Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Yeah, see, I'm torn, because I already have the first Guitar Hero, and if I get Guitar Hero II for PS2, I'll have to guitars. But if I go 360, I'll probably pay more because it's on 360, plus I'll need two controllers... but on the flip side, downloadable new tracks would finally be a good use for Microsoft points.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

According to Wikipedia, here's the updated playlist for Guitar Hero II:

Arterial Black - Drist

Psychobilly Freakout - The Reverend Horton Heat

Strutter - KISS

War Pigs - Black Sabbath

Who Was in My Room Last Night - Butthole Surfers

You Really Got Me - The Kinks, as performed by Van Halen

YYZ - Rush

John the Fisherman - Primus

Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots

Madhouse - Anthrax

Shout at the Devil - Motley Crue

  • 3 months later...
Posted

Ok, so who here bought GH II? I picked it up yesterday and finished the game on medium in about 3 hours. Apart from a few songs from Guns N Roses, Stray Cats, the Police and a few other I liked the song selection from GH I better since this one was geared more for true Heavy Metal fans. I would have a liked a few more mainstream songs or more selection from pop-rock bands. Oh and I wasn't feeling the songs from the bonus tracks.

The 2-player mode is fun though, graphics for the characters and encore sections were fun. Wish they included a character creator for the game though.

Posted (edited)

guitarhero2ps201.jpgt.gif

Guitar Hero II ( ギターヒーローII )

Harmonix/RedOctane, Inc./Activision, 2006

For the Sony PlayStation 2 and XBOX 360

Rated T (Teen) for mild lyrics.

(Review based on the PS2 version)

Lowdown

The video music game that took the nation by storm is back. Following the unexpected success of Guitar Hero and their acquisition by Activision, RedOctane - along with Harmonix - went back to the studio to churn up a worthy successor to the game.

Guitar Hero II comes with a red Gibson SG controller which addresses the issues found on the original black one. Also available from RedOctane is the official wireless guitar controller. And the XBOX 360 version comes with a white Gibson X-Plorer controller. Once again, get ready to rock!

Gameplay: A

If you have the first GH game, you won't be surprised by Guitar Hero II's gameplay in single-player mode - it's exactly the same as its predecessor. However, the game engine has undergone some minor tweaks. As a result, the game benefits from improved hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Career Mode is more of the same: you simply choose a character and join an aspiring cover band. Then you tour around the U.S. from Ohio to Boston up to L.A. before flying to England to perform your grand finale at Stonehenge (the real deal - not some 18" scale model that Spinal Tap wound up with). The original cast from the first game are joined by Eddie Knox (a tattooed rockabilly), Casey Lynch (a blonde rocker) and Lars Ümlaüt (a Norwegian headbanger in KISS makeup). In addition to the Grim Ripper, former regulars Clive Winston (the British guy) and Xavier Stone (the black guitarist) are unlockable characters. Stone has undergone a complete makeover from dreadlocks to an afro.

Multiplayer is where the game totally shines. In addition to the traditional Face-Off mode, two other modes are included. The first is Pro Face-Off, where both players play the full lead guitar track on the same difficulty. The second is Cooperative Mode, where one player does lead guitar, while the other plays rhythm guitar or bass. Both share the same scoreboard, Rock Meter, streak multiplier and Star Power meter. This mode requires a lot of teamwork, as both players have to engage Star Power simultaneously, and this is the only multiplayer mode where you can fail in a song.

In short, GH2 is the superior one for two players.

Graphics: B-

It still looks like the first game, but that's how we like it.

Soundtrack: A

You want more songs, you got them. GH2 has 64 licensed songs (40 on the playlist plus 24 bonus tracks). As with the first game, majority of the songs are covers (READ: "As made famous by..."). You have more rock classics like Van Halen's "You Really Got Me," hair metal hits like Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine," Southern legends like Lynrd Skynrd's "Free Bird," grunge crap like Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box," and modern hits like Wolfmother's "Woman."

Plus, for the first time ever, original songs (READ: "As performed by...") make it to the regular playlist. Primus and Jane's Addiction have contributed to the game with their songs "John the Fisherman" and "Stop," respectively. XBOX 360 owners have the advantage of playing 10 exclusive tracks plus more music ready for download, including songs from the first game.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack does not receive an A+ because the playlist has the two worst songs to play in any Guitar Hero game: "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies and "Yes We Can" by Made in Mexico (which, fortunately, is a bonus track, so I recommend you don't bother unlocking it).

The Bottom Line

Headbanging fun is always better the second time around, and Guitar Hero II delivers.

Links

Official Guitar Hero Homepage

Reference

Wikipedia

Edited by areaseven
Posted (edited)

Ok, so who here bought GH II? I picked it up yesterday and finished the game on medium in about 3 hours. Apart from a few songs from Guns N Roses, Stray Cats, the Police and a few other I liked the song selection from GH I better since this one was geared more for true Heavy Metal fans. I would have a liked a few more mainstream songs or more selection from pop-rock bands. Oh and I wasn't feeling the songs from the bonus tracks.

The 2-player mode is fun though, graphics for the characters and encore sections were fun. Wish they included a character creator for the game though.

I picked GH2 up recently, but haven't had a lot of time to play it. I almost killed myself laughing at the end of the "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" encore. :lol: Gotta agree though... I prefer the GH1 song list. Can't wait to get to Matthew Sweet, but largely the song list doesn't do a lot for me. Not enough of a metal head, I guess. And here I was hoping for "Don't Fear the Reaper"... B))

Gotta mention, though... I picked up the wireless flying V, and mine doesn't work with GH2!!?? I thought maybe the batteries were low or it had been kicked around or something, but when I slap in GH1, it works like a charm. With GH2, only 2 fret buttons worked but were mismapped, and I get random chords playing without even touching the strum bar if I try to actually play a song. It's messed up.

Edited by Penguin
Posted

Yeah, I heard that the previous Flying V is only GHI compatible, you gotta buy that new wireless version to work on GHII, don't know why Red Octane blocked it.

I picked GH2 up recently, but haven't had a lot of time to play it. I almost killed myself laughing at the end of the "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" encore. :lol: Gotta agree though... I prefer the GH1 song list. Can't wait to get to Matthew Sweet, but largely the song list doesn't do a lot for me. Not enough of a metal head, I guess. And here I was hoping for "Don't Fear the Reaper"... B))

Gotta mention, though... I picked up the wireless flying V, and mine doesn't work with GH2!!?? I thought maybe the batteries were low or it had been kicked around or something, but when I slap in GH1, it works like a charm. With GH2, only 2 fret buttons worked but were mismapped, and I get random chords playing without even touching the strum bar if I try to actually play a song. It's messed up.

Posted

I've got GH2. Also somewhat finished medium. Just trying to get some Furious Fretwork songs and a couple of the last songs, including Freebird, to five stars. Unless they're all at 5 stars, I ain't finished. :p

Posted

My favourite song of those listed is "Girlfriend".

My favourite song to play is still "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight".

Forget Clapton... Tufnel is the only god who goes all the way to 11!

  • 4 months later...
Posted

Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 came out yesterday! I picked my copy up along with an extra guitar.

A word of warning, though. There are aparently two different models of the same basic guitar; one with the possible foot pedal expansion port near the power cord and one with the port next to the headphone jack. The one with the port near the power cord apparently has been having the issue of the whammy stick being not as responsive as it should. The one that came with my game is this model and even before reading up on Joystiq about this I noticed that I was having some difficulty puting it to use. I think pushing it back to its starting position seems to help so if I can get around this I'll keep it, but its possible I might take it back at some point.

Other then that, lots of fun! For those wanting to quickly and easily get the Van Halen achievement, play Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box on easy. It's well over 500 notes long and is pretty easy to play.

Posted

Surprised no one has posted this before, but some people have made custom hacks for other songs to be played to either Guitar Hero I or II.

My favorite one -

One of my all time favorite songs which I would kill to see on a future version of Guitar Hero -

And for those wanting to destroy their guitars (and fingers) -

and

  • 1 month later...
Posted

First Guitar Hero III tracks revelead! So far I'm liking the list; they actually have a song on there (My Name's Jonas) from one of my all time favorite rock albums, Weezer's "Blue" album! :D

Of course more and more of the 80's edition of Guitar Hero's tracks have been made public. Unfortunately it's currently suppose to be on PS2 only, but I wouldn't be surprised if they went the download route for the 360; watch the 360 downloaded version cost twice as much as the physical, on disc PS2 edition! :p

Speaking of dowloads for the 360, after the uproar over the pricing for the first song packs for GHII, there hasn't been any more song pack releases ever since and things have been very quiet on the Activision/Red Octane/Harmonix front. Here's hoping the future songs will be priced to be equal or less then what the PS2's cumulative value for all the GHI songs are worth. NOT $90+ for something you can get for $40 on the PS2! :p

Posted

Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s

This game's gonna be rad! Here's what will be included on the playlist:

* "18 and Life" - Skid Row

* "Balls to the Wall" - Accept

* "Bathroom Wall" - Faster Pussycat

* "Heat of the Moment" - Asia

* "Holy Diver" - Dio

* "I Ran (So Far Away)" - A Flock of Seagulls

* "I Wanna Rock" - Twisted Sister

* "I Want Candy" - Bow Wow Wow

* "Lonely is the Night" - Billy Squier

* "Metal Health" - Quiet Riot

* "Nothin' But a Good Time" - Poison

* "Only a Lad" - Oingo Boingo

* "Play With Me" - Extreme

* "Round and Round" - Ratt

* "Shakin'" - Eddie Money

* "Synchronicity II" - The Police

* "The Warrior" - Scandal

* "We Got the Beat" - The Go-Go's

Posted (edited)
First videoes from Guitar Hero III (Slow Ride by Foghat and My Name is Jonas by Weezer). Also links to IGN's pictures of the wireless guitar for the 360. Since Neversoft is now doing the game instead of Harmonix, obviously some things have changed. Don't screw this up, Neversoft! :D Edited by Apollo Leader
Posted

First videoes from Guitar Hero III (Slow Ride by Foghat and My Name is Jonas by Weezer). Also links to IGN's pictures of the wireless guitar for the 360. Since Neversoft is now doing the game instead of Harmonix, obviously some things have changed. Don't screw this up, Neversoft! :D

Ugh! The graphics look great, but the new HUDs look out of place. And it doesn't look or feel as outlandish as the first two games.

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
Posted

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3161062

Rock Band is starting to look more and more like the true Guitar Hero III. A lot of the songs are by the same artists who had stuff on the first Guitar Hero (like Black Sabbath and David Bowie - Suffragette City, awesome! ^_^ ). Of course the big news yesterday was that Metallica's Enter Sandman will be on Rock Band and that more Metallica will be coming via DLC... hopefully more classic Metallica stuff like Seek and Destroy, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and other classic 80's stuff will be part of the DLC.

Song pack #4 came out early yesterday for 360 GHII (more GHI songs). Once again, still over priced at 500 points for the pack. Obviously, very few people are happy about this...

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

One? How about Sanitarium or Creeping Death? Bah I'm so terrible at these game what do I care. :lol: Since I know how to play a real guitar its hard for me to unlearn(that a word?) it when I play GH.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...