Dreams and Plastic Guitars

Make no mistake about it, Rock Band 2 is the single greatest thing ever, replacing the previous single greatest thing ever: Rock Band 1. The folks at Harmonix deserve a Nobel Prize for this one.

The changes from the already great original installment to the mindblowingly epic sequel would seem pretty minor if you saw them on paper, but it's these tweaks in the gameplay that are responsible for the game's instant legendary status.

The single-player mode is now the same as the multi, which includes a series of challenges instead of just a collection of increasingly difficult setlists. Each city has individual songs that have to be beat as well as setlists you make, mystery setlists and, in a really nice touch for music geeks, city-specific setlists. Los Angeles has a setlist of So.Cal. bands. (Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silversun Pickups, Offspring and Rage Against the Machine, off the top of my head.) San Fran has a classic-rock setlist in honor of the Haight-Ashbury scene and Montreal has, you guessed it, songs by Canadians.

The game's flaws are only minor. One of the improvements is the ability to design your bandmates, so you aren't stuck with strange-looking computer-generated choices that don't jive with your character or each other. The drawback, however, is that it doesn't automatically change vocalists when you come across a song sung by someone of a different gender than the last. Very, very strange to hear Hayley Williams' voice coming out of a dude.

Some of the 80-odd songs included in the game are questionable choices. "So What'cha Want" by the Beastie Boys and Beck's "E-Pro" are two of the worst possible choices they could've made. Not only does the bassline and guitar track on each of these songs only consist of a strange intermittant riff, but the drum beats are identical. Not similar, identical. Beck heavily sampled "So What'cha Want" for this particular song, including a straight rip of the drum track. One song for the price of two.

Most of the songs, however, are brilliant choices; A great mix of genres and eras. One of the things I've discovered from owning a few of these games now is that some of the worst, cheesiest songs make for the best gameplay. I'm violently allergic to most music made in the mid-to-late '80s, but damn if "Livin' on a Prayer" ain't more fun than a room full of monkeys on crank.

In a stroke of genius, Harmonix is looking to further cash in on talentless frustrated never-will-bes like me by offering 6" figures of your custom character via their website in the near future. Having always dreamt of being both a rock star and having my own action figure, you can imagine how hard I geeked when I saw the images down below...



Yeah, there's $75 down the drain.