Rock Band 2 Comments by Tom Bramwell

The opening paragraph struck many chords with me. I thought I was the only one having issues with various aspects of RockBand 1. Everyone else seems to think the note charts are great, but I found them repetative and pedestrian.

And I'm not GH legend by any stretch, but I like a challenge. I can't quite comple GH3 on hard, and can five star only a handful of tracks on expert (some other tracks I fail within about 20 seconds on expert). I can't believe people are complaining about the expert mode of GH3 being tough. I mean, its the hardest setting of the game, and should therefore be rock hard for the majority of players. If everyone could finish the game on the hardest setting, it would hardly be expert mode would it?

I for one am glad that RB2 is a bit harder. People shouldn't take it as a challenge to their manhood or anything (some people just seem annoyed that they can't beat the hardest setting, like the bloke in the gym determined to move the pin down the stack even if he splits discs in the process). Just see it as them shifting everything up one level, and quite rightly chucking away the frankly useless easiest setting. Lets face it, RB1 on medium was trivial and tedious, god knows what it was like on easy.

@andromeda

Well they will fuck off out of your sight, as soon as you stop reading articles about them. I mean, durrr ;)

The graphics are fine, any time longer spent improving them would just be a waste of time and money.

Going to wait on the GHWT review before I decide on what to get. To be honest I reckon Guitar Hero beats it for features.

Oh and I might actually need some money if I want to get it.

Should appeal to all? That there final line is a lie.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en...

Interesting - if the guitar gameplay is genuinely more difficult and still fun, I may actually get it before it ends up in the bargain bins.

I was totally put off Rock Band by the ridiculously easy guitar riffs. The drums were cool, but seriously, a large percentage of the guitar note charts consisted of just strumming the same note for an entire song.

@flyingsupernerds: lol!

choice number 1 - if you want to play something made for a 2 year old retarded individual, buy guitar hero or rock band... choice number 2- if you want to buy something for a 2 year old retarded indivudual not as expensive, buy thouse toys with 4-5 buttons that make stupid noises....

and no, it's nothing like if you playing call of duty why dont you go to the army shit, call of duty is not played by pressing 4-5 buttons sequencially, it's not that retarded.

Play real guitar or a real game... it's so much better and rewarding.

the end...

Poor quality troll post there, not even slightly funny.

I own a "real" guitar. Owned it before I even considered picking up Guitar Hero III. I never did but my brother eventually picked up Guitar Hero III for his Wii and I love it. Sure, playing a real guitar is more rewarding but, hell, let yourself have fun in Rock Band or Guitar Hero. It's just a game.

People love playing Gran Turismo and many of those Fifa games. I don't think that means people should go out and learn to drive and play football. Just saying.

Er, I actually think people should learn to drive and play football (or other keep-fit sport). But that's a different argument.

Yes, this won't appeal to everyone but let those people who do enjoy it do so without being called a retard.

Heaven forbid people have a bit of fun.

It's great and all, especially with band mate roster flexibility. I do miss the Solo Tour progression through the tracks in tranches though.

No Apologie, not 'the end', you have no idea what you are talking about.

When you prove you can complete a track on guitar hero on hard or expert then you gain some credibilty Apologie, otherwise you have absolutely none.

Your trolling is pathetic.

I'm sure you get my point, Chufty, for the sake of the argument.

Too bad the 360 version is region locked. Gamers in Asia are still waiting for the first one to come out...
Guess I'll be getting the new Guitar Hero instead.

Nithron wrote:

"I was totally put off Rock Band by the ridiculously easy guitar riffs. The drums were cool, but seriously, a large percentage of the guitar note charts consisted of just strumming the same note for an entire song."

Maybe you should try playing on expert?

I'm going to give this a miss. I'm not being a whiney git but the EU pricing for RB1 left a nasty taste and although I still got the original on release day I haven't forgotten.

The tracklist is ok, looking through it I counted about 11 that really impressed me but there was a lot of filler and I certainly don't want to be buying new instruments again. I'll probably give these games a miss for 12-18 months and have a look again when the next round has been released.

"including a new single from Guns N' Roses"

lol, has Duke Nukem Forever been released too?

"and no, it's nothing like if you playing call of duty why dont you go to the army shit, call of duty is not played by pressing 4-5 buttons sequencially, it's not that retarded. "

I play call of duty by moving the analogue sticks around and pressing some buttons. How do you play it?

Sorry for the spam but just to add:

"73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990’s"

They have a habit of picking good bands but shit songs, they should sort that. The Kids Aren't Alright would have been awesome.

@jogi

I played RB1 on expert, and a whole bunch of songs are STILL very focussed around strum bar action, with the fret buttons getting very little attention other than the occasional chord change.

I started on hard mode, and was 5 starring every song first time, some of which I had never even heard before. So I moved up to Expert, and that presented an "ok" challenge. Not ideal given that I have no further option when expert becomes trivial. And as I've said before I am NOT a GH wizard, just an average rhythm player who is also musical and has a decent sense of timing.

I guess it comes down to the song choice, and some songs that are lots of fun to listen to not that athletic when it comes to the guitar work. I want to play songs that are interesting to listen to AND play, so I guess a balance has to be struck. For me, the balance was a bit off in RB. I should point out that I've not really played coop, and I would expect (I've certainly been advised to the same effect) that would be a lot more fun even if the songs themselves weren't chat challenging.


Anyway, I'm going over old ground. RB2 is a bit tougher on expert, so hurrah.

@kangarootoo

"Well they will fuck off out of your sight, as soon as you stop reading articles about them. I mean, durrr ;)"

it's only by way of commenting within blogs like this that i can make my hatred of the genre known. Hopefully others will respond, sadly it looks like everyones been sucked in by this shit.

"I play call of duty by moving the analogue sticks around and pressing some buttons. How do you play it?"

Maybe he uses the cock that's squarely mounted in the middle of his forehead?

@ andromeda

It's got nothing to do with being 'sucked in'. I'm a musician, but I still enjoy Rock Band, what's the problem?

Important to note regarding the import of RB1 songs: the fee is only there because the songs for RB1 were licensed for use in RB1 only and extra licensing fees were required to make them available for the Rock Band platform (i.e. every future RB game). That's also why 3 songs were not taken across.
Starting with RB2, all songs are licensed to the Rock Band platform, so they will be exportable _for free_ for use in the other games. Same goes for the AC/DC standalone track pack (out in December in Europe, for all platforms, lending credence to the November timeslot for RB2) - it's a RB game in its own right (albeit with a small tracklist), even with achievements/trophies, but the songs can be exported for use in RB2 (and RB1, not quite sure about that one) at no additional cost.

@andromeda

Yeah, thats right. You are right, and everyone else has been "sucked in".

Ooh, hang on, here is a zany theory. Maybe liking games is subjective? I know it sounds nuts, but it might just work.

And "hatred"? Seriously. I don't hate a single genre of game. If you genuinely hate this sort of game, you need some anger management assistance.

Dear Apologie…

Keep trying! :)

@ andromeda

Hatred of the genre... er okay, fine... But to criticise the graphics is just moronic. They're not even bad.

dunno what the rest of you think, but rb2 seems to me like a disk full of songs. meaning, surely they could have patched rb1 to get rid of flaws and add the tour to the online side of the game? those without tinternets wouldn't be missing out either. i feel theres other issues that have been ignored: the stupid placement of the drumfills on songs like run to the hills on hard (ie right before the iconic chorus opening fill) or, drums again, the horrid fill kit, why couldn't they have used original song-sampled kit sound for fills?

but, i agree with those who find rb's charts dull, and those with strum bar foibles, its gh3 gibbo all the way.

but im a drummer, i play drums on drums and cymbals on them round bronze things. thank god ghwt seems to have realised this. rb2's drums will suffer because of rb1 imo.

(to add to comments earlier, play green grass or maiden in your coat, with the heating on, you'll get fit very quick and if you preorder ghwt from play the free controller is wired for 360, wireless for ps3. dont know about others, sorry)

"to add to comments earlier, play green grass or maiden in your coat, with the heating on, you'll get fit very quick"

lol awesome advice there mate, I like it! :P

This is looking very tempting. I never bought the RB drum kick - just played the game with GH guitars and obviously missed out on a lot of the fun.

Song list looks better than GH WT but I've still got a line in the sand on what I'll pay for a game and this is several miles over it.
But with Christmas ahead…