Reviewed: April 12, 2007
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
RedOctane
Activision

Developer
Harmonix

Released: April 3, 2007
Genre: Music
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Teen

9
9
10
9
9.6

Supported Features

Guitar Hero II managed to keep that same pace going several months following its pre-holiday launch and now with the release of Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360 we are seeing the exact same results. This cult classic isn’t losing steam anytime soon, and with the game currently sold out nationwide, if you weren’t waiting in line a few weeks ago, you are probably cursing your shortsightedness. What were you thinking?

It’s only been five months since Guitar Hero II released for the PS2, but news of the impending 360 release has been circulating throughout the gaming community, even while we were mastering the track list on the PS2 and wondering what Harmonix could possibly do to make the game even better on the next-gen Xbox 360.

Obviously, high-def visuals and Dolby Digital were expected and delivered. We could only hope of new music and the potential of future content on Xbox Live and those too were delivered. Guitar Hero II could be considered the “director’s cut” of the PS2 version, but honestly, as far as content and gameplay, nothing has really changed other than the shape and feel of the guitar, and that is about the only negative thing I have to say about this latest installment in the best music game franchise in the history of video gaming.

Why RedOctane couldn’t just keep the traditional Gibson is beyond me, but they had to go and get fancy and create this new Gibson X-Plorer. Obviously, some design changes had to be added such as the glowing ring of light and a jack for a headset (although the game supports neither singing or chatting). There is also a “mystery jack” that is prompting rumors of future expansions like foot pedals.

But my biggest complaint is the size and feel of this guitar. After nearly 18 months of having the original Gibson permanently grafted to my hands it feels weird and just plain wrong playing this game. Despite the two guitars being of equal length the five-button cluster of frets are offset by one, so the green fret is now where the red one used to be. Again, if you are new to Guitar Hero or haven’t played as much as many of us it won’t be a big deal. The cord is also just where you would rest the guitar on your leg if you play sitting down. At least they built in a reinforced elbow joint, so you won't bend and break the internal wires yourself.

For all my complaining about this new guitar (which ends here) I was eventually able to overcome and conquer my discomfort and can now turn out five gold-star performances on demand for most of my favorite songs. It just took me an extra 2-3 days to adapt and I haven’t tried to go back to the PS2 and the old Gibson. I’m guessing there will be an adjustment going either way.

Guitar Hero II doesn’t really need to improve on the gameplay of the PS2. That version nailed it from the very beginning, so what the designers did was simply enhance the content by offering 360-exclusive music and some creative ways to play the game including new practice modes and three multiplayer variations, as well as leaderboards to track and compare your career score and even individual song progress with the rest of the world.

There are 70 music tracks for the Xbox 360 edition, many from independent bands, and the rest performed by cover bands that can easily be mistaken for the original artist. There are two of three possible guitar tracks (Lead, Rhythm, and Bass) for each song, effectively doubling the gameplay right out of the box, although you can only access the non-lead guitar in practice mode or multiplayer.

Cooperative gameplay is what it’s all about with Guitar Hero II, at least if you were lucky enough to score a second guitar. Stand-alone controllers are as hard to find as the game itself and here at the GCM office we have been relegated to playing our multiplayer modes with one guitar and one controller – YIKES! Yes, it’s about as fun and intuitive as playing DDR with a gamepad.

Of course the first order of business is to unlock that massive song list. You’ll need to create a band and go on tour to unlock the rest of the sets, encore songs, and earn enough money to purchase the vast library of bonus songs in the Guitar Hero Store, along with new guitars, skins, characters, costumes, and some cool behind-the-scenes videos. If I had any single complaint about Guitar Hero II it would be the lack of a cooperative career mode.

If you don’t play well with others you might want to try the Versus mode, which can either be last year’s Face-off mode where you trade off on parts of the lead track, or the new Pro Face-off where you each play the full lead track. We tried all these modes but ultimately agreed the cooperative was the most fun and rewarding, plus you don’t get those odd sound dropouts when the audio shifts channels. There is also some added challenge in co-op play in that you have to work together to build and initiate Star Power by tipping your guitars at the same time.

Also new for Guitar Hero II is the Practice mode where you can pick your song, skill level, the guitar track you want to practice, and then go as far as to pick the section of the song (intro, verse, chorus) or just play the whole song. Finally, you get to pick your practice speed, which really saves your bacon when you are trying to learn Jordan on Expert. Choose from Slowest, Slower, Slow, and Full speed as you gradually increase the flow of notes and master the song.

The Career mode is where you will need to spend much of your time, at least until you unlock everything and earn enough bank to buy the rest. There are more sets in this year’s game and now when you meet the requirements to end each set the crowd will demand an encore. You are free to decline, but you’ll miss a lot of extra cash and probably eight of the best songs in the game. Plus, earning five stars on the encore songs unlocks bonus guitars in the store.

The core gameplay is straight from the original Guitar Hero. Colored “notes” stream down the neck of the on-screen guitar and you must hold the corresponding fret and strum as these notes pass through the circle. As the difficulty level rises and you go deeper into the career song selection, there are many more notes, often in chords (2-3 buttons at the same time) and they move a lot faster. By hitting subsequent notes you earn combo multipliers and special star notes build up your Star Power that you can unleash to double your current multipliers and boost your Rock meter in times of need.

All of your favorite guitar heroes from the original are back with some Xbox 360 cosmetic surgery to polish them to next-gen perfection. Even the Reaper got scarier, if that was possible. Then we add three new aspiring musicians, 50’s rocker, Eddie Knox, the sexy Casey Lynch, and overweight KISS wannabe, Lars Umlaut to round out the cast.

You’ll see some of your favorite clubs, now totally revamped in 360-quality high-def, high-res, and all with a stylish new look, along with some new venues like The Vans Warped Tour and Stonehenge – yes the one in England. It’s great fun to start off in the high school gym in a classic Battle of the Bands, and then move into a basement club with rats and chicken wire, then to a groovy venue with black lights and funky stage art. There is even fun travel animation as you move around the country in a vehicle that upgrades with your success.

For those of you who have managed to master the original game at the Expert level, you will be pleased to know that Guitar Hero II achieves new levels of insanity, not only with the song selection, but also with two added career sets and an Expert setting that makes last year’s Expert look merely Hard. And don’t overlook those bonus tracks. Just because they aren’t from A-list performers doesn’t mean they don’t rock just as hard, if not harder than the core set lists.

The designers also did a fantastic job of creating a realistic sequence of notes from each piece of music, so you actually feel like you are playing the song regardless of bass, rhythm, or lead variations. The notes match the beat or tone and move up and down the simulated scale with predictable logic. Some songs have more aggressive bass tracks while other songs have rhythm tracks that dwarf the lead guitar. You never know what you are getting or which guitar is easier or harder until you try them all.

If you like to study stats, you can now view a massively detailed report card of your previous performance that shows your success rate during all parts of the song. It's impressive that they can do this but I found no real use for the information other than to know where I choked.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to keep your eyes on the hundreds of notes streaming down the neck of your guitar, so you probably won’t get to enjoy the stage show as much as the person sitting next to you waiting for their turn with the guitar, but at least you can pick your guitar and even skin it with fresh designs that you can purchase in the store. And you can even change costumes for the heroes this year in case you prefer feathers to leather.

Star Power erupts with awesome stage antics and thunderous crowd reactions, and there are wide shots of the crowd dancing and waving lighters. And I won’t give away the ultra-surprise ending after the final song of the final set, but it’s a whopper.

Harmonix was already ahead of the game when they included widescreen and progressive scan support on the PS2 last year, so we expected nothing less for the Xbox 360. In fact, this version will even support 1080p if you have the TV to handle it. And in case you are suffering from audio-visual lag when running in hi-def, there is a built-in calibration utility that will smooth things out for you.

Of course what you all really want to know is the song list, so assuming you haven’t already found it online and have been sleeping with it under your pillow for the past few months, here it is in its entirety, all eight sets and the bonus tracks plus all the Xbox 360 exclusives and downloadable contest as of this review. PS2 veterans will note that some of the songs have been rearranged.

Xbox 360 Setlist (exclusive tracks are listed in italics)

1. Opening Licks