Guitar Hero 2

[The Incredible...]

Take to the stage yet again with the sequel to red octanes head banging moshtastic guitar shredder.

For those of you who have never played this or the original it's basically a variation on the dance dance revolution/dancing stage mega/euro mix type of game, where you have to match symbols appearing on the screen to button pushes

The difference with this being that instead of some campy dance mat you use a scaledd down model of a gibson sg electric guitar

the controller has 5 'fret' buttons and a bar to strum in time with the notes.

the original game featured an impressive number of classic and more modern rock classics from black sabbath, megadeth and pantera to more modern artists such as franz ferdinand, queens of the stone age and audioslave

The sequel has an even larger repertoire of songs, although in my opinion the set list is a little weaker than the previous game but still features great songs such as dick dales miserlou, the alman brothers band's jessica (top gear theme tune) and the foo fighter's monkey wrench

The controls in this game seem to work a lot better, especially things like hammer ons and pull offs (where you play one note and then just 'hammer on' the next note, without strumming again

one thing that bugs me a little is that the rhythms don't always seem to match terribly well with the song, a problem that wasn't present in the original, or was certainly much less noticeable to me

as a guitar player myself i have found both this and the original to be very fun and addictive, but i don't think it is really necessary to be a guitarist to get a lot out of this game, although it does help if you like the songs on it.

In short my opinion is divided on this game somewhat, although the controls are a lot more responsive this is somewhat spoiled by the fact that there are not many songs on here that i know or like
I think if you are interested in this game it is best to check out the set list before you buy it, and maybe even download the soundtrack, in case, as was the case with me, there are songs on there that you recognise, even if you don't know them by name


i will give this game 3.5 out of 5 even thought the orignal would have got 4.5 or 5

[centerededgedesign]

Hmm, I'm about the opposite, I'd give the second one 4.5, the first 3.5 out of 5.

Some of my reasoning is the ability to change bands. I play the game with my kids on the PS2, and changing bands takes longer on the first version than the second. Also, the above mentioned controls, and finally the grafics. The female characters are nicely ramped up in the poly's on the second. i can't wait to see how they look on the third!

Personal taste in music does have alot to do with how you enjoy the game. It's hard to replay a song that you don't like just to get 5 stars on it.

[HereComesPete]

You dirty pervert! Checkin out the 3d ladies!

[centerededgedesign]

dirty pervert, is there any other kind?

[HereComesPete]

Er... not really.



mmm, hermione, what a big mouth you have.