Rock Band 2's problem... or why developers need to stop making content in party games unlockable

By now many Cut Scene readers may have seen this cheat code popping around the InterWebs that lets "Rock Band 2" players unlock all 80+ songs in the game immediately without playing the tour. Which is awfully convenient, but demonstrates a fundamental problem: Why should you have to unlock important content by playing a narrative mode in a game that is, in large part, all about social play with friends? I think there's no good answer to that question. It's an outdated conceit that developers need to trash.

The fundamental problem is illustrated in the subhed of the press release that MTV sent out last week to announce the game's release: "Schedule your Rock Band 2 part for Sunday, September 14."

Actually, that's a bad time to schedule your party. I would know, because I had a Rock Band 2 party last Sunday right after I got the game. And most of my guests were kind of annoyed. They wanted to play AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock." They wanted to be "Livin' on a Prayer" with Bon Jovi. They wanted to hear that new Guns N Roses song "Sheckler's Revenge." But when we popped in the game, there were a big fat 20 (or so) games out of the 80+ available. So we started playing band tour. And after three or four hours, we had unlocked only about 20 more songs. Still none of the best ones advertised on the back of the box. But in those three hours, we played Squeeze's "Cool for Cats" so many times that it became a running joke.

"Rock Band 2" is advertised as a great party game. Arguably, that's it's best use -- have your friends over and play (or meet them online). As such, it's incredibly reasonable that when you spend $60 (or more for the controllers), you can expect to have immediate access to all the songs advertised on the back of the box. But in fact, most of them have to be unlocked, very slowly, in the tour.

"Rock Band 2" isn't the only party game with this problem, though I think it's the most extreme. I had a simlar experience when some friends and I popped in Ubisoft's "Rayman Raving Rabbits" and discovered only a few of the multi-player modes were available. "Boom Blox" and "Mario Kart" have the same problem to a lesser extent, since there are at least a good variety of multi-player options available on the first boot-up, but not all of them.

I understand in a single-player game like "The Force Unleashed" (currently on my mind since I was reviewing it for much of the weekend), developers want to keep most of the best abilities locked up at to give players a feeling of accomplishment as they progress. Even in "Rock Band 2," I can understand keeping a few bonus tracks unlockable to reward those who do enjoy touring. But it's not necessary. People who are into the tour will still play it anyway. If they can't be motivated to play unless they have to do it to unlock most of the songs, then maybe the tour's just not that compelling.

My basic point: it's perfectly valid to buy "Rock Band 2" and have zero interest in plowing through the tour, playing some of the same songs multiple times to finally unlock the rest. Lots of people probably want to spend $60, have a bunch of friends over, and make their own playlists from the best of the 80+ songs on the disc. Harmonix is punishing them by insisting that they "accomplish" something first.

As social/party games become increasingly popular, we have to get rid of this concept. People should be able to play every multi-player mode and all of the related content immediately. Anything less is punishing the very casual players that the videogame industry is allegedly trying to reach.

(You can see my review of "Rock Band 2," which is generally positive save for this important point, right here.)