Guitar Hero II - Review
This is the first downward trend in the Guitar Hero franchise.
Okay, that’s a scathing, somewhat crappy thing to say about a game I just gave four stars. My limited budget (and eager to improve writing) has led me to revisit the untouched boxes on my shelf, even those that I reviewed for a high school paper at the time of its release. I was led to a very cheap Xbox 360 version of the game and picked it up for prosperity’s sake: the original PS2 version will not work on the PS3. Well, it’ll work per se, but there’s no place to plug in the original guitar. That might be a problem given my current setup.
Anticipation for one of the best games of 2005 was at a mini-frenzy back in the fall of my senior high school year. Everyone in the class had recognized the original’s brilliance, but what massive changes could be done with one year and a plastic guitar controller? The question lingered till November 7th, when a collective “oh.” was released. This was quickly followed by an “oh!” In the span of 365 days plastic controller rhythm games transformed from a heralded medium to just another kind of video game. Oh. It’s going to be another Madden scenario. Welp, I’m still glad it’s good!
Harmonix had just enough time to improve the assets, putting a spotlight on the new art, characters, settings, and overall dashboard effect. Guitar Hero II has a nice new coat of paint over the original, but that’s really all it is. Menus are still navigated in the same fashion; buttons still create the same actions. The box art was different! It had a “II” on it!” Consumers were privy to the knowledge that, all in all, this was simply a new collection of songs. Before the world relied on downloadable content, this new disc release was the only way to get an easy fix.
And what about that most important aspect of the series, the soundtrack itself? As always, mileage will vary based on musical taste. In my experience the GH2 soundtrack has higher highs and lower lows than its predecessor. Suicidal Tendencies, Avenged Sevenfold, Lamb of God, Rush, and Primus hold things together for me, but the game gets a cement block tied to its foot when you have to suffer through Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Cheap Trick, Rage Against the Machine, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. From the first song of the game you’re introduced to the idea that the publishers of the franchise have a near-desperate need to get “The Classics!!”, even if those classics are garbage that people only enjoy now because someone thinks it’ll make themselves look “cultured”. Sorry folks, Steven Tyler’s monstrous face shouting nonsense about his glamorous life or penis size isn’t what I look for in an experience. A lesson was taught to Harmonix that they’d later utilize in their Rock Band series: Focus on fun first. It turns out that odd songs are generally the most entertaining to play and listen to because they focus on variety and aren’t just Van Halen and Van Halen ripoff bands blaring the same basic chords and insufferably shallow lyrics over and over again. The soundtrack has glaring faults, but its space-y entries are still worth playing no matter what.
Another lesson quickly learned was about the difficulty level. Playing on Hard (the lowest mode that properlyallows all five buttons on the neck) is almost exercise. While its absurd and steep learning curve may please those deeply-rooted in the genre, it makes the game’s higher difficulties consistently unaccessible to newer players. The Hard career mode is absolutely doable, but it takes a gamer already semi-skilled in the craft. Watching people at a party have so much fun with the game and wanting to jump in on the action having never played a game before will create a very rude awakening. GH2 also includes cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes that consist of two players standing stand by side with two guitar controllers, sharing the same song back and forth. In 2006 the idea was already losing steam and four-and-a-half years later it seems to be a downright antique.
To make it seem like I’m not shitting on a game I thoroughly enjoyed, let’s be clear: the action itself is great. Pressing buttons in time with music creates a sensation that is unparalleled in gaming. As Tycho Brahe so eloquently put it, “I’ll never forget having a chance to get my hands on that thing. You knew from the very first moment that you were holding something worth a billion fucking dollars.” Guitar Hero, the game part, as an experience is always solid. Hell, when it comes back in 10 years as retro it’ll still be just as entertaining. It was just this year of release, the late 2006, that we first realized this was not the second coming for video games but yet another series to be exploited and abused. Play it, enjoy it, and remember your context. This is a really good game with a little bit less luster.
Harmonix was able to persevere with a worthwhile, passionate effort in the face of a publisher who actively wanted them to fail.
