Guitar Hero revolutionized the music gaming industry a few years ago when in launched on the Playstation 2 gaming system, considering we never got to play it on the Xbox 1 most people just figured it would be a Playstation 3 game, not an Xbox 360 title. Well to everyone’s surprise Red Octane announced the hugely anticipated sequel, Guitar Hero II for Microsoft’s next generation console. Sure PS2 owners got to have a go at GH2 before we did, but with updated graphics, a new guitar, and the promise of downloadable tracks this was one port that no one cared was a port. Published by Activision and developed by the guys over at Harmonix Guitar Hero II promised to be one hell of a sequel, with all new songs and some new challenges for even the most veteran of Guitar Hero gamers to have trouble with. After putting in over a week solid with GH2 I can easily say that this is some of the most fun I have had with my Xbox 360 console in the past year, only a few games can touch this one in terms of overall gaming fun.
Something I need to get out of the way first is that if you have played the PS2 version of Guitar Hero 2 (I have not) you will find everything from that title in the Xbox 360 version. From the start there is not much new gaming material here, besides the addition of a new, wired guitar, to match the white Xbox 360 exterior. One can only wonder if a new black guitar will be released to match the Xbox 360 Elite unit. The developers have promised me personally that we will be getting plenty of new downloadable tunes to keep us jamming for a long time after beating the single player mode. It should be noted that if you try to play the 360 version with your old PS2 guitar it will not work, the new bundle is required. The bundle is pricey too coming in at retail for around $90, but it is well worth the extra $30 over a normal game price tag because GH2 is one of the most addicting, fun, rewarding games I have ever played. Unfortunately there are some guitars out there which have problems with their whammy bars, however they can be exchanged in store for a brand new guitar so thankfully Activision have addressed and fixed the problem very quickly.
Control wise you have a new guitar from the guys over at Harmonix, one not much different from the PS2 version but a cool addition nonetheless. It is white to match the color of the standard Xbox 360 and has 5 colored buttons across the end of the guitar and another strumming button on the main part of the guitar, to the right of the strumming tool is a waa waa bar and above that is a nice (but oddly placed) start and select button. The nice thing about Guitar Hero II (unlike a game like DDR) is that you can do everything in the game, menus, etc. with the guitar controller meaning there is no use to start up standard controller during a game. On screen during a song notes come streaming down in one or two note sequences (for the later you press two colored buttons at once); all you have to do when a note reaches the bottom of the screen is press the matching colored button on the guitar while simultaneously strumming the button used for actually playing the guitar. Some notes stretch out long so you just hold the colored button (only strumming once), during which you can use the waa-waa bar to rack up extra points and build up your “star power” meter. On screen there is obviously the notes, your guitar hero, and a few bars. One, which looks like an amp, is three colors (red, yellow, and green) which is basically your health bar, if it begins blinking red you are really close to failing the song; keep it green to rock out. The other bar is blue and it represents your “star power”, fill this bar up by hitting the star notes in order or using the waa-waa bar during long notes. Once filled tip your guitar straight up in the air vertical (or press the select button) and this will activate “star power” flashing lightening, pushing your health bar up to green, and doubling your point multiplier. Also during “star power” all the notes turn blue and the crowd starts chanting your name and clapping excitedly; your character also does some cool moves such as flips or spinning the guitar. As far as points go you get a certain number for each note you hit and as you hit notes in succession you start to earn multipliers from 2X all the way to 8X (only during “star power”). These multipliers are what must be used to gain high scores in the 100,000 range.
