Two in Review

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of music games and, more accurately, a huge fan of Harmonix’s music games.  I own every game they’ve worked on since Frequency.  I wholeheartedly believe that Guitar Hero has changed the landscape of gaming, appealing to casual and hardcore alike.  Then, after the Guitar Hero series was handed over to those skateboard game guys (Neversoft), Harmonix released Rock Band, and took things up a notch.  Herein lies my problem: I love Rock Band 2 because it’s so much like the amazing first one, but I also have problems with Rock Band 2 because it’s so much like the amazing first one.  I know, I know, I sound crazy.  But as much as this game is awesome because it is more of Rock Band, it is just that - more of the same with a little added to justify the increased numeral at the end of the name.  Don’t get me wrong, the game adds a ton of new excellent songs (and some crappy ones), and if you import your songs from the original and/or have any downloaded content you end up with a massive set list.  But Rock Band 2 might as well be called “Madden in music form” because I see some minor changes that make me wonder why couldn’t we just update the last one and call it a day?  Do I really need to buy another disc for this?  Then again, the game was pretty great to begin with so, logically, it’s still great.  This is my dilemma, as I said - I love it and shun it for the same reason.  I’ll tell you what, just play “Livin’ on a Prayer” and it’ll make all your second thoughts go away…