Video-game reviews | Rock on with new tunes or battle zombies

Expand your music library with "Rock Band 2" or slug it out with boxers in "FaceBreaker" and zombies in " Siren: Blood Curse."

"Rock Band 2"

When "Rock Band" arrived on the scene late last year, it was a pretty big deal. It took the idea of a game played with an instrument-shaped controller and expanded it into a four-piece ensemble with a microphone, a special drum kit and guitar controllers.

"Rock Band 2" isn't as big a deal on its own, but it offers an enormous slate of new songs and a few improvements to the hardware. More than 80 new tracks — all master recordings — are on the new disc, with 20 more songs set for a free release soon.

Even better, all but three songs from "Rock Band" can be transferred for play in the sequel. It costs 400 Microsoft Points ($5) to do so, but that's a bargain compared with the way Activision released "Guitar Hero's" songs for use in "Guitar Hero II" — a few at a time for a buck or two apiece. Add to this the dozens and dozens of pay-per-song releases on Xbox Live, and we're talking a serious amount of music, along with some new play modes and tweaks to the old ones.

The Xbox 360 version is the only one available now; a PlayStation 3 version should be out in a few weeks, around the same time as the new "Guitar Hero: World Tour," which will introduce full-band options and other improvements to that series. PS2 and Wii versions are slated for next month.

Updated versions of the instrument hardware are also available for purchase now.

System: Microsoft Xbox 360

Price: $59.99

Age rating: Teen

"FaceBreaker"

FaceBreaker, a boxing game with an exaggerated look, isn't complicated. The arcade-style controls provide a high punch, low punch, throw, "breaker" moves and various defense options. It plays smoothly, looks good and is decent fun.

Players can choose to take the boxers through a career mode (which unlocks more fighters as progress is made), instant-action matches, online bouts and a multiplayer tournament mode. Players also can create their own boxers and upload photos of themselves for the faces.

System: Sony PlayStation 3, also for Microsoft Xbox 360

Price: $49.99

Age rating: Teen

"Siren: Blood Curse"

Survival-horror games depend greatly on a building sense of dread, just as good horror movies do. But how effective would a horror film be if it stopped for a minute, then started up again every 15 minutes or so?

That's the problem with "Siren: Blood Curse," a gritty, gory and profanity-riddled horror game whose length is broken up into relatively short episodes that must be downloaded and installed individually (which can take hours).

System: Sony PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network download)

Price: $39.99 for all episodes or $14.99 per four-episode chapter

Age rating: Mature