RedOctane's follow-up to the analytically acclaimed rhythm game, Guitar Hero II features a brand-new and prolonged 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 person 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 qualified tracks in the original Guitar Hero. The Next Stage in the Guitar Hero Encounter
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 font 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. Classic Guitar Hero gameplay.
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New modes in both single and multiplayer.
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Three new font join the tour.
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All-new exciting venues.
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Live out your rock & roll dreams owing to a huge song list.
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Guitar Hero II introduces all new multiplayer modes like: supportive, Pro Face-Off, and Face-Off, let two Guitar Heroes conduct their own symphonies of destruction; and an all new do mode, that allows even Guitar Zeroes to become Guitar Heroes with enough do. Your GH2 Set List
Since the Guitar Hero encounter is all about the music, Guitar Hero II sets up the tone with a rocking assortment of tunes from different eras that you know and like, as well as others that may be new to you. The complete set list built-in on disc includes: | "Shout at the Devil" - Mötley Crüe | "Mother" - Danzig | | "Give up" - Cheap Trick | "Woman" - Wolfmother | | "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" - Spinal Tap | "Strutter" - KISS | | "Heart-Shaped Box" - Illusion | "Message in a Bottle" - The Police | | "You Really Got Me" - Van Halen | "Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas | | "Monkey Wrench" - Foo Battalion | "Them Bones" - Alice in Chains | | "Search and End" - Iggy Pop and The Stooges | "Tattooed Like Boys" - The Pretenders | | "War Pigs" - Black Sabbath | "Cherry Pie" - Warrant | | "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" - Butthole Surfers | "Girlfriend" - Matthew Sweet | | "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - The Rolling Stones | "Sweet Child O' Mine" - Guns N' Roses | | "Butchery in the Name" - Rage Against the Apparatus | "John the Fisherman" - Primus | | "Freya" - The Sword | "Terrible Reputation" - Thin Lizzy | | "Last Child" - Aerosmith | "Crazy on You" - Heart | | "Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart" - Stone Temple Pilots | "Rock This Town" - Stray Cats | | "Jessica" - The Allman Brothers Band | "Stop!" - Jane's Obsession | | "Madhouse" - Anthrax | "Carry Me Home" - The Living End | | "Laid to Rest" - Lamb of God | "Psychobilly Freakout" - The Holy woman Horton Heat | | "YYZ" - Rush | "Beast and the Harlot" - Avenged Sevenfold | | "Institutionalized" - Suicidal Tendencies | "Misirlou" - Dick Dale | | "Hangar 18" - Megadeth | "Free Bird" - Lynyrd Skynyrd | | "Principal Black" - Drist | "Collide" - Anarchy Club | | "Elephant Bones" - That Substantial Devil | "Fall of Pangea" - Valient Thorr | | "FTK" - Vagiant | "Gemini" - Brian Kahanek | | "Jordan" - Buckethead | "Laughtrack" - The Acro-brats | | "Less Talk More Rokk" - Freezepop | "The Light that Blinds" - Shadows Fall | | "Mr. Fix-it" - The Incredible Royal Crowns | "The New Black" - Every Time I Die | | "Parasite" - The Neighborhoods | "Push Push (Lady Lightning)" - Bang Camaro | | "Radium Eyes" - Count Zero | "Raw Dog" - The Last Vegas | | "Red Game of chance" - Megasus | "Six" - All That Remains | | "Soy Bomb" - Honest Bob and the F-to-D Incentives | "Thunderhorse" - Dethklok | | "Trogdor" - Strong Terrible | "X-Stream" - Voivod | | "Yes We Can" - Made in Mexico | "One for the Road" - Breaking Wheel | Key Game Features - Deeper Guitar Encounter - Guitar Hero II expands the thrilling guitar gaming encounter by allowing players to play different guitar tracks per song: lead, bass or rhythm guitar, depending on the song.
- All New Song List - Guitar Hero II follows up on Guitar Hero's award-winning track list, with over 60 tracks including songs as made well-known by Van Halen, Areosmith, Guns 'N Roses, Avenged Sevenfold and others.
- New Multiplayer Modes - New multiplayer modes include.
- Co-op: Players can now get closer to the fantasy and form their own rock band and play cooperatively, one player one lead guitar, the other on bass or rhythm guitar makes a pure rock encounter.
- Pro Face-Off: Players can now play head-to-head and find out who the real Guitar Hero is with both players playing full lead guitar tracks.
- Face-Off: The classic versus mode from Guitar Hero is back. Players go head-to-head and share the lead guitar track.
- All New Do Mode - Any Guitar Hero worth their weight in guitar picks knows it takes do to become a guitar god. With the all-new Do Mode, aspirant guitar heroes can now pick any song and do specific sections and even slow it down.
- New Font - Three new Guitar Hero font go on tour with the void cast from the original Guitar Hero: The 50's throwback hardrocker, Eddie Knox; the wonderful, but tough heartbreaker, Casey Lynch; and the aloof Norwegian-born metal force, Lars Umlaut.
- New Venues - Guitar Hero II features revamped venues with superior graphics and animations, including two new venues: The Vans Warped Tour and Stonehenge.
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 Fantastic Fun - a Must if you Like Rock Music |
| Review Date: November 8, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Lisa Shea, |
I loved Guitar Hero. I plotting it was fantastic. Guitar Hero II is even better! Fantastic songs, fantastic gameplay, quite addictive. A must buy :)
So first, how this game works. You have a special controller that looks like a guitar. If you have one from Guitar Hero (I), it will work so you won't have to buy a further one. You get 5 buttons on the fret (the thin part on the left) and then a "push" toggle in the center of the guitar. So you're hammering down strings on the fretboard by pressing colored buttons, and you're "strumming" by approaching down on the toggle in the guitar's center. It's really quite fun, even if "real" guitar players have a fit because the notes are of course not in the right place and when they try to really play the song, it doesn't work properly.
But back to our fun air guitar playing :) They have a fantastic blend of songs on this. The fascinating part of any music game is finding songs that every single person likes. I presume it's impracticable. There are songs on here that I dislike that I'm sure other people like. Then again they have "Give up" and "Message in a Bottle" which I find amazingly fun to play, which I'm sure some people despise with a passion. With a bit of luck there's a middle ground here!
The game moves you from club to club, and you have to pass 3 out of 4 songs at each club to go along. You go owing to some classic locations like the Rat Celler in Boston. You get to choose your character from a number of pre-sets (both male and female, hurrah!!) and even choose your guitar. The songs get trickier as you progress.
When you unlock songs in career mode you can then play them whenever you want in the casual playing mode both for one or two players. It's fantastic fun to rock out with a friend with the music blasting!
Then there's always going back to get perfect scores - and increasing the difficulty to get to special songs that the Simple People can't see.
The graphics are pretty excellent - but really, when your fingers are flying and you're trying to push the buttons in super-quick-time (that's a musical term), how can you maybe even see what those on screen font are doing in the social class? That's more to entertain whoever is watching you. Still, I like that the audience waves lighters during the silent parts of songs :)
If I have a complaint, it's the same complaint I had with the first one - that sometimes their prompts show up OVER THE FRET BOARD so you can't see what the imminent notes are! Surely some of the testers must have realized this - or were the testers all so glazed at that point that they knew the songs by heart and weren't having to look at the screen?
Still, it's a minor issue. Certainly a game to get, that is fantastic fun for anyone who likes rock music!
Here are the songs you start with, to whet your appetite!
Shout at the Devil / Mother / Give up / Woman / Strutter / Heart-Shaped Box / Message in a Bottle / You Really Got Me / Monkey Wrench / Them Bones / Search and End / Tattooed Like Boys / Cherry Pie / Who Was In My Room Last Night? / Girlfriend / Can't You Hear Me Knockin' |
Rawk.
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| Review Date: November 13, 2006 |
| Reviewer: C. Bakehorn, Bloomington, IN |
Guitar Hero was a touch of a sleeper hit last year. Developer RedOctane delivered an brilliant rhythm game that played quite unlike any other console game with its guitar controller and deep list of playable songs. Despite its pricey package, Guitar Hero sold and became a quick hit, garnering nearly as much gaming media attention as 2005 classics like God Of War and Resident Evil 4. RedOctane's readied up Guitar Hero 2, and does the series continue to deliver a deep encounter or is it a one-hit wonder?
Lacking a question, Guitar Hero 2 is better than its predecessor in most ways, though the gameplay mechanics haven't changed much at all. The guitar controller, bundled with either Guitar Hero or Guitar Hero 2, works as well as always. The notes in each song are played by land one of five colored frets on the guitar while strumming the controller's strum bar. There's even a whammy bar for those distorted, drawn-out notes. If you've played Guitar Hero, you'll feel right at home with the controller. It's no surprise, this guitar wasn't broken and RedOctane didn't need to fix a darn thing.
There are a few new things added to the mix. Three-string notes will pop up on the Hard and Extreme difficulties and can really throw you off. Also, hammer-ons, which weren't very effectual in Guitar Hero, are done much better here. The result is a perfectly superior encounter, with small to no frustrations coming from the controller itself. Guitar Hero's a lot like golf; the only person you can blame for not doing well is yourself. Also like golf, the only way to get better at the game is to do. Opportunely, Guitar Hero 2 has an extensive do mode that really lets you pinpoint party sections in songs, slow them down, and do them until you can't miss a beat. I'll quote my roommate Alan, "Do mode really makes you better."
The track list is a touch most Guitar Hero fans have become familiar with, even weeks before the game's relief, but those of you in the dark will be pleased to know that top rock artists like Foo Battalion ("Monkey Wrench"), Illusion ("Heart-Shaped Box"), and Black Sabbath ("War Pigs") make an appearance. Some older groups are also there, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, with the 9+ synopsis of guitar solo pain in "Free Bird." I was very pleased to see some metal bands thrown into the mix, like Avenged Sevenfold, Shadows Fall, and Lamb Of God, but RedOctane earned the most bonus points in my book by including All That Remains' "Six" as an unlockable song. It's a current pet of mine, after all, and it nearly made my hands bleed when I kicked up the difficulty to Hard and tried to play it. The different levels of songs are unlocked in the familiar career mode, and it's as fun as always to earn money, unlock secret songs, outfits, and font, and go for those trying five-star reviews.
I have to admit that Guitar Hero 2 is noticeably harder than the original. The reason for this isn't because of the notes themselves, in fact, some of the songs are incredibly simple. Most of the difficulty comes from brutally long songs that require a lot of resilience. As I said, "Free Bird" is over 9 synopsis long-that's asking a lot of your left hand for the frets and right hand for the strumming. While I'll admit I play the game on the Normal difficulty setting, I've tried a large amount of the songs on Hard and I've only beaten a few. "Free Bird" on a higher difficulty setting is just obscenely trying.
Guitar Hero didn't really wow anyone with an explosive visual routine but it did have a wild art style and decently appealing environments to play in. This time around the social class camera angles get a small closer to your player, allowing you to see him strum on his virtual guitar while you shred away on your controller. Some of the visual things light up the screen and add a nice touch, like the fire things that come from your player's hands as he strums on-screen. The environments deform and change in appearance during Encores, and the final shape-shifting venue was particularly appealing. The re-recordings are hit ("War Pigs", "Free Bird") and miss ("Beast And The Harlot"); but this isn't surprising to me. The same thing happened last year, and I'd be pleased to see the actual recordings make it around for Guitar Hero 3. I'm very pleased to report that RedOctane input an option that allows you to turn off that harsh scratching noise that occurs whenever you screw up a note-this sound effect was extremely distracting in Guitar Hero and it can be silenced once and for all in the sequel. I ordinarily know when I screwed up a note, I don't need an harsh sound to rub it in
Guitar Hero 2 does nothing to change its predecessor's direction. It's in effect a fine-tuned update to last year's hit, and that's just fine with me. If you as much as watched someone else play the original, you simply can't miss out on the sequel. If last year's "Bark At The Moon" and "Cowboys From Hell" weren't enough for you, "Free Bird" will be. I referenced "Free Bird" five times right owing to this review; if nothing else, play this game just for a hands-on encounter with this classic. The only improvements I could recommend would be to include the real song recordings. Guitar Hero is one of those games that doesn't ever really need to be reinvented. That's not to say that a touch couldn't be done to make it even more fun, but even after all of the hand cramps, there's nothing I could reckon of. |
Let there be Rock!
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| Review Date: November 17, 2006 |
| Reviewer: R. Perez, Falls Church, VA United States |
Guitar Hero II is everybit better than the first repayment!
Will I still play the first Guitar Hero? Yes, because the songlist is still quite excellent, but with this sequel, GHII is far more impressive! Especially with its diverse song lineup. With 10 more qualified songs than the first game- that's 40 tracks in all to rock out with(not together with the bonus songs, adding 64 songs all together). This game also has new and more meticulous venues, added lighting things as you rock out, encore specials, new and superior looks on font-some whom your able to switch outfits with, unlockable new guitars and more. A nice touch to your typeset guitar rockin' happens as a series of unrelenting note smashing occurs and your typeset guitar playin' may flame up as he/she is strummin' along and it's way cool!
With better options on an unbelievable multiplayer co-op mode than allows a friend to join in on some shreddin' guitar-rythm, lead, or bass style as you two aim to rock out like a real band and try to shoot for a 5 star review or high score. This alone makes hours of fun play! When you botch a note, the bass sound really sounds like a thud as the guitar mess-ups continue the same sound effect from the first game. A further option in multiplayer allows players to go head-to-head in original face-off mode or the new pro-face off where now both players can play every note of a song as a replacement for of a series of notes as found on the first game's face-off mode.
3 fret buttons Now!!! Those who mastered the first game can now look forwards to having a few notes on certain songs contain 3 fret buttons that must be played together, especially on the expert level. Primus and Jane's Obsession added their own master tracks in "John The Fisherman" and "Stop" and most songs are nicely roofed. There may be some line of reasoning about a few of the song choices or how the vocals sound but you know what this game delivers it still! With a bit of luck as the GH franchise progresses, more bands' original tracks will also be added into the mix. I have to give mad props to Harmonix and RedOctane for putting together a further brilliant game. In the words of AC/DC, "For Those About To Rock We Salute You!" and how bout it if that band makes GHIII? A few more punk songs would also be oh so nice. That'll be somethin'. |
Bruised My Knee On Guitar Hero Spree
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| Review Date: November 8, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Michael Roffman, Haddonfield, Illinois |
As an avid fan of the original, it is no surprise that Guitar Hero II swept me from under my feet (nearly factually) and took me in for a ride... again. For anyone who knows a hint of what this game is about, stop conception, go buy it, and delight in the three hours of gameplay you'll be sucked into at first play.
Guitar Hero's offspring works in the same way as before, only now you can set up a band with co-op play relating lead, bass, or rhythm and the audience can demand an encore. There's plenty more here, but for the most part, those are the areas that will have any fan rolling over, Beethoven.
Bands, from yesterday, today, and tomorrow, have all taken part now in this exciting and entertaining title. They'd be stupid not to. Even the nameless tracks are fun to "jam" along to, while most staying in your head soon afterwards too.
From playing as Slash from Guns N'Roses on "Sweet Child of Mine" to trying to emulate Paul Stanley of KISS during the equally fun, "Strutter", it's all's dream... but in reality. There aren't too many games that offer that, to be honest with you, and while Guitar Hero II has it's share of lame duck songs, there are too many classics here that complaining is just rough-edged.
What else?
Nothing really. Guitar Hero II was everything I probable and more of the same enormity that made the original so promising. If anyone is ever bored on a rainy day or a Friday night with no parties, concerts, or new opening movies... this is your night right here.
A representative told me at EB Games that an XBOX 360 translation is to debut where you can really buy and upload more songs to the system. As tempting as that sounds, I kind of like the forty song soundtrack. It lets you limit yourself and maybe be excited for what else the makers of the game have under their sleeve.
Who knows? I'll probably be there opening day to buy my bundle for XBOX 360. Anyway, for now, this is your best bet for all around the greatest gameplay as of now. |
Fantastic improvements
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| Review Date: November 8, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Plasmator, |
Picked this up this morning, and I'm pretty impressed. I was a huge fan of the last one, and this one has some nice improvements over the last one.
Most notably, you can irrevocably play two player on two different levels of difficulty. Being able to let a beginner strum out the basics while you play on expert is certainly the figure I wanted to see the most.
This is a fantastic game for parties, and the additional songs are all lots of fun. It was also a fantastic choice to add Thunderhorse (Skwisgaar is a god).
Excellent stuff. If you like this, check out the original guitar hero and taiko drum master. Both are also fantastic. |
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