Score
Gameplay:	10
Graphics:	8
Sound:	9
FunFactor:	10
PlasmaFactor:	10
Overall:	9.4

Guitar Hero 2 Review
August 17, 2007 by Phil Carpenter

The crowd is reserved, clapping as you play the first notes of the song. The energy and volume of the crowd continue to increase as you play, exploding as you hit the first solo perfectly. Your guitar is screaming as you play the final chords; the crowd is still erupting. You nailed the song, and celebrate in true rock star fashion; you take off your guitar and smash it to pieces on the stage.

For those about to Rock...

 

Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 is the sequel to the popular Guitar Hero, originally only on the Playstation 2, which was released April 17, 2006. Harmonix, Activision, and Red Octane have updated the game to include 10 exclusive songs, 50 achievements available to unlock, and support for online rankings leader boards. Also available on the Xbox Live Marketplace are three track packs, consisting of songs from the original guitar hero. The set list has also been reorganized for the 360 to provide a better progression as you play, as far as the learning curve goes. Bundled with the game is a White Gibson X-plorer guitar controller. You can also play with a normal controller, but it takes away from the experience of rocking out.

There are eight characters and a few guitars available to choose from at the beginning. While playing through career mode, you earn money from successful gigs, which is used to purchase new guitars, guitar finishes, characters, songs, and outfits to play with.

The mechanics of Guitar Hero that made it so successful remain unchanged (5 fret buttons, a strum bar, and a whammy bar on the guitar controller). You have to hit the strum bar with the correct fret button held down while the notes scroll down the screen towards you. There can be single notes, 2 note chords, and in the higher difficulties, 3 note chords. There are also held notes that extend for more than a single beat (you must continue to hold the right fret down to get the full points for the note). The whammy bar is used on these notes to alter their sounds as well as increases their point value. As you play the notes successfully, the gauge on the left side of the screen will count them and for each ten notes played, you’re awarded a multiplier to boost your score (up to a 4x bonus). If you miss a note, however, you lose your bonus and will have to build it back up again. On the right side of the screen is a gauge showing your overall status throughout the song, with a green, red and yellow meter. Playing flawlessly keeps you in the green, missing notes drops this down into the yellow and red. If you miss too many notes, you will fail the song and get booed off the stage. Also with this gauge is your star power gauge. As you play the songs, there will be sections where the notes are stars instead of circles. Playing these notes appropriately increases your star power, which when activated by tilting the guitar upwards, doubles your current multiplier and greatly increasing your score.

The learning curve of Guitar Hero is pretty steep. Easy is, well, easy, but the challenge jumps significantly with each difficulty level. If you haven’t played Guitar Hero before, I would recommend that you start on easy and move your way up to get used to the controls and timing. While not as hard as playing a real guitar, Guitar Hero still provides a realistic feeling of being a rock star (with out being rich and having millions of fans of course).

You can also jam with a buddy, as there is a Co-op mode available. One person will play the lead guitar section of the song, while the other will play either the rhythm or bass component. Sadly lacking is an online Co-op mode, which would have been a tremendous feature. Overall though, the game is incredibly addictive and an absolute blast.

 

The stage is set!

 

The graphics in this version of Guitar Hero II are respectable, retooled from the PS2’s version, and look very good. The character animations are smooth. The set designs for the various venues are awesome, with each location having a unique look and feel to it. The stage effects and lighting are all well done. The menus, reminiscent of rock/punk concert posters, are all colorful and fantastic. It is well evident that the developers put a lot of effort into ensuring that the rock and roll flavor permeates every aspect of Guitar Hero II.

 

With the echoes of the amplifiers ringing in my head...

 

Being a music based game, the audio has to be excellent, right? Guitar Hero II definitely brings impressive sound quality to the table. The song list is incredible, with 74 songs total available to play. The diversity of songs is quite solid, ranging from classic rock, to rockabilly, to heavy metal, to just about everything in between. Most of the songs are covers, signified by the phrase "as made famous by" between the artist and song title. Songs by the original artists state, "as performed by". Guitar Hero II’s track list is still mainly covers, but there are quite a bit more original songs than there were in Guitar Hero. The covers, for the most part are performed quite respectably, generally sounding quite close to the original artist. Some songs, however, are sung poorly (namely Rage against the Machines’ "Killing in the Name", which sounds like a bad karaoke version). The instrumentals themselves are top notch; even the "bad notes" that play when you mess up sound good. Overall the audio is outstanding.

 

Crank it to 11!

 

Guitar Hero II is an absolute blast to play. Once you get past the learning curve and gotten used to the timing and controls, the game is pure rock and roll fun. All of the songs are fun to play, but they can be extremely tough to beat when you get to the harder difficulties. Almost anyone will have a good time rocking with this game. Personally, I had tried it a few times in stores, and wasn’t really into it. But when I got a hold of it and really started playing, it became highly addictive.

 

An awesome Gig!

 

Guitar Hero II brings together pure rock and roll styling, an incredibly fun and addictive play mechanic, and a fantastic play list in a beautiful, highly polished package. Everything is done well throughout the entire game, down to every little detail. This is as close as you can get to playing a real guitar (without the years of practice and dedication needed to really play). Everyone wants to be a rock star, and this is the next best thing.

 

 

A fantastic performance!

 

Guitar Hero II is absolutely awesome. If you have played Guitar Hero, than you should pick this up as soon as possible. If you haven’t played, you should definitely give it a try. It is a truly unique, captivating game. It is a bit pricey however (around $90.00 for the game and guitar bundle), but it is more than worth the price. Everyone will have a great time rocking out with this game. Rock on, Gamers! Rock on!