Rock Band 2

Fans of the first Rock Band will not be disappointed in the least. This new installment is a very much welcome addition to the music game genre. In many ways, it is better than the first, but there is one change that may/may not be good for some new players.

In the first Rock Band, you would play a list of songs in single player, and after those five or so, you'd unlock the next five. And the tour mode was multiplayer only. Well, in Rock Band 2, its all about the tour mode. There is no simple, "Play these, then unlock these." You unlock songs to play in quickplay, multiplayer, by beating them in the tour mode. You may, or you may not like this change, but that's really the only thing that's different here.

There are A LOT of songs this time, 60+ if you play only the ones originally on the game. There'll be 500+ downloadable by holiday. So this should keep you and your friends busy for a while. And most of these songs are terrific classics. Including, Round and Round, by Ratt, Eye of the Tiger, Down with the Sickness, Chop Suey, and my favourite, Livin' on a Prayer, by Bon Jovi. So there's a lot to be had here. Not to mention you can play the original Rock Band's songs, and I heard they can be downloaded for free. (Haven't confirmedt that though)

You can get the same clothing and customization options for your rocker. Unfortunately, there's not that many additions in that department. There is a new Thrift Threads section for clothes. And you can now have piercings, hats and bandannas around your face. And there are a few new tatoos to be had as well.

Now here's a cool addition. Say you have friends on your profile, and you want to play alone, but have your friend's rockers in the band, instead of the computer's random ones? Just go to band profile, roster, and add the rockers to said instrument. Those rockers will replace the automatic ones.

The game looks identical in most ways. OH, and I forgot. I haven't checked this out yet, but there is a battle of the bands mode for xbox live, and ps network. Like I said, I haven't had the chance to take a look at that yet. But it sound cool.

Like I said, graphics and overall look are identical. As well as the user interface, so it should be very familiar to players of the first Rock Band.

Anyway, I give it a 9/10. 'Cause there could have been some more added material. But there's still a lot to be had here.

For Xbox360, PS3, PS2, and Wii I believe. Not too sure if there's other systems its on.