Rhythm games have become something of a phenomenon, and with popularity comes choice. Even with more and more of the genre coming out, Rock Band 2 has been able to stand out from the rest. With a great style, an excellent song list appealing to all tastes, and a steady stream of downloadable content this game is an amazing value.

The best feature of Rock Band 2 is the fantastic song selection, quantity, and quality. With 84 master tracks along with the ability to transfer all the songs from the original Rock Band for $5, play all the downloadable content you have and the promise of 20 free downloadable songs to those who buy the game new, there is no shortage of songs to rock out to. The track list is amazing with songs spanning from Metallica to Beck to The Beastie Boys. Overall, the song list is much better this time around bringing not just great songs but a more fun experience. The selections really tell you how much the people at Harmonix love music.

Rock Band 2 does its best to fix the problems of the original Rock Band. Now after creating a character, he or she can be used for any instrument. Unfortunately, the character creator hasn’t been greatly updated with only a few new faces and hairstyles, but it’s as fun as ever to create your friends, family, or Oprah, you know you want to see her drumming Painkiller or screeching the lyrics to Visions. World tour mode has become much less frustrating with the ability to drop members in and out, on-line or off, becoming much easier.

The game hasn’t received any major upgrades, but the small new features it gets are fantastic. One of the biggest new features is the drum trainer. With this addition, learning basic to advanced beats and fills becomes much easier to master. The trainer will show you a beat and you choose the speed you want to play it in, easing you into the drumming experience. Another great new extra is the no-fail mode, in this mode you are able to get to the end of any of even the most difficult songs no matter your level of play. However, playing in this mode does not allow achievements to be unlocked and disables saving your progress. Along with these features 15 new venues are now available. Although this does not change the gameplay in any way it is still good to see your character in new venues rather in the same old ones recycled again and again. Single player mode has been changed from the list of yesteryear. Now with any number of players you will go from city to city completing challenges, and with new challenges added frequently through Xbox Live you will be coming back daily to attempt for the leaderboards.

Although they won’t be getting any attention, the graphics and animations are great. Harmonix has kept its style consistent from Rock Band 1 to 2 with minimal adjustments, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The characters have also been meticulously animated for each instrument giving a great realistic feel to your not so real alter-ego. Along with the fantastic animation, the camera is edited to match the beat giving a music video feel to the on stage action. It looks great behind the skittle wall so if you get a chance take a peek.  

Rock Band 2 is not a completely new innovative direction for the franchise, but it fixes prior mistakes and feels better than ever. If you already own Rock Band this should be an astoundingly easy decision, buy it! For those torn between Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour, I would suggest Rock Band 2. With tons of songs, new ones added weekly, and a rock solid presentation, Rock Band 2 should be on top everyones wish list.