With the volume down, too late to ignore the feelings of the family of 20 down in the basement, the four of us sat clicking in silence.
When Rock Band 2 finally entered our lives, it smarted of privilege. The fan fare had been building, and our psychological medieval spanish villagers had been showing up for the parade, lining up in order, dressed in homemade clown, dragon, and Steve Vai costumes for almost a year. When the villagers finally found their triumphant day of simulated Rock 'n' Roll reckoning, the celebration had been cancelled due to inclement weather, and the dissatisfaction of getting something you've always wanted, without having to work for it.
A year ago, before Andy X and I found a new beginning together in Illinois' own, The City of Chicago, we had eagerly spoken of starting a Rock Band fund. Drawing upon a long tradition of religious devotional procedures, we had arranged to set aside a certain amount of money (10% of our income, or 15 dollars; which ever was least) each month until we had enough money in our coffee tin to make the long walk to Target and purchase that big box with so many tens, fives, and ones. The fund never got started however. Neither of us could afford to set aside 15 dollars a month, and then our Xbox was stolen and all joy was drained from the world.
Living in squalor, playing only Pirates! Gold on our Genesis emulators and dreaming of swashbuckling duels, the hope of cheap pine drum sticks and plastic button guitars seemed to be rocking gently in the surf of some far off shore we would never see.
So, how did we get here? Drum sticks and button guitars in hand, clicking in silence, and what to think of it?
While visiting from afar, a friend of ours decided to purchase Rock Band 2 and leave it at our house (thanks R.O.B.)
And that's what Rock Band 2 is all about. It's a great game, but it sometimes seems difficult to appreciate. It's also really expensive and if you are like us, you can't afford it unless your friend comes into town with money and buys it for you, and then leaves.
One of the most impressive aspects of Rock Band, and the obvious intended mission behind the franchise, is its super-natural ability to bring a crowd together to play. Never in my life (and I have not owned a Wii) have I sat in a room with two female non-gamers, and two male gamers (who keep a gaming blog) and everyone has had a great time playing four way multiplayer for several hours. The concept is almost inconceivable to me. It seems as implausible as smoking pot with my grandparents the day after thanksgiving, and then cracking up as we search through the fridge eating turkey. It just wasn't going to happen in my lifetime...and now that it has...aaahh, it's a good thing, certainly, but it isn't a private gamer thing, it isn't your secret drug habit anymore. It's not yours, it's everyones. And this translates to the experience as well.
How you gonna be sitting in your chair alone playing the drum track to Metallica's Battery? Or much less, the Vocals? This may well be the first video game that inherently makes fun of you for being a gamer nerd. It practically says aloud to you "Where your friends at? Loser!" if you try to master the drum track to that Rush song. As a socially well-adjusted twenty something who hasn't had gamer shame for a very long time, it is hard to go back to that place. And it's not just an issue of nerdyiess, the social experience of Rock Band 2, when you are playing with a full or mostly full "band" is so great, that playing alone can feel like playing monopoly alone. Sure, you're buying up all the best property, but what for? Practice?
This doesn't just affect when when you play the game, it affects how you play the game. In the extreme egalitarian social gaming setting, the joy of the challenge, the joy of working at it to nail all the parts, the joy of actually playing the game is dulled, and pumped back up by the joy of sharing a pretty ridiculous and over -the-top experience with your friends. It's a little bit like that scene in the original Rollerball movie where all the dystopian drug-using rich people get together to use their lazer gun to blow up all the trees on the horizon.
Actually it's exactly like that.
Now, Technically Speaking:
Drums 9.5/10:
The drum set has consistently been the most popular instrument among our friends. Why? I think the answer is simple: where the Rock Band and Guitar Hero guitars are glorified controllers invented by the developers of Guitar Hero only a few moons ago, the drum set controller is not nearly as abstracted. The Rock Band drums are really only a mere modification on an old form, the drum set, and as such they take advantage of some of the memetic power of that old form. The amazing part is that they are able to do this while still being simple enough for anyone to play.
At certain points in any given song in RB2, the game will inform the drummer to solo. While this feature, if implemented on the guitar controller would have absolutely nothing to do with the melodic and harmonic creativity of a real guitar solo, on drums, your creativity is rewarded with a solo that will sound like a rock drum solo. This is an astounding achievement . The best New Media, or creative media, provides the user with a legitimately creative experience, stripped of the aspects that make the creative experience that is being simplified and simulated, seem so inaccessible. While the Rock Band 2 drums do not actually represent all the creative power of a real drum set, they take a giant step in the right direction and the rewards are great.
There are downsides to the drum set as well. Many Rock 'n' Roll drum parts are virtually identical, and the classic rock beat can get old. There isn't quite enough diversity between the songs, and I've found myself itching for something that has more Rock 'n' Roll bravado to it. That's where the guitars come in.
The Guitar 8.5/10:
The guitars in Rock Band 2 are very good. The new controller is a definite improvement over the Guitar Hero controllers of old. The inlaid buttons are pleasant and more mature (though some beginners complain about it being harder), the tone switch (which allows you to change the guitar tone) is a great feature, and the fake wooden panelling is just generally less of an eye sore than black plastic. The only problem Andy X and I have found with the guitars in RB2 is that they are way too easy during a rather long beginning section for anyone that has that has spent a significant amount of time honing their chops on the Guitar Hero franchise, as is the case with Andy X and I. We suspected that this was a permanent feature of Rock Band 2, but have been delighted to realize that the guitar parts do get harder, becoming maddeningly difficult metal guitar exercises later on. Still, since the franchise is not so focused toward guitar excellence, the role of the guitar suffers.
Vocals 6.3/10:
Meh. It's fun to sing along. That's the best I can say. The worst I can say is that it isn't as much fun to get graded on it. The connection between what you are doing, and what the game is judging you on is pretty weak for the vocals. You can sing songs relatively horribly and not face any game consequences. Also, if you don't know the song already, it isn't really that much fun. This is not the case with the guitars or the drums, as the notation is very easily read and represents your interaction with the game and the song exactly. The notation for the vocals is indicative rather than absolute, and thus if you are singing and don't know the song, you can easily get lost as you try to swoop your vocals around to get the arrow to match the line above the text, often staying consistently a syllable behind in the lyrics. This does not produce a rewarding result, and you will quickly want to sub-in on the drums or guitars. On the plus side, it makes everyone sound like Damo Suzuki.
Song Selection 9.0/10
Super sweet! Many more songs, and many more recognizable and good songs than Guitar Hero 3 (the last of these rhythm games that I've played.)
