt, ugly and public end when Activision purchased Red Octane and MTV Games purchased Harmonix. Not content to sit back and allow Activision to reap the rewards of the two years of hard work that Harmonix had put into the series, the developer went to work on a new, even more ambitious music game entitled simply Rock Band.

Taking the simple gameplay themes of the Guitar Hero games and incorporating both vocals and drums to the mix, players would be able to simulate being gods of rock. Rock Band was very well received and certainly fired a shot across the bow of the juggernaut that the Guitar Hero franchise had become. The success of the game changed the landscape of the music genre, even forcing Activision to announce their own band based game, of course featuring the Guitar Hero branding, and a sequel to Rock Band was certainly expected. However the fact that Rock Band 2 would hit just 10 months after the first game's release certainly had more than a few people raising their eyebrows. How much could Rock Band 2 change in such a short time? Because as great as Rock Band was, the game certainly had its share of flaws, minor as they were.

Improvements

Any thoughts of a quick cash in by Harmonix and MTV games can be pushed aside. Rock Band 2 delivers a slew of improvements that not only fixes many of the minor problems the original Rock Band had, but also adds some significant upgrades and play modes that thoroughly enhance the game, making it a true sequel. The biggest change is the addition of Band Challenges and the Battle of the Bands. Band Challenges is the new way to progress, and ultimately unlock new songs, in the game. They group similar songs of both difficulty and genre together, creating a semi-tiered progression system. With over 70 Challenges, players will be certain to be busy for quite some time and the more downloadable content you buy the more challenges you will be able to take part in. Similar to Band Challenges is the new Battle of the Bands mode, however unlike Challenges, Battle of the Bands pits players against others around the world in a variety of challenges that will be updated on a weekly basis.

One of the biggest complaints from the first Rock Band was that while it was a fantastic multiplayer game, the single player game was lacking and the core game mode, Band World Tour, was not playable solo. Rock Band 2 changes that. Eliminating the solo tours of its predecessor, Rock Band 2 opens everything up to the solo player. Sure the game is far more satisfying when you are playing as part of a band, which can now be done online as well as local, but the ability to play by yourself is greatly appreciated. The ability to modify your band roster is also greatly appreciated and the days of playing with Mad Max's long lost cousins is done, unless you dig that sort of thing. Of course it goes without saying that Rock Band 2 is just as great a party game as its predecessor. In fact in some ways it is even better. The inclusion of a No Fail modifier means that you don't have to get down on Jill, the rhythmless drummer or Frank, the tone-deaf singer when they fail out and kill the buzz of the party.