For average or casual players, this might well fall into the area of Too Much Information. But for hardcore players aching for every bit of data on the upcoming game, we've included a chart documenting Sluggo's progress through Expert guitar, with his current high scores, gold-star cutoffs, comparisons between our rankings and Harmonix's, and even random comments on each song. Click the image below for the full-size version, and then continue on for Sluggo's thoughts on the guitar charts in Rock Band 2.
Starting Thoughts
Sluggo: When Rock Band first came out, the general consensus among elite players was that the guitar charts were too easy... that "Expert" in Rock Band often felt like "Hard" in other games. And there was a lot of truth to that. But in expanding the on-disc roster to 84 songs this time (compared to 58 in the original Rock Band), it feels like an extra tier or two of difficulty has been tacked on to the game: RB2 songs like "Panic Attack" and "Battery" make final-tier RB songs like "Highway Star" or "Flirting with Disaster" look like beginner tunes.
People shouldn't worry that the whole game's gone metal, however: There's more shredding, to be sure, but there's also simple stuff like "Hungry Like the Wolf." The bottom line is, there's more of everything this time around, not even counting the 20 free downloadable songs to be released alongside Rock Band 2, the identities of which we'll soon find out.
From a more technical perspective, not much has changed in the guitar section of the game. The gameplay remains the same, there aren't any big UI changes, and the note windows feel about the same as before. The biggest news is the addition of "hammer-on chords," where you can jump from one chord to another without strumming. People have already been looking at this a little nervously, but in most cases, they feel pretty natural, letting you slide from one chord to another. It's a small but nifty tweak.
Most Fun to Play
"Master Exploder" (Tenacious D): The Expert guitar chart for this game sums up what's best about these games: Even when you miss notes in the fast-strumming rhythm parts, or in the multiple solos, you don't care. You just want to load it up and play it again. And again and again.
"Pinball Wizard" (The Who): Naysayers are always harping that playing Rock Band isn't the same as playing real guitar, which is obviously true. But as someone who does both, this chart is about as close as you can get to knowing what the real thing feels like without picking up an acoustic guitar.
"Round & Round" (Ratt): This song sums up everything good about '80s metal: a solid rhythm part, catchy melodies and a shredding solo. The chart here captures all of that.
"Almost Easy" (Avenged Sevenfold): Something happens when you get to the galloping parts of the verses in this song: You start to forget you're playing a game. Now, if Harmonix would only get "Bat Country"!
"Lazy Eye" (Silversun Pickups): Even though this song is giving me trouble -- it's got some short but extremely speedy strumming sections scattered here and there -- all is forgiven once the song builds up to its climactic solo.
Five Songs I Shouldn't Be Having This Much Trouble With
"Welcome to the Neighborhood" (The Libyans): This punk-flavored bonus song speeds downhill like the Ramones in a truck with no brakes, with lots of tricky chord patterns to trip you up. Getting gold stars was a challenge.
"White Wedding" (Billy Idol): Why do I have such a hard time with the intro riff? It's just a simple, quick stream of notes. What makes it extra frustrating is that the rest of the song is a cakewalk, so this ruins my 100% almost every time.
"Girl's Not Grey" (AFI): Another song with just a lot of oddball chord patterns all over the place... nothing that fast or tough, yet I get twisted up every time I play it.
"Feel the Pain" (Dinosaur Jr.): For some reason, every time the song switches tempos, I tense up and make some dumb mistake. And then, if you make it through to the end, there's a short, ripping solo to ruin your 100%.
"Any Way You Want It" (Journey): Everyone loves playing this song, which makes it extra frustrating when the solos pop up and completely wreck your run. You'll need to do exceptionally well on the solos if you want to hit the gold-star threshold.
