Guitar Hero II [Xbox 360]

"I didn't expect it myself, but I really love this game. Yes, you may look a bit stupid while using the plastic guitar, but it's all worth it, trust me. Once you try your first notes you'll be hooked, even if you start with the tutorial. I know I was.
Everything in this game is just right, the songs, the graphics of the hilarious rock musicians and of course the way it plays.

The song list is very long (74 songs) and contains many classic rock songs. For instance, I loved seeing Mother by Danzig, The Trooper by Iron Maiden and Killing in the Name by Rage against the Machine. There three 3-song packs available of Xbox Live Marketplace too, with some extra classics (Ace of Spades anyone?).

In Easy mode you play only part of the notes, but still you feel like you are playing the entire song, very cool. The difficulty level builds up nicely throughout the Easy mode, with songs near the bottom of the list getting harder and harder. There's a small jump in difficulty when you reach Medium level because you suddenly have to play multiple notes at a time and get to use a fourth note too, but you'll get used to that quickly. And if a song gets too tricky, you can practice it in the excellent Practice mode, which lets you do the song at a lower speed.

If you have the chance, I really recommend to try Guitar Hero II in multiplayer mode too, it's soooo much fun. You can play in Co-op or Face-Off mode.
In Co-Op one player plays guitar and the other player plays bass. This is fun for a while but it gets boring quite quickly, because there is no competitive element. It would have been more fun if you could go through the career mode together, unlocking songs and earning stuff on the way.
In Face-Off mode you both play the guitar part, but you take turns doing riffs and solo sections. This works very well, because it really feels like a guitar battle. The player with the highest score wins so it's important to try and increase your streak multipliers and to use your Star Power strategically. Brilliant party game.

Most people I have seen trying this game absolutely loved it. Even my girlfriend, who is not gamer at all, likes playing it. I guess you'll have to be a bit of a rock fan to really get into this though, as it is more fun to play songs you actually know. Great game, go get it now. And if you have friends, get an extra guitar too :-)"

"you can really rock on this game! you get hooked fast,(even if you suck)"

"Never having owned a Playstation 2, and not having friends with a PS2 who wanted to be a geek and buy Guitar Hero, I never got to try this game out. I was very happy to hear that it was coming to the 360, with loads of downloadable content. I had to get this game (and special guitar-controller)!

So on the day of release I went to all the shops here in my hometown and they hadn’t even heard of it. I had to travel 30 kilometres for it: argh! Anyway I got it and it turned out to be the game I’ve had the most fun with sofar on my box. Yes, I’ve had more fun with this than I had with Gears of War. There ya go. Putting it out there for all the world to see.

There are many songs to rock to, and there is a very clear tutorial on how to play, and 2 more tutorials on how to use special starpower and playing fast notes. I’m still learning new techniques today (by playing).

I want to emphasize that when you’re playing it really feels like you’re controlling the guitar. ‘Ofcourse’, you may think, but the guitar stops when you’re not playing, and the crowd ‘boo’-s you. The notes that appear on the screen (the colours) really correspond with the music (high notes, low notes) and that makes you feel you can actually play the guitar. Rock on!

I started by playing the easy mode. In easy career you play about 20 songs I think. You don’t earn any money (only from medium and up), but you get to know the game. It’s a great tutorial-style career. You only need 3 fret-buttons (out of a total of 5!), which means only 3 fingers. Pretty easy huh? Well, try and play, I’m sure you will fail a bit the first time around, hehe. Then it’s on to medium, which is where the fun really starts. Four fret-buttons (four fingers) and more songs. Also, you’re earning money to spend in the store. I used it all to unlock the extra songs (quite a lot of ‘em). You can also buy guitars, characters and what not. I’m not very into the customizing, but I reckon it will earn you an achievement or two.

I’ve completed the medium tour, and I’m now trying to get 5 stars (which is like hitting 95 percent of the notes with an average of 2.3 multiplier for those of you playing), on all songs. I’m almost done. This means I’m getting better, as I only got 3 or 4 stars on each songs the first time ‘round. The hard and expert tour are still waiting for me, but when I tried one song, it was really hard cause it used all 5 fret-buttons, and you only have 4 fingers on the neck of the guitar-controller. This means you have to move your hand, or some of your fingers, like a real guitar-player. For me, not ever having played a real guitar (well not well anyway), this is a huge step from 4 frets to 5. I couldn’t do it. But now that I’m acing all the medium songs, I think I can have a go at it soon.

Also, if it doesn’t work out, I can use the practice mode, which allows you to slow the song down (up to 3 levels of slowness paradise) or to practice solos that have been kicking your 4ss.

Then there is multiplayer. I hope someone will buy me a new guitar, or one of my friends buys the game himself, so we can multiplayer as you can’t do it online. In multiplayer one of you plays the bass, and the other the main guitar. I’m not familiar with all the multiplayer modes, so I can’t get into them too much, sorry about that (paypal me on cyndar[A-T]quicknet.nl and I will review the multiplayer ASAP, hehehe).

As you’ve probably read, there is quite some downloadable content planned for this game. For instance, all the songs of Guitar Hero 1 from the PS1 will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Already 3 small packs have been released. I say small packs, as they only contain 3 songs. Each new song is playable on all levels, and also on multiplayer afaik. I do believe 2 EUR for one song is pretty expensive (a pack is 6 EUR) – but then again you do get all the modes on each song. Ah well, there is a lot of complaining about this on-line, so maybe the next packs will be cheaper (I doubt it, people will buy them anyway, I did too).

I say this game is definitely worth the money (it’s pricey with the controller and all). Although your friends will suck at it and you will rock at it the night they come to check it out, and although because of that they will call you a loser or a nerd, wait until they get the hang of it, and they will want to play everytime. Also, the leaderboards make it so much more interesting. If only multiplayer could be done on-line, then this game would be totally awesome. I believe they want to do that for GH3 (which will also be available on Wii btw).

Here’s to hoping they will release an update for GH2 on the 360 that makes on-line play possible. I highly doubt it, but one should have hope :D"