Rock Band 2

Platforms

• PlayStation 3

  Oct 19, 2008

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  8.3

  playscore

  8.9

  4 Critics

  8.6

  2.26K Players
• Xbox 360

  Sep 14, 2008

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  8.7

  playscore

  9.1

  11 Critics

  8.8

  5.20K Players

14 critic reviews · 2 community reviews across all platforms

Critic Reviews

• 

  Games Radar+

  10

  If the first Rock Band was the opening leg of a full-blown concert tour, with four players living the rock and roll dream via color-coded buttons and plastic guitars, drums, and microphone, Rock Band 2 is like the final show of that same tour. It’s not radically different from its already brilliant predecessor (at least not yet), but everything is tighter and runs more smoothly, and there’s an explosive, extended encore.

  Reviewed on X360

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• 

  Video Gamer

  9.0

  Guitar Hero: World Tour, as it stands in the UK, has better instruments (the new Rock Band 2 instruments aren't out here yet, the World Tour drum kit has cymbals), and it's also got a music editing and recording mode called Music Studio, which Neon described as "incredible". Apart from that, it's horses for courses, and your preference will probably come down to the track list (World Tour's list is probably a tad more mainstream than RB2's). DLC offerings from both Activision and EA are excellent and flow constantly. For us, Rock Band 2 is brilliant, just like Guitar Hero: World Tour is. We can't pick between them. Slightly boring conclusion, we know, but the right one

  Reviewed on X360

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• 

  Game Trailers

  9.2

  Rock Band 2 will be disappointing if you’re looking for drastic changes. Most of the upgrades are subtle, and you’re basically getting a ton of downloadable content at a great price. For our time and money, it’s worth every penny. The series has become the de facto party standard, and with this many new songs, it will be hard to knock it from the top of the charts. For existing rockers, we recommend just buying the disc, but if you haven’t already joined the tour then grab yourself a set up upgraded instruments, invite some friends over, and watch the magic happen.

  Reviewed on X360
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  GameSpot

  8.5

  Rock Band 2 delivers about what you'd expect from a game released just 10 months after its predecessor. That may be a little underwhelming for people who put their lives on hold for the original, but you're still left with a fantastic experience that's unmatched as far as party games go.

  Reviewed on PS3, X360

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• 

  Destructoid

  9.5

  Rock Band 2 is going to feel extraordinarily familiar to fans of the first game, most of them won’t mind -- picking up the game for them is a no-brainer. The software is an incredible value, with 84 on-disc tracks and a laundry list of game-perfecting, albeit arguably small, tweaks. If you’re a fan of the music-rhythm genre (or purely a fan of music, for that matter), you’re running out of reasons not to own the game -- there’s simply more content packed into this series than any game that’s come before it, and by a frighteningly large margin.

  Reviewed on X360

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• 

  Giant Bomb

  10

  Considering how serious Harmonix and MTV have been when it comes to post-release support via weekly song downloads, the initial announcement of Rock Band 2 caught me off guard. Aside from being a method for offline players to acquire music, it didn't seem necessary at all. But with its large library of licensed master recordings and vastly improved approach to multiplayer play, Rock Band 2 is a terrific value at both ends. It's both a must-own for fans of the genre and a great place for new players to get started.

  Reviewed on X360

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• 

  IGN

  9.0

  Rock Band 2 improves in several areas over the original. The track list is better, the difficulty has been bumped up, it's more accessible, all previously released DLC works from the get-go, and Battle of the Bands is a brilliant online mode. But there's no getting around the fact that almost nothing was done to the main mode, World Tour. This is still the primary feature of Rock Band and yet it seems to have been neglected. It's hard to notice the newness when there's a big chunk of game that is just the same as it ever was.

  Reviewed on X360

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• 

  VGChartz

  9.0

  Rock Band 2 is something every game should want to be; pure, simple, unending fun. The music/rhythm genre is still in its infancy, and as Activision seems to do everything in their power to over saturate the market, it is comforting to know that the true innovators behind the scenes are committed to keeping the genre fresh and novel.

  Reviewed on

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  Euro Gamer

  9.0

  More or less every concern and complaint we had about the original game has been addressed, the new tracklist is very much to our taste (with 20 more free songs to come, remember), and with the rebalancing of difficulty, modes like Battle of the Bands and the No Fail modifier and Drum Trainer, Harmonix has completed the awkward job of broadening the game's appeal at both ends of the skill spectrum successfully. It's an excellent, measured sequel that should appeal to all.

  Reviewed on X360

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• 

  PlayStation Universe

  9.5

  The graphics are nearly identical to those seen in Rock Band 1, but the presentation and layout of the game have improved dramatically (and you stare at the scrolling notes the whole time anyway). The gameplay is uncannily unchanged, but it was brilliant to begin with. The peripherals haven’t been reinvented, but each – with the exception of the microphone – has been refined well. Throw in worthwhile new modes, a no-fail option, and 84 on-disc master tracks, and there’s no excuse not to attend this encore.

  Reviewed on PS3

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Community Reviews

About the game