While Rock Band 2 is a great sequel, some may cry fowl play at the "more of the same" gameplay.
I'll start off my review with my one gripe about Rock Band 2. At it's core, nothing much has changed. You can forgive it for that since it's only the second game in the series, but like Guitar Hero III, if Rock Band 3 isn't a big step up, there are going to be a lot of mixed reviews about the game.
Now for the good stuff, Rock Band 2 is just as awesome as Rock Band 1. You'll get that same great social gameplay that is fun almost anytime.
Changes that have taken place in this version of the game is the fact that there is no single player mode anymore. I say that meaning that there is no solo tour, its nothing but band world tour which you can now play solo instead of it requiring to be multi. And now, you can even take tour mode online. So now you don't have to be constricted to local play all time time as well.
More additions include Tour Challenges and Battle of the Bands. Tour Challenges have you playing certain setlists with usually themed songs. All your DLC tracks will be able to extend and increase the number of challenges. Battle of the Bands is an online mode similar to that of Mario Kart Wii's tournament system. Like in Mario Kart, you're not battling anyone directly, you'll do a certain challenged and upload your score to the online leaderboards. These battles will be updated constantly giving you endless amount of re playability.
The game's set list is exactly what you'd expect from a Harmonix game. You have a perfect mix of classics from bands such as AC/DC to popular newer bands like Avenged Sevenfold. With the addition of 20 free songs on the way, all DLC being forward compatible, and the ability to export 55 of 58 Rock Band 1 songs, Rock Band 2 has the biggest set list of any music game ever.
The game looks great as well. The animations are still top notch and I'm willing to bet Guitar Hero World Tour will still not get their animations as smooth as Rock Band's. The graphics themselves look more of the same but they've added more effects such as lighting. Over all the presentation is just a little bit better thank Rock Band but nothing to write home about. You have to factor in that you're paying for Harmonix's note charts as well. You won't find any needlessly hard charts here like in... OTHER games.
Over all, like I said, Rock Band 2 is a great game, but it's core has not changed from the last. The only things that have changed are the modes. Right now it's easy to let it slide due to the fact that the game was probably rushed. Anyone remember Harmonix saying that Rock Band wasn't going to be a yearly game? I doubt EA was going to have that go down. While Rock Band 2 is worth anyone's money who enjoyed the first one and the Guitar Hero series, the next one is going to have to have some major improvements.