Rock Band 2

Overview

Rock Band 2 is a 2008 rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to Rock Band (2007) and the second game in the Rock Band series. Up to four players perform popular songs with controllers modelled on musical instruments: lead guitar, bass guitar and drums, plus singing through a USB microphone. Players are scored on how well they match the scrolling notes, or on how closely they match the pitch of the original singer.

The core play is much the same as the first game. Notes scroll toward the player on screen in time with the music. Guitarists hold coloured fret buttons and strum, drummers hit the matching drum pad or step on the kick pedal, and singers follow a pitch display along the top of the screen. All players share one band score, while each player has their own Overdrive meter and score multiplier. Each player picks a difficulty from Easy to Expert, and a player who fails out can be saved by another player's Overdrive, up to twice per song.

Rock Band 2 comes with redesigned instruments and still works with the original ones. The new guitar has a sunburst finish, a more reliable strum bar and quieter fret buttons. The new drum kit has velocity sensitive pads, a metal reinforced kick pedal and plugs for separately sold cymbals. The microphone is the same as before. New modes include a Drum Trainer, Battle of the Bands, and No Fail and Breakneck Speed modifiers.

Unlike the first game, which split solo and band play into two tours, Rock Band 2 has a single Tour mode for any mix of one to four local or online players. The band picks a name and hometown, plays gigs in small venues, and unlocks vans, buses and jets that open up more cities and continents. Gigs earn fans, stars and in-game cash, and bands can hire staff such as managers and roadies. There are also Tour Challenges and online Battle of the Bands tournaments.

Rock Band 2 was announced by Electronic Arts on June 30, 2008 and shown at E3 that summer. Under a marketing agreement with Microsoft, it came out first and only on Xbox 360 on September 14, 2008. The PlayStation 3 version and the software and hardware bundles followed on October 19, 2008, and the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions on December 18, 2008. Harmonix pulled a planned Jukebox Mode late in development.

The disc has 84 songs, all master recordings, including 'Ace of Spades', 'Everlong', 'Let There Be Rock' and 'Shackler's Revenge' from the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. Twenty free songs were released soon after launch, and over 1,400 more were later sold as downloads for the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 versions. 55 of the 58 songs on the first Rock Band disc can be exported to Rock Band 2.

Reviews were very positive, and critics' scores average 92 out of 100. The Xbox 360 version was the third best-selling game in North America in September 2008 with 363,000 copies. Across all platforms Rock Band 2 sold 1.7 million copies in North America in 2008. It won the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences award for Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack.

Official trailer

Rock Band 2: First Trailer, Electronic Arts. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Rhythm game

Developer

Harmonix

Publisher

MTV Games (distributed by Electronic Arts)

Series

Rock Band

Designers

Rob Kay, Dan Teasdale, Sylvain Dubrofsky, Casey Malone

Producers

Michael Verrette

Directors

Josh Randall

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

4

Online multiplayer

4

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Achievements

Achievements50 (1,000G)

Total

50

Gamerscore

1000

100% time

30 to 80 hours

Difficulty

6 out of 10

Online trophies

3

Online servers running

No

Online note

XboxAchievements lists 3 online achievements, such as Victory! and Comeback Kid (TrueAchievements tags 6). Epic switched off online services for Rock Band 1 to 3 on 24 January 2023.

Needs

Guitar controller, Drum kit, Microphone

Gamerscore, base game

1000

Grind

• Expert on every song, on every instrument, for the full 1000

• Solid Gold, Baby! Gold Starred a song 25G 41.08% of players
• The Bachman-Turner Award Maintained deployed Overdrive for 90 seconds 25G 20.12% of players
• Flawless Fretwork Scored 100% notes hit as a guitarist on Expert 25G 25.58% of players
• Flawless Guitar Solo 100% on a guitar solo on Expert, using only the solo buttons 20G 12.78% of players
• Flawless Drumming Scored 100% notes hit as a drummer on Expert 25G 15.71% of players
• Flawless Singing Scored a 100% rating as a vocalist on Expert 25G 20.75% of players
• Flawless Groove Scored 100% notes hit as bassist, up-strums only, on Expert 25G 23.61% of players
• Comeback Kid Defeated the last player that defeated you over Xbox LIVE in either Score Duel or Tug of War. 15G Needs online 17.57% of players
• Victory! Defeated a player in either Score Duel or Tug of War. 15G Needs online 32.78% of players
• Band Savior Was a savior three times during a single song 20G 13.08% of players
• Overdrive Overdose Achieved an 8x Band Multiplier 25G 35.1% of players
• Hello Cleveland! Deployed Vocal Overdrive 4 times in a single song 20G 45.36% of players
• Million Point Club Earned more than 1,000,000 points in a single song. 25G 18.89% of players
• You're Hired! Hired a staff member 10G 76.57% of players
• Needs more Umlauts! Made a band logo 10G 58.69% of players
• The San Dimas 4th Annual Award Competed in a Battle of the Bands event 15G 36.75% of players
• You Killed the Radio Star Made a music video in World Tour 15G 73.47% of players
• Clothes to the Edge Bought over $100,000 worth of items from the Rock Shop 20G 11.05% of players
• Along for the Ride Beat an instrument-specific challenge while playing another instrument 10G 22.15% of players
• Challenge Novice Completed either 25 challenges on Medium, 10 challenges on Hard, or 5 challenges on Expert 10G 22.63% of players
• Challenge Master Completed 25 Challenges on Hard Difficulty or 10 Challenges on Expert Difficulty 15G 16.06% of players
• Challenge Savant Complete 25 Challenges on Expert Difficulty 25G 10.07% of players
• The Final Countdown Unlocked an Impossible Challenge 15G 23.87% of players
• Groove Assassin Beat the Impossible Bass Challenge 20G 13.64% of players
• Lord of the Strings Beat the Impossible Guitar Challenge 25G 16.12% of players
• Stage Igniters Beat the Impossible Band Challenge 25G 10.04% of players
• AN-I-MAL!!! Beat the Impossible Drum Challenge 25G 11.44% of players
• Virtuoso Beat the Impossible Vocal Challenge 25G 9.4% of players
• Buy a Real Instrument Already! Beat an "Impossible" Challenge with all players on Expert Difficulty 35G 13.98% of players
• West Coast Performer Played a set on the West Coast of North America 10G 70.38% of players
• Heartland Performer Played a set in Middle America 10G 66.28% of players
• East Coast Performer Played a set on the East Coast of North America 10G 79.38% of players
• God Save the Band Played a set in the United Kingdom 10G 61.04% of players
• Western Europe Performer Played a set in Western Europe. 10G 64.9% of players
• Eastern European Performer Played a set in Eastern Europe 10G 55.36% of players
• Worldwide Sensation Gained access to every venue in the world 25G 35.63% of players
• Road Dog Played in every venue in the world 30G 13.76% of players
• One Million Fans Reached 1 million fans in World Tour 30G 40.31% of players
• Open Road Won a Bus in World Tour 20G 67.58% of players
• Got Wheels Won a Van in World Tour 20G 82.8% of players
• Jet Setter Won a Jet in World Tour 20G 51.87% of players
• Beat It! Completed all beats at 60 BPM or higher or half of the beats at 140 BPM or higher 10G 9.32% of players
• The Beat Goes On Completed all beats at 100 BPM or higher or half of the beats at 180 BPM or higher 20G 6.58% of players
• Fill Me In Completed all fills at 60 BPM or higher or half of the fills at 140 BPM or higher 10G 11.93% of players
• Fill Legend Completed all fills at 100 BPM or higher or half of the fills at 180 BPM or higher 20G 9.57% of players
• Rock Immortal Inductee Joined the Rolling Stone Rock Immortals list 20G 30.23% of players
• Vinyl Artist Finished the Endless Setlist 2 in World Tour on Medium 20G 7.56% of players
• Gold Artist Finished the Endless Setlist 2 in World Tour on Hard 30G 5.64% of players
• Platinum Artist Finished the Endless Setlist 2 in World Tour on Expert 50G 4.88% of players
• The Bladder of Steel Award Completed the Endless Setlist 2 without pausing or failing. 25G 3.99% of players

DLC

Rock Band 2 played songs sold as downloads for years, and over 1,400 were out by the time the series moved on. New purchases stopped when the Xbox 360 Store closed on 29 July 2024, but songs bought earlier can be downloaded again.

Items

Name	Adds	Obtainable today	Price	Date
Free launch songs	Twenty free songs released soon after the game came out	no
Rock Band 1 disc export	Lets 55 of the 58 songs on the first Rock Band disc be used in Rock Band 2	no	400 Microsoft Points (US$4.99)
Rock Band Network songs	Songs made by artists and labels, sold through a separate store. Xbox 360 support ended on 2011-02-15	no		2010-03-04
Downloadable songs and song packs	Single songs, packs and full albums that work in Rock Band 2 and the other Rock Band games released before Rock Band 3	no

Playable today

Online

Epic Games ended online services for Rock Band 2 on January 24, 2023. Local play still works, and so do songs already on the console.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Rock Band 2 online services (multiplayer, Battle of the Bands, music store)	ended	2023-01-24

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale	Reviews
Metacritic	Xbox 360	92	100	69
GameRankings	Xbox 360	92.25	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	9	10
Nintendo Power	9	10
Official Xbox Magazine	9	10
X-Play	5	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Josh Randall
Producer	Michael Verrette
Lead designer	Dan Teasdale
Designer	Rob Kay
Designer	Sylvain Dubrofsky
Designer	Casey Malone
Artist	Ryan Lesser
Artist	Peter A. MacDonald
Programmer	Avida Michaud
Programmer	Dan Schmidt
Audio director	Eric Brosius

Notes for collectors

• Rock Band 2 was an Xbox 360 exclusive for its first month. The PlayStation 3 version arrived on October 19, 2008.
• Songs and instruments from the first Rock Band work in Rock Band 2, and the new instruments work in the first game.
• A Jukebox Mode was planned but cut late in development. The No Fail and other modifiers in the Extras menu can recreate it.
• Three songs on the first Rock Band disc cannot be exported: 'Enter Sandman', 'Run to the Hills' and 'Paranoid'.
• Nine songs by bands fronted by Harmonix staff cannot be exported to Rock Band 3, but were released as free downloads on January 4, 2011.
• Two achievements, Comeback Kid and Victory!, need a win over another player in Score Duel or Tug of War. With online services ended in 2023, they are hard to earn now.

Credits

Publisher

MTV Games (distributed by Electronic Arts)

Developer

Harmonix

Director

Josh Randall

Released

2008-09-14

Age rating

T (Teen)

Region

US

Time to beat

about 9.5 hours