It’s hard to believe that it’s been less than a year since Rock Band first came out and invaded our homes. Since that time it has seemed to gain notoriety among gamers and non-gamers alike as being one of the greatest party games of all time. No one imagined that any game would be able to challenge Guitar Hero’s grasp on the market, let alone a game that carried a price-tag three times as large, but somehow the first Rock Band managed to evolve the industry almost single-handedly. Rock Band 2 may not revolutionize the genre the way the first one did, but that doesn’t mean Harmonix didn’t use the time between the two games to make Rock Band look like nothing more than a shadow when compared to Rock Band 2.

Within moments of starting up Rock Band 2 you will notice a number of changes. Along with a few changes to the already clean interface, Harmonix has also added several new gameplay modes for everyone to enjoy: Battle of the Bands, solo and band specific challenges, a few changes to the already popular Band World Tour, a Drum Trainer, and a Freestyle Mode.

Battle of the Bands allows players to take their band, whether it is an online or offline band, to compete against other bands as they vie for the high-score of a specific set-list. Trying tomake the cut each week is very stressful, but that much more fulfilling at the same time. My only complaint with the Battle of the Bands is that to compete in any competitions you have to be connected to Xbox Live and the Rock Central server, which takes way too long to connect for some reason.