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Xbox 360 Guitar Hero 2 (with guitar)
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Mr----X's Review
When I finally beat this game, I'll definitely be a Guitar Hero.
a true gamer, an aspiring rock legend, a video game addict, an Xbox 360 supporter
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JUL
17
2007
Guitar Hero 2 is played using a full size guitar controller included with the game disc. The notes scroll downward and, in order to play them, you must strum the pick button and hit the corresponding colored note on the neck of the guitar at the same time. At first, your mind will only want to do one or the other but, with a little practice and a lot of patience, you'll get the hang of it. If you play notes perfectly, your score multiplier will increase (up to 4x) and your Star Power meter will go up. Once your Star Power meter reaches half way, you can use the Star Power which doubles your multiplier and perform some amazing moves with the character. Eight characters are available when you first play the game: Eddie Knox, Axel Steel, Casey Lynch, Lars Umlaut, Izzy Sparks, Judy Nails, Johnny Napalm, and Pandora (my favorite). Three more characters are available for purchase in the career mode.
Red Octane (the creator of the game and X-Plorer guitar included) has really tried to make the controller work like a real guitar. You can hold the colored note buttons and only strum the pick button for multiples of the same notes which adds to the realism. The guitar has a black neck with a white base, 6 colored note buttons on the neck, a pick button that can be strum up or down, start/back buttons, and a whammy bar to create some neat sounds on those long cords. Also included are stickers that add some flare to the bland whiteness of the X-Plorer controller. It connects to the Xbox 360 via USB, although recently they have come out with a wireless version of the controller.
Career, Multiplayer, Practice, and Quickplay are the modes that you can play when you first begin the game. As you complete the career mode, you can open up more game modes including Guitar God mode, Pro-Face Off, and a couple others. The Career mode is where everything starts. In it, you play songs at live shows in 8 different venues to earn cash. With that cash, you can buy guitars, guitar finishes, songs, characters, and clothing for the characters you've unlocked. There are a few modes to choose from in the Multiplayer menu. You can team up with a friend (who can use their own guitar or a regular Xbox 360 controller) to shred together in the awesomely fun Co-op mode.
If you think you're the best around, you can take on your friends (or some random guy off the street, your choice) head to head with the Face Off mode which lets you and your opponent take turns playing sections to see who can score the most points (the Pro-Face Off lets you play the same notes against each other but has to be unlocked first). The Practice mode allows you play certain sections of songs so you can learn them faster and the Quickplay mode is exactly what it sounds like, you pick the song and the difficulty and shred away. The only thing wrong with the modes is that there is no online multiplayer mode via Xbox Live. Thankfully though, in the next edition of the game (Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock) there will be.
There isn't a lot to say about the graphics. Personally, I think they are as good as they can be for this kind of game. One of the interesting things I found though is that if you watch the character who's playing the song on screen, he's mimicking your movements. If you miss a note, he misses a note, if you stop playing mid song, he stops playing mid song. The character is also hitting the correct cords on his guitar which is simply amazing. They mapped the right cords for every song on the game and then applied that to the characters movements.
Now we come to the biggest part of Guitar Hero 2, the songs. The song list is 64 titles long along with 12 songs available for download on Xbox Live. The four song packs on Xbox Live are 500 Microsoft points($6.25) each, which is a little steep for only 3 songs. Some of the songs are performed by the original artists but a good majority of them are covers (great covers). Here is the 64 song list:
Track List:
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
Danzig - Mother
Cheap Trick - Surrender
Wolfmother - Woman
Spinal Tap - Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight
Kiss - Strutter
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
Police - Message in a Bottle
Van Halen - You Really Got Me
Kansas - Carry on Wayward Son
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
Alice in Chains - Them Bones
Iggy Pop and the Stooges - Search and Destroy
Pretenders - Tattooed Love Boys
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
Warrant - Cherry Pie
Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last Night
Mathew Sweet - Girlfriend
Rolling Stones - Can't You Hear Me Knockin'
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of
Primus - John the Fisherman
Sword - Freya
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation
Aerosmith - Last Child
Heart - Crazy on You
Stone Temple Pilots - Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Stray Cats - Rock This Town
Allman Brothers - Jessica
Jane's Addiction - Stop
Anthrax - Madhouse
Living End - Carry Me Home
Lamb of God - Laid to Rest
Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout
Rush - YYZ
Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Dick Dale - Misirlou
Megadeth - Hangar 18
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Bonus Tracks:
The Las Vegas - Raw Dog
Drist - Arterial Black
Anarchy Club - Collide
That Handsome Devil - Elephant Bones
Valient Thorr - Fall of Pangea
VAGIANT - FTK
Brian Kahanek - Gemini
Bang Camaro - Push Push (Lady Lightning)
The Acrobrats - Laughtrack
Freezepop - Less Talk More Rokk
Buckethead - Jordan
The Amazing Royal Crowns - Mr. Fix-It
Every Time I Die - The New Black
Artillery - One For the Road
The Neighborhoods - Parasite
Count Zero - Radium Eyes
MEGASUS - Red Lottery
All That Remains - Six
Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives - Soy Bomb
Shadows Fall - The Light That Blinds
DETHKLOK - Thunder Horse
Strong Bad - Trogdor
Voivod - X-Stream
Made in Mexico - Yes We Can
Guitar Hero 2 has four difficulties: easy, medium, hard, and expert. The hard and expert difficulties require an extreme amount of practice and an insane amount of patience but the easy and medium difficulties can be picked up in a few hours.
Overall, this is a crazily addictive game with fantastic gameplay and a high replay value. It will cost you $90 plus tax but it is definitely worth it. If you need an extra guitar, you can find them in most gaming shops (EB Games, Gamestop, Microgames to name a few) and some gaming (and non gaming) websites (EBGames.com, Amazon.com, Ebay.com) for about $60 new or $40 used. I highly suggest hooking your Xbox 360 to a surround sound system and playing this game extremely loud. I enjoy rattling my walls with the sounds of Jordan by Buckethead and Thunderhorse by DETHKLOK, two of the most fun (and difficult) Guitar Hero II has to offer.
ESRB Rating: T for Teen. (for lyrics)
Graphics: 9
Sound: 10
Replay Value: 9
Overall Rating: 9.3
Last edited on Jul 17, 2007
Xbox 360 Guitar Hero 2 (with guitar) is recommended by Mr----X
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