Rock Band 2 Review

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(More customer reviews)I managed to get my hands on Rock Band 2 a bit early, and spent the entirety of the evening playing. What a drastic improvement over Rock Band 1 on the Wii! This is identical to the Xbox 360/ PS3 versions of the game, and I was even more impressed than I anticipated. I was having a blast before I even had a chance to play a single note: The character creator tool was a welcome bonus! You create a band and members, and then you hit the road. It was a really satisfying experience! This is really the first time that a Wii game has been truly competitive with other Next-Gen console games.
The World Tour mode is now available locally or online, and there are also challenges and battle-of-the-bands. There was a "Wii pre-release" battle available for the select few who managed to snag the game early, and I was able to compete head to head with other bands (there were only 3 other bands online since the game was not yet available @ most stores).
There are sure to be plenty of lengthy reviews, so I will just note some of my observations:
*Band Members - once you create your band-mates using the Character Creator, when you play a gig, there they are! I knew this feature was present, but I had no idea how exciting it would be the first time my character (who happens to look JUST LIKE ME!) appeared on stage! It was really satisfying! This feature was really well done. My first order of business was to create characters for my wife and all our friends. Whenever they come over and play from now on, they can use their characters. Also, these characters can be moved around, dropped etc. Also, whenever you select a character to play a gig with your band, they get a "cut", earning that character money which can be used to buy clothes, accessories, instruments, etc. Of course, my wife blew all her money on some designer jeans, some pink driving gloves, and some shoes before she even played one gig! Typical... =)
*Online - Some of the online features haven't been enabled yet, but I was able to play in the online battle of the bands. I was playing during a weather storm, and my internet connection was suffering. I had a hard time checking my email from my computer in fact! But, much to my surprise, the game chugged along, and I didn't see any problems with the online interface. The whole game is played "connected", so you don't have to keep logging on and off if you switch between local and online play. The interface was really polished and well done, unlike other Wii games that seem to tack on the online portion after the fact. A+++.
*Updated instruments - The new guitar and drum look and feel really good. The drums are sturdier, and also the pads are quieter. Other than that, not much of a change here, but I had no complaints about the previous generation of instruments.
*Music - This game seems to have a much more varied mix of music. Much like when I began playing RB1, I only knew a handful of the songs that I initially was able to play. A few of the songs that I initially played were somewhat familiar, but some were way off the radar for me. Still, what I have heard so far is great! As you may already know, there is a Music Store built in the game where you can use Wii points on your system to buy new songs, so there will be no shortage of great music to be played! I was also surprised to see that details about the band and even album art appear on the song selection screen. The interface is really clean and polished; it really doesn't feel like a "game" at all. There is really no end to this games replay value. There are already close to 500 songs available in the DLC catalog (and all of this will come to the Wii shortly), and new songs are added weekly. Guitar Hero: World Tour can't even begin to compete in this area!!!
Do yourself a favor and go buy this game. I loved RB1 on the Wii, and really didn't think I was missing out on much... as it turns out, the additional features in RB2 are really astounding! The solid gameplay of Rock Band 1 is there... the great music game is completely intact. RB2 adds the "Band" experience: Touring, Band-mate selection, losing fans if you quit a "set" prematurely, battle of the bands, never-ending amounts of fresh content to play, expansive leaderboards and band data, even the ability to order posters and figurines of your band!!! Rock Band 2 for the Wii delivers!!

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Special Edition Kit contains:?Wireless Guitar?Wireless Drum?Drumsticks?Wired microphone?Batteries?Software?RB Stickers

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Guitar Hero World Tour Review

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(More customer reviews)World Tour is more like a five city peruse. Unlike Rock Band 2 which will lead you so deep into the music underground that you never return, the New Guitar Hero is so short you can complete it in three nights. As for the music, the mix is incredible but perhaps too much so. There are scores of songs you will never have heard of and others that you'd rather not hear again. The diversity is swallowed up by this unusal swamp of rift heavy tunes. The increase in difficulty is meant for the hard core players but it kills the fun for everyone else. I was happy to see the absence of a tamborine on the vocals but the singing is a little less obvious as to how it works.
As for the storyline, you get to travel from one unique stage to another and are constantly surprised by the stunning visuals. Lead singers and guitarists are unlocked easily as are the mega songs they are known for. I only wish the storyline was longer and more involved.
The music studio was a great idea but it is so complicated that I can only imagine a small number of people taking full advantage of it. Of those who do we might have a future rocker in the making. It will be fun to find out. I just hate having to wait another full year for the fun to continue.

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Start a Band...the Guitar Hero Way Guitar Hero World Tour transforms music gaming by expanding Guitar Hero's signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines advanced wireless instruments with online and offline gameplay modes including online Band Career and 8-player "Battle of the Bands," which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online.The game features a Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock 'n' roll anthems.*Note: The instruments are sold seperately.

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Guitar Hero 5 Review

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(More customer reviews)Well I would just like to say, that the average rating of this game is 3 stars. I'm very stunned by that, because this is a good game. I'm going to do a list of pros and cons.
Pros:
+ Excellent graphics, the band on stage has never looked better, and some of the effects are awesome. You either hate them or love them.
+ The song selection is huge, the biggest out of all the guitar heroes, I was really surprised with all the venues they had in career.
+ Is the song selection good? Overall it's more good than bad which is nice, I wish there were some more songs that I knew on the game.
+ The game is fun to play, it's enjoyable, and not as frustrating as some of the other guitar heroes.
+ A lot of reviews, say playing your avatar in the game looks weird and just doesn't fit in. I disagree, it gave me a chance to really make my avatar look cool, sometimes I get sick of seeing the same game characters every guitar hero.
+ The Party Play is a nice feature, I know if I had party at my house, and tons of instruments I would definetely use this feature. It's also fun, if you're to lazy to find a song to play, or just want to relax.
+ Tons of replay value, going back to get the bonuses, or completed every song in career will take a while and keep you busy.
There's a few nuetral spots, that aren't bad at all, but annoy me in some way:
+/- Sympathy for the Devil is a fun song to play, but listening to "whoo, whoo," the whole song can get on your nerves.
+/- Making a logo, wasn't all that great, I found it to be more annoying than fun when making one, but I felt good when I got it done.
+/- I only knew about 3 of the songs when I played this, some of the other guitar heroes, atleast had 5-10 songs that I knew, but not a problem at all since most of the songs are quite enjoyable anyway.
And last but not least the negatives:
- This guitar hero didn't do much in progression, what I mean each guitar hero game has some significance in doing something new for the fans, this one didn't do that for me, still a fun game.
- The store is gone, instead of money you have to unlock the stuff, and some stuff you can't even unlcok on medium, which is the difficulty I play on, which in general sucks.
Well, Overall this is a really good game, and if you're a guitar hero fan this is a must buy, with great graphics, pretty good song selection, and lots of replay value. I actually mostly bought this so I could get Guitar Hero: Van Halen for free and actually I play guitar hero with the guitar, our family is poor, and I'm only 14 and don't make much money, but still even with this is an awesome game!! Recommeneded for Guitar Hero fans, and people who need to complete their collection.


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Brand new, innovative, easy-to-use gameplay modes like Party Play and RockFest put fun, competition and control at center stage as fans tailor the Guitar Hero experience to match their personal style and interests. For extended hours of entertainment, downloadable content from Guitar Hero World Tour will be compatible with the game and will automatically be updated to include all of the upgrades and enhancements of Guitar Hero 5. Assemble Your Band and Rock Any Way You Want Guitar Hero 5 allows fans to play alone, as a full band or, for the first time, with any combination of multiple guitarists, bassists, drummers or vocalists, to customize their musical experience. Players now have the control to rock any way they want whether it is with two guitars and two drummers, four guitarists, or three guitarists and a vocalist, any combination is possible. This freedom is available in all modes of play: online, Party Play, Quickplay, RockFest and even Career. The Definitive Rock 'n' Roll Set List Experience furious finger fretting, intense drumming, and lyrics that will challenge even the best vocal chops with songs from some of the hottest bands of today to all-time favorite classic anthems including: Tom Petty, Kings of Leon, The White Stripes, Santana, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Featuring 85 master tracks, the breadth of rock-centric styles ensures that every Guitar Hero fan will find their favorite tracks and discover new ones. Join The Party It has never been easier to rip it up and rock out with friends than it is in Guitar Hero 5. The brand new Party Play Mode puts players straight into the action with the press of a button and allows them to jump in or drop out, or switch difficulty level at any time without interrupting the jam session. Become the Best. Shred the Rest In Guitar Hero 5 players can test their skills against others with four-player local and up to eight-player online battles in the all-newcompetitive RockFest Mode. Within RockFest Mode, players can choose from various head-to-head gameplay types, including Momentum, Perfectionist,Elimination, Do-or-Die, Streakers, and Pro Face Off. Limitless Jams Guitar Hero 5 delivers hours of endless entertainment, as fans will be able to play Guitar Hero World Tour downloadable content in the game, experiencing all of the upgrades and new features in Guitar Hero 5. Song List

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Rock Band Review

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(More customer reviews)Let me first admit that I'm a Guitar Hero fan. I adore playing all of the Guitar Hero games, and we have multiple guitars in the house (for multiple platforms) so that we can jam together. When Harmonix turned over Guitar Hero III to another company, I was really curious what they would choose to do next. I am THRILLED with the result - Rock Band, which combines together all the fun of singing karaoke, playing guitar (lead and bass) plus DRUMS!!!
My boyfriend is in several bands, and he plays lead guitar, bass guitar and drums. I love to sing. So we have played many, many games in all of these genres (including the Donkey Kong Konga game which is surprisingly fun). We were quite interested to see how the Harmonix guys would merge these variety of instruments into a single game.
First, the instruments. The guitar is FAR better than the guitars previously released for Guitar Hero. The buttons are "full fret" making the much easier to press. You don't have that annoying ridge line. You get TWO sets of buttons in fact - one for easier guitar solo play. You have sound settings. I can't say enough about this guitar. The only thing it lacks is stickers :) Really, couldn't they include a sticker set or two, to customize the thing? A minor flaw :)
The drum set is REALLY cool. It comes with a stand and it has a very nice feel to it. My boyfriend complained a bit about the wood sticks not being smooth, but heck, you're not paying for high quality sticks here.
There is a four-plug USB hub so you can actually plug all these items into your XBox 360 :) And there's a few headset adaptors, and a microphone. We already had several of these.
Now for gameplay. The graphics are visually lovely, although really, with up to four people playing and singing, the background stuff is pretty meaningless. The screen is taken up by all of the progress bars and alert bars and so on. I do have to comment that the customization for your characters is AWESOME. You customize their style of movement (punk, rock, etc), their facial look, hair style, eye color and much more. Plus you can buy all sorts of great outfits in the store. Never mind equipment. They really went overboard in this area.
I found when I played an instrument whose track was on the far left (the lead guitar, for example) that I could easily see the "overall progress" bar showing how everyone in the band was doing. I could see that the drum guy was doing poorly and slipping down into the red. However, when *I* was playing the drums - and the visual for my drum track was on the far right - I had NO idea how well or poorly I was doing. That overall band progress display was on the far left (past the other instruments' tracks) and there was no way to watch both my own drum note list and see how I was doing at the same time. So you almost need to designate whoever is playing in that far left track as the "band alert person" to yell out if someone is doing not so well.
The band works as a unit. If for example the drums are doing poorly, but the guitarist is doing well, the guitarist can use their energy the rev up the crowd which helps everyone in the band. So the guitarist can save the drummer, for example. On the other hand, if the drummer is really bad, after a few failures, the crowd gives up. You can't have the remaining players try to play the song out.
Which brings up one of my only complaints about the game. Let's say you start a band "Asia" with the leader being a drummer. Now any time Asia wants to continue on their career, the drummer MUST BE PLAYING. In real life, band members change positions sometimes. You have a drummer who also likes to sing. But here, if you have a position set as the leader, the game can't be played (with that band and the songs it's unlocked) without that instrument being played. We found that really annoying. You should be able to say that person X now wants to play instrument Y and keep going.
Now, interestingly, my boyfriend plays the drums. He found the drum pads AWFUL to use and thought they were broken. We swapped off and he took over guitar while I played with the drums. I did a 100% performance. So it's something about the way you hit them. I *think* they have to be hit pretty close to dead center, with a sharp rap. I'm not a drummer so undoubtedly I'm not hitting them "technically right" but I am able to sail through many songs on easy with 100%. So it's a matter of getting used to how they work.
The vocal / mike track is much like any karaoke game, and you "yell" to activate overdrive. It's a lot of fun. I did try several songs with a mike stand setup so I could play guitar and sing at the same time. It was a lot of fun - but part of the mike track is "cowbells" where you're supposed to thwap the microphone in time to the beat. Unfortunately if you're busy playing the guitar or drums you no longer can thwap the microphone. I tried yelling "POP" and it worked about half the time, if I used a very snappy sound to my POP. Still, it's a shame you can't sing and play because of this.
The songs in this list are GREAT. I really love some of them, and there were few that I simply didn't like at all. It's cool that they have multiple venues per location, instead of the Guitar Hero games where there was just "one Boston" and so on. You have to actually earn a Van or Bus or whatever to move on to a new city. You actually build up a fan base as you go, and lose it if you do poorly. That is all very cool. On the down side, the progression of songs is rather odd. You can play 2 songs you like in Boston, and then go to Chicago and play the exact two songs again to earn more stars there. The songs seem to unlock slowly. I'm also not overly fond of several modes where you have no idea what songs are coming up until 2 seconds before the songs begin.
They do have a training mode and solo mode, but really you figure the great appeal of this game is to play with your friends, using the various instruments. So we found that interface - where you are stuck with a single leader, and it is very much one-person-one-instrument oriented, to be a bit frustrating. Sure, I love playing drums - but I love playing guitar too! Sometimes I love to sing. It didn't seem like it should be THAT bad to let a person switch instruments once you'd unlocked a bunch of venues and songs.
Finally, I really like that right from the start you have access to all difficulty modes, and can set them by person. So if you have a really great guitarist in your family, and someone who is perhaps younger or just getting started, the great guitarist can set themselves to difficult and the younger person can set to easy and both can have a really fun, challenging time.
I am really looking forward to new song downloads too, and imagine that could make this game last years and years and be just as much fun.
Highly, highly recommended if you can get your hands on this thing. We were there right when the store opened to get our hands on ours, and it sold out immediately. Well worth tracking down!! Note that I have photos of the instruments on my website and am happy to answer any other questions you guys have about this game.

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Rock Band Special Edition X360 - includes software wired guitar drums mic

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Rock Band Drum Bag Review

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(More customer reviews)I've owned this bag for three weeks only and the material has already separated from the stitching! The outer material is way too thin to support the awkward way the components are individually secured into place with velcro. The concept and layout is fine but the materials used FALL WELL SHORT of a $50.00 bag supposedly designed to make the Rockband drumkit more portable. I am more worried about how this bag will hold up during transport than than the drums themselves, and thats truly sad!!! Consider yourself warned. My rockband show travels three days a week so after only nine shows this bag is already falling apart. I own and travel with several other soft case gig bags and have used them for years without problem. This case is not up to the challenge! nuff said

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Lego Rock Band Review

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(More customer reviews)My wife and I have always had fun playing games together, specifically the Lego type games and the Rock Band series. When I heard Lego Rock Band was coming out, I liked the idea of all the songs, but I have to admit the game looked like a cheap cash-in, similar to the way Guitar Hero has about 200 iterations a year (and the newly released Band Hero is essentially Guitar Hero 5 with new tracks and Taylor Swift). So, my idea was to just get it to export the songs, then sell it back or trade it with a friend.
However, once I decided to give the game a try (I had it, after all), and I'm downright hooked.
Rather then focus on what's the same (because this is, at its core, Rock Band 2 with a Lego skin over it), let me point out some differences I think make it better.
- You have a "Rock Pad" which is like your house, and you can trick it out with tones of goofy gear. I'll admit I was stoked when I unlocked the pink train riding toy. It's a small addition, sure but way fun.
- Tons and tons of unlocks, similar to the other lego games. From guitars to pieces of your house to new characters, there's a lot. A downside is you don't start with much, but you'll get new things fast.
- When you fail, you actually can revive people simply by playing well. This feature was shown somewhat in Guitar Hero 5, and it works well here for a kid-friendly group. It also makes you less dependent on Overdrive to revive people.
- The notes moving down the "track" are lego bricks! A little change, sure, but I got a kick out of it.
- The game has a "plot," and honestly it is downright silly and completely hilarious. What other game can you use rock to blow up a building, scare off ghosts by rocking "Ghostbusters," or zapping a squid with the power of your awesome riffs?
- On the same line as above, during these scenes you actually sort of tag team the song, with usually only two of the four people playing, and you switch off. You might think that's lame, but I've often wished I could see what was going on in the background in RB2 with my characters (after all, I spent a good long amount of time designing him), and this way I can see the hilarity. Excellent!
- It can all be exported to RB2 for $10. It's more then RB1, but still not a bad deal.
Here are a few bad parts, however.
- The overall menus are a bit of a pain to navigate. You have to pick the vehicle to get to the correct venues, rather then having them on a long list. Annoying, honestly.
- Load times are horrific, worst in the series by far, and they pop up all the time. Installing the HDD helps.
- Short tracklist. It's good, and I liked most of the songs, but still quite short. But it has Final Countdown!
Overall, I went into this game thinking it was a sell out, and it actually is a VERY fun game, a certainly a worthy addition to the Rock Band platform. The fact it only supports songs that are "family friendly" is actually a good feature; it means I can have the nieces and nephews over and not worry about what they might be playing. Overall? I'd say rent it first, but if you are a music game fan don't overlook this one. Unlike Band Hero, which is most certainly the definition of a cheap cash-in, Lego Rock Band is a clever, funny, and fun game that is certainly worth looking over if you are a previous Rock Band owner.

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Gameplay Action in LEGO Rock Band is nearly identical to the familiarflow of Rock Band gameplay, only with a LEGO twist. Your goalis to run through a succession rock tinged family friendly song trackswith your band, consisting in multiplayer modes of up to four avatarsin LEGO form controlled with guitar, bass guitar, microphone and drumcontrollers. The game features compatibility with most existing RockBand and Guitar Hero instrument controllers for the appropriateplatform. One of the fun LEGO influences is in the tablature flowingacross the screen that directs your play. This is in the form of LEGOblocks color coded for each controller. As players successfully completesongs and rock challenges, they can collect LEGO 'studs,' with whichthey can customize their avatar and other in-game goodies in trueLEGO 'snap-on' fashion. In addition, players can unlock additionalcontent and collect amazing vehicles, which can transport their bandfrom local gigs at rock clubs to epic stadium shows and even fantasysettings on Earth and beyond. The game contains a variety of playmodes including Quickplay and Challenge, and will feature music bothsupplied on the game disc as well as downloadable content. The Song List LEGO Rock Band allows players to rock along to both current hits and classic favorites that the whole family will enjoy. These include:Key Game Features
Use the LEGO character customizer to create and personalize your band, instrument controllers and entourage.
A rock tinged, yet family-friendly song list provided both on the game disc and as downloadable content.
Pull off killer riffs in LEGO themed Rock Power Challenges to perform amazing feats such as defeating a giant octopus, summoning a storm or demolishing a skyscraper.
Build fame LEGO style by completing songs to collect LEGO studs – unlock cool vehicles, progress to new venues and unlock new characters and instruments.
Express yourself with a personalized LEGO Rock Den that can be accessorized and decorated to perfectly suit your rock style.
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