Rock Band 2 (Wii) Review

Posted by Drew Robbins on 01.04.2009

An apology letter to the many players who felt let-down by Rock Band's last effort on the Wii.



Title: Rock Band 2
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Genre: Rhythm, Music
Players: 1-4
Rated: T for Teen
Also available on: PS3, 360, PS2

*Please note that this review is not using the special edition version of the game, so no impressions of the new instruments shall be given*

When Rock Band came out in 2007, it shook the foundation of a music game industry that seemed to be in the hands of Guitar Hero. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Rock Band’s port to the Wii. After months of anxious waiting, Wii owners got a somewhat skewered version of the game, which lacked character creation, world tour, and the game’s number one draw, downloadable songs. This once again brought up the age-old debate of whether or not the Wii could even handle such content, but now, a few months later, we have the answer. So can the Wii maintain this incredible amount of content? The answer is a resounding “yes.”

Gameplay - Fans familiar with the original Rock Band, or rhythm games in general, will certainly feel at home with Rock Band 2. You are still clacking the frets on the guitar, beating the drums, and torturing your friends by singing terribly into the microphone. Though the microphone remains virtually unchanged, the guitar and drums have received a little bit of a “facelift,” so to speak.

We’ll start with the guitar, which according to Harmonix has seen an increase in difficulty. Now speaking as a person who plays “Hard mode” on guitars, I can generally say that I don’t see much of a difference in difficulty. As it turns out, I’ve found this game a tad bit easier. My main problem with the difficulty in the last game was with songs like “Rockaway Beach” which consisted of strumming the red fret until you obtained carpal tunnel. Rock Band 2 seems to have less of that, thankfully. A few of the songs (I’m looking at you, “Hello There”) still fall back on this old trick but, what are a few songs when you have 80+ songs?

Now onto my least favorite instrument, the drums, whose pedals serve only as a means to torture and confuse me. The drum has probably received the most changes of all, these changes adding up to an astounding number of “two.” In order to combat the flailing so common to the drum players in Rock Band, Harmonix has added in a handy drum trainer. It has a few handy tricks, but no matter how many tutorials they give me, I’ll never be able to master the deadly drum pedal. The yellow line crossing the screen will always be my demise! Next up we have drum solos, a feature that was confusingly absent from the original Rock Band (on all systems this time, though). This isn’t really that big of a deal but, drum players, finally it is your time to shine!

So finally, we have arrived to the granddaddy of all changes to Rock Band’s gameplay on the Wii, World Tour. In case you were never fortunate enough to play the PS3 or 360 versions of Rock Band, I’ll break this mode down for you. To start, you create your band members and band name. Unfortunately the character creator isn’t as robust as it is on the other consoles, you are given just a few different faces, several hairstyles, and then you can tinker with their weight/height ratio. The best part of character creation comes later when you buy items from the rock store, which includes everything from an eye-patch to a colonial British outfit.

Throughout world tour, you, well, tour the world. Starting from your band’s home city, you travel across the world playing songs from the game’s enormous soundtrack. You either play these songs alone or in groups called setlists, which lets you play a few songs in a row with very small breaks in between. By doing these songs you earn money and fans, money to pay for various clothing expenses and fans to endure your terrible rendition of “Eye of the Tiger.”

Last and actually as it turns out, least is the Wi-Fi play. Let me start by saying that the last sentence was not indicating that Rock Band has poor online play (it doesn’t), just that Rock Band will always be an experience best had locally. When playing online you can play World Tour with strangers or a mode called “Battle of the Bands.” Don’t get too excited, Battle of the Bands isn’t the head-to-head affair it sounds like; instead you are taking daily challenges to see how you compare with the rest of the world. Every day, a new challenge will be made available, so this is a mode you could stick to for quite a while if you so desired.


- The Drum Pedal…its separates the men from the boys.

Graphics - When Rock Band last appeared on the Wii, the game was almost entirely pre-rendered. In fact, I’m fairly sure the only part of the game that wasn’t pre-rendered was the note-map. Now all of that pre-rendered nonsense is out and replaced with actual in-engine graphics. So how does the game look now?

As you may (should) know, the Wii isn’t a graphical powerhouse, so it should come as no surprise to you that this game looks exceptionally average. Character models look acceptable. Thankfully the game still has some of the neat graphical effects of other Rock Bands, such as the black-and-white performances and some neat camera angles. Besides that, you can’t say much else about the graphics of Rock Band 2. Do you really care about the graphics, anyways?

Sound - A key feature of any rhythm game is a great soundtrack, and Rock Band 2 doesn’t feature this. No, in fact, it has an amazing soundtrack. Never before has such a great collection of songs come together in one game. They had my money at “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and then they threw “Eye of the Tiger,” “Kids in America,” and “Everlong” in just for good measure. Just looking at this soundtrack makes my jaw drop like in “The Mask,” complete with my tongue rolling out as if it were the red carpet.

But, wait, the greatness doesn’t stop there! Rock Band 2 on the Wii actually has DLC, so you can continue to expand this soundtrack as they release more songs via the Rock Band Music Store. Though not much is out there yet for the Wii, Harmonix has promised that all DLC will eventually be made available for Wii owners.


(Screenshot courtesy of the 360 version)

Fun Factor - Few games create such an environment as Rock Band does. Gather a group of your closest friends and play Rock Band, and tell me you don’t have a tremendous amount of fun. If you said that you didn’t have any fun, you are either a compulsive liar or a stick in the mud. I’ve played a lot of party games in my time, but none of them have created as much of a sensational environment as Rock Band.

Lasting Appeal - We’ve already touched on the fact that Rock Band 2 is easily one of the all-time great party games, so it clearly has the lasting appeal as a party-attraction. Heck, even without a party you can enjoy Rock Band. With a ton of DLC on the way, and three different instruments to master, Rock Band 2 could very well last you until Rock Band 3 inevitably comes out.

The 411 - Rock Band 2 has taken the formula that made the original so successful, replicated it and improved on it, and brought it to the Wii and kept it perfectly intact. Rhythm fans would be doing themselves a disservice to miss out on this gem.

Graphics	7.0	Decent, looking at the game certain isn't an eye-sore, nor is it a treat.
Gameplay	9.5	Nothing new to see here, but still the best musical experience out there.
Sound	10.0	Best. Soundtrack. Ever.
Lasting Appeal	9.5	A party-attraction that keeps giving with DLC on the way in the near future.
Fun Factor	10.0	A fun game that everyone should enjoy, unless you hate fun.
Overall	9.5   [  Amazing ]