Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (PS2) – Review

Once Guitar Hero II came out, Activision suggested that they would continue to develop the series, not only into Guitar Hero III, but also as genre-specific expansions. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s is the first of these expansions, and while it delivers the strong gameplay that the series still has, it feels like a quick modification of the existing Guitar Hero II engine with the addition of several tracks from the 1980s, doing minimal work to improve the appearance, and yet still end up charging a new game price for it. Additionally, the shorter set list, while containing some notable 80s entries, is lacking in punch and really doesn’t help to make the game a must-have at the moment.

Guitar Hero 2 (PS2) – Review

There’s very little to say about Guitar Hero 2, produced and distributed by Harmonix and Red Octane, beyond that it a truly outstanding sequel, exceeding the original title by having a better selection of guitar-ripping tracks, tightening up gameplay in favor of the player, and adding more multiplayer modes.

Guitar Hero 2 – Initial Impressions

Gotten through the first two sets on Medium with Guitar Hero 2.  I think the difficulty is slightly higher than the first game, at least through these sets ; the 4th key is used a lot more often than the early Medium songs in the first game.

 The practice mode is a great addition to the game – both with learning the main licks, but also with the rhythm and bass lines on some of the songs.   The backgrounds on the game also look a lot better, though the main action hasn’t changed one bit, which is just fine.

Watch for a lot of subtle humor.  When you complete 3 of the first 4 songs in a set, you get to do the encore (5th song) of the set.  For the Spinal Tap entry, the loading screen warns you that whenever you perform an encore, you never just jam.

Definitely no question that this game continues on the excellence of the first.