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I love the “Guitar Hero” series, but at some point the folks at Activision are going to have to make some serious upgrades to compete with the “Rock Band” franchise. As far as party games are concerned, there is nothing more invigorating and equally hilarious than getting some friends together and jamming out.
Not much has changed from the first “Rock Band” game to the sequel, but the improvements made are noticeable and duly welcome. Most important is that the learning curve has been dramatically scaled down. More tutorials and even a “no-fail” feature allow you to thrash without fear of being easily embarrassed instead of sounding like a 3-year-old banging on the drums.
A much deeper track list helps give “Rock Band 2” increased replay value, though you need to enjoy all sorts of music to get the most out of it. Some of the tracks are certainly not “rockers” by any stretch, so before you get all riled up over 80-plus songs, prepare yourself for some duds.
Also, the singing can be a little tricky this time around, since most of the bands will sound familiar. But the tracks being used are more obscure, so instantly recalling the lyrics can be challenging.
The best feature by far is being able to rock out online with others. Now you don’t have to be ashamed when doing your Eddie Vedder or Jack Black impersonation.
Game: “Crysis Warhead”
System: PC
Rating: M, for Mature
There’s little debate that “Crysis” was one of the top shooters for PCs last year. It was. Don’t fight it and let’s move on. Fast on its heels is Warhead, a standalone expansion that packs all of the punch of the original but makes some nice upgrades in the process to keep the overall experience feeling fresh.
This time around you play as Psycho Sykes, one of the minor characters from the original “Crysis.” Previous knowledge of the first game helps, but quickly you won’t be worrying so much about character development as you will be keeping your British tail alive.
Warhead’s game-play mirrors the original game, with the upgrades coming from aspects like better vehicle driving, more advanced AI (from your friends as well as your enemies) and an overall sense of fear to survive one battle to the next. Tactics are certainly important but this game was built for a guns-a-blazin’ attitude, and you are sufficiently rewarded for such insane behavior.
Game: “Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway”
System: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Rating: M, for Mature
Just when you think you can never enjoy another WWII shooter, “Hell’s Highway” comes along and makes traversing the same European locations enjoyable again.
The story is not that great, but then again, by now you’ve heard it a million times: a hard-scrabbled mish-mash of grunts band together to rid some locations of those evil Nazis.
I’ve said before that the Pacific theater or some other battleground needs to be explored to keep this sub-genre interesting, but “Hell’s Highway” is surprisingly satisfying.
