Rock Band 2

Continue Your Rock and Roll Fantasy

Rock Band 2 lets you and your friends take your band on an even more expansive and immersive world tour – in person or online – and continue your rock and roll fantasy.

Harmonix, deliver Rock Band 2, the next step to the platform that lets audiences of all ages interact with music in an all-new way. Rock Band 2 lets players vicariously jam out as some of the best guitarists, bassists, drummers and singers of all time.

Featuring a track list with more than 80 on-disc tracks from some of the most hallowed bands of the rock pantheon, Rock Band 2 by challenges rockers to master lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals.

Key Features Take your band on an online-enabled World Tour mode, record albums, tackle the addictive Set Challenges, or even compete against other bands, either in your living room or halfway across the world, in the “Battle of the Bands” mode… plus all of the modes you know and love from the first Rock Band game! Rock Band 2 pushes music simulation farther than it’s ever gone with a tool that actually teaches you how to play the drums in real life – or you can just have fun jamming and playing along to songs like an animal in the Freestyle Drum mode. Track List Abnormality – “Visions” AC/DC – “Let There Be Rock” AFI – “Girl’s Not Grey” Alanis Morissette – “You Oughta Know” Alice in Chains – “Man in the Box” Allman Brothers – “Ramblin’ Man” Anarchy Club – “Get Clean” Avenged Sevenfold – “Almost Easy” Bad Company – “Shooting Star” Bang Camaro – “Night Lies” Beastie Boys – “So Watcha Want” Beck – “E-pro” Bikini Kill – “Rebel Girl” Billy Idol – “White Wedding Pt. I “ Blondie – “One Way or Another” Bob Dylan – “Tangled Up in Blue” Bon Jovi – “Livin’ on a Prayer” Breaking Wheel – “Shoulder to the Plow” Cheap Trick – “Hello There” Devo – “Uncontrollable Urge” Dinosaur Jr. – “Feel the Pain” Disturbed – “Down with the Sickness” Dream Theater – “Panic Attack “ Duran Duran – “Hungry Like the Wolf” Elvis Costello – “Pump it Up” Fleetwood Mac – “Go Your Own Way” Foo Fighters – “Everlong “ Guns N’ Roses – “Shackler’s Revenge” Interpol – “PDA” Jane’s Addiction – “Mountain Song” Jethro Tull – “Aqualung” Jimmy Eat World – “The Middle” Joan Jett – “Bad Reputation” Journey – “Anyway You Want It” Judas Priest – “Painkiller” Kansas – “Carry On Wayward Son” L7 – “Pretend We’re Dead” Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth” Libyans – “Neighborhood” Linkin Park – “One Step Closer” Lit – “My Own Worst Enemy” Lush – “De-Luxe” Mastodon – “Colony of Birchmen” Megadeth – “Peace Sells” Metallica – “Battery” Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “Where’d You Go” Modest Mouse – “Float On” Motorhead – “Ace of Spades “ Nirvana – “Drain You” Norman Greenbaum – “Spirit in the Sky “ Panic at the Disco – “Nine in the Afternoon” Paramore – “That’s What You Get” Pearl Jam – “Alive” Presidents of the United States of America – “Lump” Rage Against the Machine – “Testify” Ratt – “Round & Round” Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Give it Away “ Rise Against – “Give it All” Rush – “The Trees” Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye” Smashing Pumpkins – “Today” Social Distortion – “I Was Wrong” Sonic Youth – “Teenage Riot” Soundgarden – “Spoonman” Speck – “Conventional Lover” Squeeze – “Cool for Cats” Steely Dan – “Bodhitsattva” Steve Miller Band – “Rock’n Me” Survivor – “Eye of the Tiger” System of a Down – “Chop Suey “ Talking Heads – “Psycho Killer” Tenacious D – “Master Exploder” Testament – “Souls of Black” That Handsome Devil – “Rob the Prez-o-Dent” The Donnas – “New Kid in School” The Go-Go’s – “We Got the Beat” The Grateful Dead – “Alabama Getaway” The Guess Who – “American Woman” The Main Drag – “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” The Muffs – “Kids in America “ The Offspring – “Come Out & Play” The Replacements – “Alex Chilton” The Sterns – “Supreme Girl” The Who – “Pinball Wizard “

Grab the Mic View larger image Rock the Songs View larger image Give the Crowd a Show View larger image

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars For those who press start, we salute you!
This game is AWSOME! The guitar playing is actually smoother than Guitar Hero, the DLC alone is a LOT better too. My only complaint is the create-a-player isn’t as deep, I would’ve loved to make a Ranma Saotome just to say ‘I jammed with Ranma!’ Yeah, I’m an otaku.

Anyway, great game, great music, great DLC, great overall.

5 Stars Rock Band 2
Got my nephews Rock Band this is a great additon to give them move songs to play.

4 Stars Fun and addicting
This is a great game the only way I could make it better would be more and more songs. Also more recognizable songs.

4 Stars Setup Instuctions and song list need help
The provided (and required) USB hub is the wireless transmitter (dongle) that comes with the guitar in Wii Rock Band 2 Special Editiion. You don’t need to buy a hub to play all three instruments that come with the game. It is provided.

But, despite coming with three different manuals, the game’s documentation never mentions how to physically setup the complete game. There is a game manual, a guitar manual and a drum manual. The microphone manual is one page of the game manual. The guitar and drum manuals are basically a numbered sequence of pictures. There is little or no text and no mention of how to use either instrument with other instruments in the game. No wonder people think they have to buy a hub!

We never opened the guitar box for the first week; we had so much fun with just the drums and mic. But, after using up the only two USB ports on the Wii for the wireless drums and wired mic, we wondered how it was possible to hook up three instruments. The guitar wireless dongle looks just like the drum dongle, but, it is also a usb hub. In pages and pages of documentation, the only clue about this is a couple of lines of microtype nearly hidden between the guitar setup pictures and several paragraphs of disclaimer gobbledygook.

We think it is cool that EA provides the needed hub. Too bad they don’t make its presence and its use more clear for the non-techie families the game is aimed at. So, we ding the game one star for this and the anemic song list.

If you like today’s pop radio scene, you will probably like the song list. If you don’t, like us, the song list will seem anemic. Even if you do like the list of included songs, that list is short, too short for the money paid. The song discs and online content that you have to pay extra for are more of the same, with a bare few good classics thrown in. My son summed up the content last night by saying, “Yeah, I’ve heard these songs, but I wouldn’t have paid to buy any of them!” A perfect description of the available songs for the Wii, right now.

EA could learn from American Idol. There is a reason AI is so successful. The songs the contestants are given to choose from are killer classics, not bubblegum or noisy junk. EA needs to provide more of the killer classics. The game is still fun to play even if you don’t like the songs (a drum riff is a drum riff). But it is even more fun to play with a song that you love. Our whole family joined in on the two (only two! Wha?) Steely Dan songs that we downloaded. That was when we discovered Rock Band. RB needs more songs like that.

5 Stars Rhytym gaming as it should be, on the Wii.
After the ubberly limited Wii port of the first Rock Band, Harmonix really went all out to make sure the sequel wouldn’t suffer the same. Luckily they not only delivered, but released a very competent version for all rhytym game lovers that own a Wii.

RB2 plays pretty much like the first one, and if you are familiar with it and/or Guitar Hero, you’ll be right at home. The objective is to clear songs by correctly following the on-screen color commands which match those of your controller, which could be either drums, bass or guitar. The experience is supposed to mimic playing music in a band, and that’s were the whole fun of “playing rockstar” lays. Not only that, but working together as a team is very important to make sure everyone makes it to the end. The 4th would be the vocalist, and gets to actually sing along, karaoke style. This makes Rock Band the ultimate party experience.

RB2 Wii is thankfully compatible with all Guitar Hero peripherals, but sadly no Rock Band peripherals are compatible with Guitar Hero. RB2 Wii also features online play, and a massive DLC store so that you can increase your music collection.

Greatly recommended.

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