LogFAQs > #950548128

#24. Rock Band 2 (PS3, 2008)
Similar to Guitar Hero 2, this was the perfect game at the perfect time- but even MORE perfect. I was a junior in college when Rock Band 1 came out and a senior for Rock Band 2 (and I stayed a 5th year). By my junior year, my friend group was pretty solidified, and by senior year, the place I lived. I had my roommate, my friends across the hall, and a bunch across the street. Over those 3 years, we played both these games so much. Guitar Hero was on its way out, with the disappointing Guitar Hero III, once Harmonix left and focused on this series and clearly, it was always about the developer. Or again, maybe those Harmonix bands, hello again Freezepop. Rock Band 1, while a good game, was still close to the release of Guitar Hero 2 that we would play both. Rock Band obviously had the greater appeal of having 4 people playing- Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums, but something about it wasnt quite there yet. It was partially the setlist, though there were the bits of DLC, but it always felt pretty bland. Like at this point, the genre needed to go a little further in presentation. Rock Band 2 delivered here. Its tour mode was really fun, everything was easier to just do what you want- create custom setlists, making the DLC not only much more accessible but huge jumps in quality and quantity, and I remember thinking just how much nicer this game looked and felt than its predecessor.

This was pretty much the ultimate evolution of what Guitar Hero was. A great rhythm game for 4 people, rocking out to anyones style of music (but hey, mostly rock right?), and the fun of playing whatever instrument you felt like! It was inclusive for those who were bad at rhythm games-play the vocals! Or for the exact opposite, play the drums! Or just fans of the original hype of playing wailing guitar solo, play the guitar! Or youre the fourth wheel, play the bass, sorry. But hey, thats not even fair. There were a lot of great songs that featured bass here too! I loved playing all of them. I used to be so good at these games too-we were playing so often, it was my prime. I tried that Bladder Challenge where you play every song in one sitting, but man, Visions just was the death of me 9/10 of the way in. Fuck that song.

The instruments themselves were pretty good- I was never a huge fan of these guitars, but luckily some of the others I preferred from the GH series worked just fine. Instrument backwards compatibility was a big deal. But mostly, it was great times with my friends group in college. I loved guitar obviously but also liked the Drums a lot too- and that would be physically exhausting! For my foot. Or the vocals for your vocal chords.



Some of the best songs in this base game include: The Trees, Aqualung, Any Way You Want It, Battery, White Wedding, Psycho Killer, Hungry Like The Wolf, Pinball Wizard, Painkiller, and of course, Master Exploder.

Next up: A game where you can play as characters that are colorblind, gay, and/or have entered the Matrix.

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~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS