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A parent/20+ year drummer's persective

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 161 / 168
Date: December 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Seems I'm the first to review this on Amazon for the PS2 version. I read all the reviews for PS3, and there are minimal differences (character customization and online playing) that are absent for the PS2 version. I can't really say those are a big deal to me, and I was really skeptical about this product. I haven't played Guitar Hero, so I can't make a comparison of the two.

What I can say is this game is a BLAST to play. I read some reviews where people who are drummers (or are the girlfriends of drummers) are complaining about the quality of the drumset. Considering a high quality digital drumkit (Roland for example) is going to run you from $3,000 to $5,000, what do you expect for $170 (it ALSO includes a WIRELESS guitar controller plus the video game)? I am actually impressed with the kit, it seems durable so far (and I've laid in to the thing when getting in to a song), and I'm very surprised by the action of the drum pedal. It's not a TAMA or DW pro-pedal, but it's got great action "considering".

I would recommend buying a real pair of drumsticks (at a comfortable size for your playing). Not only are the included sticks smaller (kid sized), but they're very roughly finished and you're guaranteed to get nice and blistered real quick-like playing with the low grade sticks included. Personal recommendation for brand would be Vick Firth (or Promark) for sticks (just my opinion, there are others out there). Another "comfort" item (if you choose to put money in to this game) is a drum throne. You'll be in pain much less, and can play for longer.

As for the guitar, it feels great. I've always wanted to learn or play real guitar, and this doesn't replace the 6 string, but it does teach great coordination for your fretting (left) and strumming (right) hands. Playing along to the game on guitar is fun for me, because it's a different role than "beat keeper", and you feel like you're really jamming the tune.

Another advantage of the game... if you learn to play the drumkit on this ... the transition to a real kit will be minimal (much more comfortable for sure). Something to be cognizant of (for the drumkit) is the playing surfaces. They are hard, and playing for extended periods on this (especially for us 30+ year olds) can lead to some forearm/wrist pain. The reason being is when you strike a hard rubber pad with a stick, there's no "give" to the surface you're hitting. The game tutorial recommends holding the sticks loosely, and it's important you do this not only to have the speed to play the game, but also to keep the impact of your striking a hard surface from being sent back up the stick right in to your wrist/arms.

The other thing I like about this game is the collaborative playing. My 15 year old daughter (who mainly likes hip/hop) and I have a ball playing this. We hooked it up and were jamming for 3 hours. The only reason we stopped was from fatigue. We've always played video games, but most are "versus", and it's really cool to be jamming a tune with your kid. We haven't explored the vocal aspect of the game yet, but we'll get there. She loves the game and has been sitting with the controller going over the songs just to learn them (something cute about seeing your daughter jamming "Mississippi Queen" with you). If we have company, I can still see this being tons of fun.

For parents on the fence about buying their child a drumset... I see this as a perfect testing ground and reasonably priced. Most "kid sets" are absolute garbage, and if your daughter/son doesn't pursue it further, then you're stuck with a junk drumset you've paid $200-400 for, and you'll get half that amount (if it's in good shape) if you sell it. For what you get in this game... it's a great starter for drums, it'll teach them how coordinate all the limbs, and if they outgrow it and want a real kit, well ... you've still got a fun video game for the family to play. The fact you can play this with headphones is a big bonus, since real drum sets don't have volume buttons!

Despite a stripped-down feel, Rock Band is still spectacular

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 41 / 46
Date: December 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

We all knew that we'd be getting a stripped-down version of Rock Band for the PS2, but let it be said that despite it's last-gen flaws and missing options, Rock Band still manages to be a spectacular rhythm game. As one could guess, Rock Band is best enjoyed as a party game with others, as the instruments included in the Special Edition work wonderfully to their purpose. The 58 included songs here, including cuts from Weezer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Jet, and the Ramones among others; are all implemented well, and the in-game screen is flawless as you perform these tunes. While nearly everything about the PS2 version of Rock Band is spot-on, there are moments where you will notice just how stripped-down this conversion is. Most notably is the fact that you will not be able to download new content, and an incredibly stripped-down Band World Tour mode is what really hurts the PS2 version of Rock Band, but this was expected to begin with, which doesn't make these lackings a surprise. What is surprising is how spot-on spectacular the PS2 version of Rock Band ends up being, as there are still a variety of options to explore and modes to play, whether it be alone or as a party game as intended. All in all, if Guitar Hero got you into rhythm gaming and a PS2 is your only option, Rock Band is an essential pickup.

Worth the wait....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 22
Date: December 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

We originally ordered this from Amazon around Nov 2007, but Amazon cancelled the order canceled shortly afterwards because of product shortages. And yet local retailers continued to get them in very short supply. So we took to checking local retailers each morning to see if they had a new shipment for most of December until we finally got lucky.

We've had a blast with it thank goodness, since after waiting this long, my kids' expectations were VERY high. Three instruments come in the box: guitar, drums and microphone. The game comes with a USB splitter that allows you to connect up to 4 instruments at once into the USB port on the PS2. We *WERE* able to use the guitar we have for Guitar Hero (a Red Octane wireless version for PS2) with this game, giving us a band of lead guitar, bass, drums and microphone. I like that we can keep switching around and try the different instruments. It gives you a lot of different perspectives on the same song!

Guitar:
The guitar is excellent. We've been using a Red Octane PS2 wireless Guitar with the Guitar Hero 1-3 games, and while good, aren't as good as the one that came with Rock Band (RB). The new RB one has an extra set of buttons farther up the neck for solos and there are NOT ridges (fret bars) between the keys on this one as there were on the GH guitar. This makes it easier to slide fingers along the buttons with this guitar than it was with the GH guitar, making it easier for the fast sections.

The songs are orchestrated a little more easily, I normally play GH at a "hard" level and get 3-5 stars there... on Rock Band I was able to sight read and get most songs at 5 stars on my first try, so I think they are easier in general.

Drums:
My kids LOVE the drums, and they take some coordination to play. Since I'm not a drummer, it's hard to add a lot here. The height is very quick and easy to adjust which is nice when there are dramatic differences int eh height of the players. The sticks that come with the set are fairly low end wooden ones... we use better ones we already had from a music store with nylon tips that are more solid and feel better. The heads on the drums are very solid feeling and have some give. They don't bounce like real drum heads, but are close enough for us non drummers to get a feel for it. The overall set is a little rickety -- the vertical bars that hold up the heads look like they are just plastic pipe and they will rock back and forth a little. That doesn't really affect the play, but it doesn't have a solid feel unfortunately.

Microphone:
A mic comes in the box and it seems to also be nice and solid. We also have the mics from the SingStar series, and these are shorter than those. We haven't checked to see if they are interchangable yet. The ones with Rock Band have longer cords which is nice -- you can spread out a little more. Some songs also allow you to use the mic like a tambourine and the singer's part (between phrases) sometimes shows a rhythm the singer uses to tap out a tambourine part.

Bass:
A bass does *NOT* come with this game. However, like the GH series, you can select whether the guitar you hook up plays a guitar part or a bass part. So if you hook up the guitar that comes with Rock Band and then another guitar that you already have, you can have one person take the guitar part and the other take the bass. This is about the same in RB as in GH, and as noted the tracks in RB are easier in my opinion.

Overall, an excellent effort and I look forward to being able to get the inevitable add on song packs. Just like GH came out with an "Encore: the 80's" product, I would LOVE to see add on disks for RB. If anyone from the RB team is listening, I'd love to see "genre disks" in particular, like Country hits, Hip Hop hits, best of an era, etc.

there's a reason why stores are always sold out. (a very in-depth review)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: January 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Despite the fact that the game HAS been stripped of two of its defining features Rock Band is still a great party game that everyone will be fighting over to have a turn at. Since there are many aspects of this game, I'll break it down into sections.

-GAMEPLAY-
In Rock Band, you have to hit the brightly colored notes (5 different notes for the guitar as well as the drums) as they scroll on the screen. For the microphone, you sing the words as they scroll by and you have to sing them in the correct pitch. Once you figure out how to navigate the menus using your instrument of choice, it won't be too hard to figure out how to actually play. How well you do and how fast you master it, however, is a different story. There are 4 difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert) along with tutorials and a practice section if you need help, where you can play songs at a slower rate or practice one particular part (the chorus, verse, etc.) How the instruments work on the difficulty levels will be covered later in this review. Two main things have been removed- character customization and they have stripped the Band World Tour. You can no longer choose what songs you want to play or where you will be playing at. It's all chosen for you, but for me this is only a minor gripe. Up to 4 can play at a time (microphone, one guitar and one bass, and a drummer).

-GRAPHICS-
For a PS2 game, the graphics are spectacular. Rock Band has, by far, the best graphics I've seen so far in a game for the PS2. In order that the game not be laggy, the creators/developers of the game have made everything sort of blurry and grainy, but focused in some areas to make them stand out (the characters' faces, their clothes, etc.). I barely even noticed this. As the concert is going on, there are many different camera angles and effects and what not, and it all ties in great. For example: an extreme close-up of the guitar during guitar solos, showing an overview of the fans jumping up and down during more quiet parts of a song, etc. What's going on in the background WILL NOT interfere with you being able to see the notes scroll by.

-AUDIO-
Almost all of the 56 songs are from the original bands, and the songs that are by a cover band are done very well. I could barely tell the difference on some of them! The songlist is well-chosen, and any rock fan should find something they like (there are songs from the 60s[?] to now, and in every genre, be it classic, punk, pop rock, metal, etc.)

THE INSTRUMENTS THEMSELVES:

-GUITAR-
The guitar is a Fender Stratocaster, and a very good imitation at that. Smooth, nicely detailed, display-worthy. It truly does look like a mini Fender, if you ignore the screws and the START and SELECT buttons. You have to press the corresponding fret (there are 5 different-colored frets) and then strum the strum bar in order to play a note. The buttons are cleverly hidden into the neck so as to look more like the real one; you can still see the colors from your view, however. There are two sets of buttons on the neck, one nearer to the body and the other near the end (sorry I don't know the real terms). Both sets function exactly the same; the ones nearer to the body can be used for guitar solos (during guitar solos, you can press these frets and not have to strum). It comes with a shoulder strap which can be fitted appropriately for a lefty or a righty. On easy, you only use 3 notes. On medium you use 4 notes. On hard and expert you'll be using all 5 notes. Rock Band is compatible with a Guitar Hero controller, but any beginners will find that this one is easier to use. In some parts of some songs (big rock endings) you'll be able to go crazy and play any notes you want for extra points. In the game, the guitar controller can double for bass. There's also a tiny switch on the guitar to change the effects of the notes played (long echo, wah-wah, etc.) Not too significant, but a nice touch. The guitar is the only wireless component of the game.

NOTE: My guitar's strum bar stopped working, so I am getting a replacement. This is all free of charge; EA sent me a box with a prepaid shipping label, I send it back, and now I wait to get a brand new Stratocaster. UPDATE: It took over a month to get my guitar replacement, but they say this is because there was something wrong with the shipment. Although guitar problems are fairly common, I hope this particular experience is a rare one.

-DRUMS-
This is the most unique and interesting part of Rock Band for some people. Also note that I am a real-life drummer. There are 4 pads all differently colored, and their functions change accordingly in different parts of the song (the red will always be the snare, the yellow can be a tom-tom or a high hat, the blue can be a tom or cymbal, and the green is always a cymbal). There is also a spring-loaded plastic kick pedal that corresponds as the orange note. It is in no way laid out like a real kit, but is somewhat similar. From easy to expert you'll be using every pad and the kick pedal. So, it's quite challenging, even from the start (but not impossible). As you choose more difficult levels, the more notes there are per song. By expert level it is pretty much note-for-note. And yes, these are the true-to-life notes. I've recognized quite a few beats in these songs. The pads are made of rubber, and the kick pedal seems to be able to take quite a beating (after stomping on it for every drum fill and big rock ending). It comes with drumsticks that are made of wood, and anyone can tell they're pretty low-quality. If you're willing to spend a bit more money, just get real sticks (you can also invest in a stool for the drums). The sticks that come with the drums are rather heavy for me. In most songs there are drum fills (which you use to activate Overdrive, Rock Band's equivalent of Star Power when you activate it to get more points and to save yourself from failing), and in some songs, big rock endings, where you can go crazy and hit whatever you want for points. The pads also do make a rather loud sound, enough to wake you up if you're in the next room. The drums are adjustable for people of different heights. Space-wise, the drums take up about a little bit more than a school desk. You always place the drum pads on top of a already-existing table and put the kick pedal on the ground, without having to use the drum's "legs". The drums are wired, and can be placed up to 7 feet or so away from the TV.

-MICROPHONE-
Not much is to be said here. Any USB microphone can be used, and the game picks up your pitch quite well. As the game gets harder it will be more harsh on how accurate your pitch is. (As in, it's so accurate it can tell I can't sing at all) In the sections of the song where there's no singing, you'll either be tapping the microphone (to simulate a tambourine or cowbell) or just waiting around doing nothing. The microphone must be plugged in, but has a generous amount of wire (8ft?) so the singer can be anywhere in the room without pulling the PS2 out of its place.

-OVERVIEW-
Overall, this product gets 4 stars for gameplay, graphics, and the song choice. Only the absence of the key game features (the full Band World Tour experience, character customization, and downloable songs and albums from online).

PROS

-great gameplay, be it alone or with 4 people at the max (you have to spring for an extra guitar, though. The set comes with enough for 3 to play).

-amazing graphics for the PS2. Not Final Fantasy or Gran Turismo good, but, wow, are they nice.

-great-looking peripherals that seem to be quite durable.

CONS

-stripped down- there is no downloadable content online (as the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions have), nor is there full World Band Tour (play to gain fans, and choose what songs and venues you want to play at), or customizable characters in any way.

NOTE: You can play Rock Band on a normal TV. No HD or plasma or fancy stuff needed.

ALSO: The bundle comes with PS3 instruments, which are compatible with PS2. This simply means that if you ever get a PlayStation 3, all you have to do is buy the Rock Band disc only, and you can play using the instruments in this set.

Great party game, certainly better than Guitar Hero!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: January 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

A few weeks ago I was invited over a friend's house to play Rock Band on his Xbox 360. I absolutely fell in love with the game and just had to have it for myself. Only I didn't have a 360 and I knew it would be extremely difficult to find one for the PS2. I was about to go all crazy and buy a 360 just to play Rock Band when one day I managed to find a PS2 version just by chance. So of course I bought it and set it up as soon as I got home.

Setup isn't all that simple. Unless you want to take 5 minutes to set everything up everytime you play, I suggest leaving everything assembled (that is, if you have room to store everything). Initial setup obviously takes longer. First you must setup every instrument. The mic requires no assembly. Easy enough. For the guitar, you need to snap the end of the guitar into the other piece, then put on the strap, then unscrew the plate on the back of the guitar and insert the batteries (which are included). The drums have several different pieces. This is what takes the longest to set up. After the instruments are assembled, you hook them up to a usb hub which then hooks up to the usb port on your PS2.

In terms of the actual game, you are allowed to have 4 people playing at one time (one singer, one drummer, and 2 guitarists-bass and electric). If you only have a couple of people or if you just want to play by yourself, you have that option as well and you can choose any instrument to play. Just want to sing? That's fine. One of you wants to play guitar while the other plays the drums? That's fine too. The additional guitar is not included with this bundle but if you have a Guitar Hero guitar, that'll work.

What's great about this game is that anyone can play. I played this on New Year's Eve with my 20 year old sister, my 22 year old sister, my 13 year old male cousin, my 15 year old female cousin, and my 40 year old uncle and everyone enjoyed it. I probably wouldn't recommend this for younger kids because even the easy levels can be difficult for adults. There are 4 different levels to choose from-easy, medium, hard, and expert. Each player can choose which level they want to play on. If your singer doesn't know the words to a certain song, you can put him/her on easy while your awesome bassist can play on hard or expert.

For those who don't have Guitar Hero and/or don't know how to play the game, it's pretty simple. The singer sings the lyrics (obviously). The drums and guitars have 4 and 5 "buttons" (respectively). Each is colored. Every player has their own "chart". Different colored circles come in varying speeds down the "chart" and the player must hit the correct colored buttons as they come to the end of the "chart". When done correctly, notes are hit in tune, and music is produced. You play as a band and when one person fails, you must "save" them (or bring them back into the game) by playing really well and hitting every note.

If you have someone in your group that is a good singer and can hit the notes and/or is not all that great at playing the guitars and drums, this is your singer. If you have someone who has good rhythm and doesn't mind playing at an obnoxiously fast speed, this is your drummer. If you have two people who are quick with their fingers and can multitask, these are your guitarists. Other reviewers pointed out that this game is hard and yeah, it can be. Not everyone is going to be good at every instrument. I'm good on guitar but can't play the drums on easy without failing. This is why I think this game is better suited for teens and adults.

A few other noteworthy things to point out. First, this version is different from the 360 version. Obviously with the 360, you can play "online" with other people and you can't with the PS2 version. Also the tour options are different. With the 360 version, you can constantly work up to harder difficulties and new songs whereas the PS2 version is very straightforward-you get new songs after playing the other songs no matter what difficulty level you're on. I've played every song and from here I can only try to beat the harder levels. After I've accomplished that, there isn't much else to do.

There are different options as well. You can configure your game so that there isn't a lag with the song. If your guitarist is a lefty, you can choose Lefty Mode. You can change the volume levels for each instrument so that mom isn't yelling at the kiddos that the drums are too loud. Song-wise, there are only a few songs that the younger generations will know. I'm 20 years old and of the 58 songs, I've probably only heard of 15 or 20. And some of the songs have me questioning why the heck they were chosen for this game. But overall the songs aren't terrible.

Would I recommend this game? For sure. Keep in mind that younger kids might have a really tough time getting the hang of it. Replayability isn't as great as I'd like it to be but I'm hoping there will be new Rock Band games released in the future.

MUST HAVE!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: February 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Coming from a 20-something point of view, this game is completely off-the-hook. I played it at a party on a Saturday evening and I purchased PS2 (first time I owned any game system) the next day. It was only a week later that I bought Rockband.

Rockband is special b/c it has something for everybody. You can get a group together and still manage to have a successful "band" by testing each other's strengths and weaknesses using different instruments.

It definately makes the game much more enjoyable if you have an extra guitar. The system only comes with one. If there are two one person can play the bass (which seems like the easiest instrument) and one can play the guitar. The drums are the most challanging, but the most fun. Rockband never gets boring, even if you play the same songs repeadly b/c you can switch instruments and difficulty levels.

One of the only complaints I have is the song selection. It's exciting opening up new songs, but I wasn't familiar with a lot of the bands toward the end. I was amazed they didn't include more popular songs than the ones selected. It was anti-climatic reaching the end. Oh well, hopefully there will be another version with better songs.

Don't hesitate to buy this game. You won't be disappointed.

Look at me rockin out!......

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was disappointed for Xmas when this item was not available for PS2. It was everywhere in the stores stacked high for the xbox and PS3. So, when I finally saw one at Target, I snatched it up without a thought and I am glad that I did. I LOVE THIS GAME! My kids and I have been rockin out since.It wasn't hard to figure out because we are also Guitar Heroes-(Sheroes in our case). Now we just rotate between who is going to sing etc. That's what is so great about the game, instead of just playing the guitars, we can sing and play drums. Since there are 3 of us at home no one gets left out. Later, I plan on getting an extra guitar so that we can invite another person and really rock out. (Which is another cool feature, it allows us to play together instead of versus like most video games). And even though neither of us have any experience in playing instruments, the game makes you feel like you are a rocker. This is a great party game, but caution:You might get a little loud when you're wailing on the mic, or playing a solo on the guitar or drums.
The only thing that I wish the game did have was the ability to create a character. The description says that avatars can be made but apparently not for the PS2. That would have been really cool. However, the game is still fun,fun,fun- I hope that there will be a 2nd edition with character change included.

Fun but missing features for PS2 version

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a really fun game that the whole family can play. I have played this game at a neighbors house on the XBox 360 and noticed they have a few more features available than the PS2 version. In the PS2 version, there is no way to create and customize your own players. The PS2 version also lacks the ability to play online and to download new songs. It is a very cool game which sees a lot of action from my family.

Just as much fun as Guitar Hero

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game has been a lot of fun so far for me and my family. We picked it up for the retail price (around $160). Usually only one or two of us can play a game like Guitar Hero at one time. With Rock Band, the whole family can play. One person plays guitar, another plays bass (and yes, Guitar Hero Guitars will work with the PS2 version of rock band as we've been playing this way already) and another either plays drums or sings. It took me a little getting use to the new wireless guitar that came with Rock Band. The strum bar is very different from the Guitar Hero Guitars. It doesn't make that clicking noise when you stum it, which is a big plus, but the action you get from the stum bar is different than the Guitar Hero Guitars. The buttons are large and square on the guitar. I find this much easier for fitting my fingers on the button and they don't tend to slide off and hit the other buttons.
The drums are a lot of fun. It helps to have good rhythm to begin with when playing them, but even that's not required. My 8 y.o. was able to play them and make it all the way through songs and had a blast doing it. Even my husband who has no musical talent was able to sit down and get through a song on the drums. The only complaint with the drums is that they are a bit loud when you hit them with the drum sticks. I have seen mods for fixing this and will probably do so soon (foam pad and felt to dampen the noise of the stick hitting the drum). The drum sticks that come with the game are very cheap. Ours came with nicks of wood out of them. I'll be getting a better pair very soon.
The microphone is beefy and seems to pick up singing pretty well. I've only sang one song with it so far, but it worked great.
I've seen complaints about people having difficulty with the game picking up the instruments, but we had no problems at all. We plugged the items into the included usb hub and we were off and running. It took more time to unpack everything out of the box than it did to plug it all in and start playing.
Overall, a great game and lots of fun.

Game Not Broken, Guitar Bad, Playstation Dirty

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 14
Date: April 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

We bought this from Amazon and were very happy with the service, always have been. Unfortunately it is defective and a person has to go through hoops to get a replacement. It can't be shipped back to Amazon and replaced, you need to go through EA games. When you open the package there is a notification saying if it doesn't work contact EA games, do not contact the vendor. I did contact Amazon and they responded helpfully but time will tell if we get ours. It also went down in price in 1 week. Oh well, pray for me.

UPDATE: also I would give it 5 stars but I can't change it on Amazon's site.

EA Games took very good care of us after we found out the guitar was defective and they replaced it delivered within 5 days. The game is a blast, I was wrong about the game being broken, My playstation was dirty and after I cleaned it the game worked great. Our whole family plays it and have a lot of fun. Also Amazon was helpful also in getting me the information I needed to get the guitar replaced. HIGHLY RECOMEND THE GAME

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