LogFAQs > #949956328

#41 - Rock Band 2 (360, 2008)


When the whole instrumental video game fad took the world by storm, I didnt see much promise in it. I was never big into music in general, or felt any desire to learn how to play guitar, or anything. But my friends got together when Guitar Hero 2 came out and decided they were all gonna pool some money together and get both the first games and two guitar controllers so we could try it out. My house was the place we always hung out at, so I was involved by proxy. It was easily one of the best decisions my friends have ever pushed me into making. I wasnt too into it at first; on Easy, its just a matter of finding one of three buttons and strumming at the right time. Then I bumped it up to Medium, and the dopamine really started to hit.

Guitar Hero 2 was definitely the clear better game of the first two. Harmonix had fine-tuned hammer-ons and pull-offs so they were far easier, which is necessary to play this game on Expert, and GH2 all-around provided a more accessible experience. In retrospect, it really should be on my list somewhere around the 80s, but ah well.

Then the news came out that Harmonix would no longer be involved with the series, and Neversoft would take the reins for Activision instead. Harmonix would then team up with rival company EA and create a new competitor in Rock Band. My friends planned on sticking with Guitar Hero, since it was an entity they already knew and loved, but I wasnt going to doubt Harmonix, and opted to splurge on all the equipment on day 1. By this time in our lives, we had graduated and were living separately, though several of my friends had an apartment together. I immediately brought everything over there so we could try it out.

It was an immediate hit. The guitar worked just as it had in the Guitar Hero games, so we knew wed still enjoy that, but the drums were a complete surprise for how fun they would be. And if everyone was drinking, the microphone was passed around for some great laughs. It was a staple of our daily lives for years, spanning the releases of both Rock Band 2 and 3. Except Rock Band 3 was a short-lived plaything for us. It was a fine addition to the series, but the keyboard was not a hot commodity in our friend group, and would typically get tossed to the side for the other 4 instruments. We were so over the fad by Rock Band 4 that it was never even brought up as a possibility to play among us, and the instrument gaming phase we went through officially died.

Rock Band 2 gets the sole nod on my list because they all provide basically the same experience. It had the best song list, the best aesthetics and visuals, and had Tour Mode, which was a fun way to change up the songs we were playing. Its also the time period when the DLC was getting super extensive and our list of songs available to us jumped up to the many hundreds. Rock Band has to be the single game Ive ever spent the most money on, and I dont regret a single bit of it.

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Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform
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