Format – PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS
Developers – Harmonix, Traveller’s Tales
Publishers – Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, MTV Games
Rock Band 2 is one of my favourite games and, in my opinion, far surpasses any of the Guitar Hero games. The gameplay is incredible and the constant stream of new downloadable content released every week is another reason to prefer it to Guitar Hero. The most important thing with any music game, though, is the songs on the disc and, for me, the 45 songs that are on LEGO Rock Bands’ Disc are all great tracks. As the soundtrack has be specifically chosen for the ‘younger audience’ there are some recent tracks from the ‘noughties’ such as The Kooks – Naive and The Automatic – Monster but there are also songs for all age groups. Bands such as Blink 182, Good Charlotte and Sum 41 for the teens and Queen and Jimi Hendrix for the older generation of wannabe-rockers.
The gameplay is exactly what you would expect, classic Rock Band. The notes come down the highway and you try and hit them. In comparison to Rock Band 2 there has been no change in the gameplay but a new game mode does offer something new. Rock Power Challenges are a new thing for the Career mode and involve you and your band defeating something with rock. Whether it is a building or a dinosaur you have to perform well in the Rock Power Challenges to defeat the ‘boss’ of the location. The gameplay is basically the same except you can’t use Overdrive or play Guitar Solos, Bass Groove and Drum Fills. The presentation of these challenges are also different. You see more than just the band playing on-stage, you see the destruction of whatever you are trying to destroy. For example, the first Rock Power Challenge has you trying to bring down a building. Whilst you are playing you see the building starting to crumble.
The whole Career mode is totally different from Rock Band 2′s. The first thing you will notice is your Rock Den, a good variation on normal menus. From the Rock Den you can choose to watch past cut-scenes, replay Rock Power Challenges, Practice, buy new clothes and instruments, hire staff or just continue with the World Tour. The World Tour is not divided into Countries but divided into vehicles. As you get more and more popular you can afford better transport and travel further. You start off with a little camper van which can only take you as far as the local train station but soon enough you are playing in the jungle. After you have earned enough stars in one location you unlock a Rock Power Challenge which will then allow you to purchase another vehicle. Although it may seem unorthodox, it works really well.
The way you utilise your staff members is completely different from Rock Band 2. Instead of just hiring one member of staff at a time, which will help increase either your profits or your fan-base, LEGO Rock Band allows you to hire 10 staff members that will increase your studs (money) and fans. The staff members become more and more expensive to hire but offer greater rewards. It gets to a point in which you hire staff and after you play another gig, you have earned back the studs you spent. Another way to earn more studs and fans is to play special gigs that offer multipliers on studs or fans based on how well you play. These special gigs are things such as shooting music videos, playing charity gigs or even just doing an encore. Special gigs and Rock Power Challenges usually have a cutscene which shows why you are playing the gig. The cutscenes are genuinely hilarious despite being a bit cliché.
As I said earlier music games tend to be brilliant or terrible based on their track list. I also mentioned that, pretty much, every song on the disc was great. However, the same songs do seem to pop up 4 or 5 times in every venue. This can get really repetitive. This can get really frustrating considering the length of the tour mode. It is about 7 hours just completing the story and then you still have a good 70 gigs left to complete after that. The fact that only “age-appropriate” DLC is compatible with the game is sensible but stupid. Making all of the DLC compatible would have been a smart move as people would have more songs to play.
The length of the tour mode is enough to warrant a purchase of this game but with repetitive tracks, lots of incompatible DLC and the lack of any online modes may make you think a bit harder before opening your wallet.
