Guitar Hero 2 Review

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(More customer reviews)Guitar Hero 2 is a fine sequel to the original but there are some areas of the game that could have used a bit more polishing. Lets break it down...

In case you aren't familiar with the Guitar Hero series i'll provide a brief description of how the game plays.

First, if you don't have the first Guitar Hero then make sure you get the bundle package with the guitar. Although the game can be played with the dualshock controller you will find it MUCH more entertaining if you play with the guitar.

This game is played by strumming notes at the correct time as they come streaming down a fret board. You strum the notes by moving the "strum bar" either up or down. On the neck of the guitar are five buttons. You must hold the correct buttons and strum at the correct time in order to successfully hit the notes. You can perform hammer-ons and pull-offs on certain notes to make it a bit easier (once you get the hang of it... it takes practice). Some notes can be held. There is a visual indicator that shows which notes can be held. You can use the whammy bar on these notes for cool whammy effects. There is a rock meter that has a red, yellow and green section. If you are doing good you will stay in the green section but the more notes you miss the further down you go in the rock meter. If you continue to mess up then it's game over. Star shaped notes provide "star power" if successfully played. Star power doubles your multiplier (8X max with star power, 4X without) and also makes it much easier to bring your rock meter back into the green zone. To active star power you lift your guitar vertically in the air (or press the select button on the guitar).

The meat if this game is in the career section. This is when your band goes on tour around the states and plays in various venues. You get money by beating songs. You are ranked on how well you performed. You get anywhere from 3 stars to 5 stars depending on how well you did. The more stars you get - the more money you get. You can buy new guitars, characters, guitar finishes, songs and videos. In Guitar hero 2 there are a total of 64 songs. 40 licensed songs and 24 songs from various bands that haven't made it big yet.

Guitar Hero 2 does provide the insane gameplay very similar to the original. Some of the songs are real gems, but there are others that just aren't as memorable is the original (this is an opinion though). I believe the original Guitar Hero had a stronger song list. Also, the cover bands that did the songs in Guitar Hero 2 aren't quite as good (still very good though!). Some songs like "Mother" by Danzig just don't have that powerful heavy metal feel like the original has. It feels a bit empty. Most songs are quite good instrumentally but the singing can get a bit iffy - but this is rare. Typically the singing is quite good.

There are two big improvements in this game. First is the cooperative mode which is a two player mode that allows one player to play the lead guitar and the other player to play either the bass or the rhythm guitar (depending on the song). One nice feature is that each player gets to set their difficulty level. The other major improvement is the practice mode which lets you practice sections of a song that you are having problems with. You can practice at normal speed, slow, slower and slowest. This is a feature that most people wished for in the original. Three button chords are new in this game (the original had two button chords) which ramps up the difficulty quite a bit. Hammer-ons and pull-offs are a bit easier to nail in this game which is VERY good.

Even though this game is an improvement over the original as far as features go, it could have used a bit more polish. First, most people agree that the song selection is iffy (I don't believe this, I just feel the songs in the first guitar hero are a little bit more memorable). This is an opinion however so I wont consider that. Although the practice mode is great to have it could have been done a bit better. My main complaint here is that there is no way to loop through the area you are practicing. You set your section(s) that you want to practice, set your speed, play it and once your done you have to go through the loading process again. This makes practicing tough areas a bit cumbersome. It would have been very nice to have the ability to continuously loop through the desired section. Even changing the speed causes a reload. Complaints aside, just having a practice mode is great. Another feature that would be nice is the ability to play through the game in cooperative mode. In this mode you can only play the songs that are unlocked through the single player career mode. It would have been cool to have a cooperative career mode. Not having the cooperative career will not affect the review though because just having the cooperative mode is very cool.

Although the game is great it does tend to feel like more of the same. This isn't all that bad because the game is just so fun but it would have been neat if they changed the gameplay a little bit more. Three button chords are new but it would have been cool if they did something like open notes (strumming without holding a button) to change the feel a little bit more. The difficulty level is just right. It's easy enough for those of us new to the series but on the harder difficulty levels it's quite a bit more challenging then the original which is good for us Guitar Hero veterans. They hit the middle ground just right. If you are a veteran that wants challenge the rest assured that challenge lies ahead in this game.

Overall I still highly recommend this game. Despite the issues listed above it's still a great game that will keep you addicted for many hours, especially with the new cooperative mode. I hope that if Harmonix plans to release another game that they change the gameplay a bit more to keep the veterans interest. Rock on.

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Product Description:
RedOctane's follow-up to the critically acclaimed rhythm game, Guitar Hero II features a brand-new and expanded track list, more venues and new play modes, and aims to rock longer and harder than its predecessor. RedOctane has once again teamed up with veteran music game developer Harmonix for the sequel, and is using famed recording studio WaveGroup for its music production, who also recorded the covers for the licensed tracks in the original Guitar Hero. Bundle ships with red SG style wired controller, strap and decals.

The Next Chapter in the Guitar Hero Experience
Rock the rhythm, lead, and bass guitar tracks in the follow-up sequel to Guitar Hero. Form your guitar duo and shred riffs cooperatively or go head-to-head in all new multiplayer modes. With over 60 tracks to rock out to, you'll go from Guitar Hero to Guitar god in one press of a fret button. Choose from multiple rock characters and jam at concert venues that grow in size as your rock career progresses. You'll start your rock career playing small clubs and bars, but if you play well you'll work your way up to stadiums and arenas.

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