Guitar Hero II

Game Info



Publisher: RedOctane

Developer: Harmonix

Platform: PS2

Genre(s): Music

Players: 2

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 7, 2006


Intro:

Just as in Guitar Hero, the intro is relatively straight-foward, keeping the player's desire to get playing in mind.  After a brief cartoon guitar fight, the load screen comes up and the player is taken through the same basic player decisions as in Guitar Hero.  Immediately noticeable is the addition of new player characters to play with, including some that needed to be unlocked in Guitar Hero.


Visuals:
A few things do stand out in visual changes in Guitar Hero II.  There are more close-ups of the PC during play, allowing the player to get a better view of some of the PC animations without disrupting gameplay.  Now, the player can enjoy their choice of PC as much as their friends do while playing.  In addition, if the player has a 4x multiplier during the solo, fire comes from the PC fingertips, which is visible to the player while playing.  Not as visible, the audience lifts a flame to the player when they enjoy the performance.  As the venues improve, so does the quality of the show and encores in upper levels receive special visual treats.  Inconsistent with the improvements, however, are the main screen and some of the reward screens.  I found myself asking "What's with the zombies and beasts?"  It didn't fit the rock and roll theme and wasn't explained in any way that I could see. 

Sound:
The sound design team at Harmonix used a greater dynamic sound range in Guitar Hero II which greatly improves gameplay over Guitar Hero.  Almost all of the songs have a finishing note set.  In lower levels, most of the time, extra notes are dampened so that the player really only hears what they are playing.  In contrast, in Guitar Hero, the player heard all of the notes, making it difficult, sometimes, to play only what was shown. On the other hand, I found that if I had practiced hard on a solo or intro for a song on hard or expert, I was now still expecting those extra notes on medium.  By the same token, however, if the player misses a series of notes, they are not heard at all. If the player is unfamiliar with the song, they may have to go into practice mode or play on a lower level to hear the notes and pacing. There is more vibrato on long notes when using the whammy bar.  In some songs, there is a noticeable improvement in sound when using the Power-up.  There is also an additional sound effect given to when you ruin your multiplier streak.  While having instant feedback is usually a good thing, it is not something you always want to hear. 

Rewards and Punishments:
As stated above, a sound effect has been added for when the multiplier streak is lost, which is a punishment for the player.  The "You Rock" screen is on-screen for much less time, but has been replaced by an encore reward which allows players to play some of the coolest songs in the game while rewarding the player with the encore CG followed by a special on-stage show-stopper.  Added to the store are outfits for the various PC's. And, things bought in the store are now available in all levels instead of needing to be re-purchased on every level.  Once all of the songs are played, players earn extra money, unlock a new guitar, and unlock a new gameplay mode. 

Controls:
The Hammer-ons and Pull-offs were improved in Guitar Hero II so that they would be easier to use and master. 

Ideas:
I did something in this evaluation that I don't normally do.  I skipped the parts that were unchanged from Guitar Hero because including those would be the same as simply copying and pasting from the Guitar Hero analysis.  I believe that, for a game to make the Top 100 list, it should be able to stand on it's own as a quality game.  If the first game in a franchise has received rave reviews, then it does stand to reason that a franchise that improves on the original game does stand on it's own merit.  However, I feel that this may have been some of the reason that the Guitar Hero franchise lost some of it's luster.  A franchise game must have a significant amount of changes and improvements to make it a great game in it's own right and make it worth the player's money.  If it isn't significantly altered from the previous game in the franchise, the game is nothing more than over-priced DLC.  The Final Fantasy franchise is an excellent example of the franchise done well.  Each Final Fantasy game stands alone,  unassociated with the previous games in the franchise but for a core creature database and basic play mechanics.  In way of contrast, the Madden franchise is something I struggle to understand.  While each game improves in graphics and includes the proper player names and faces, the play doesn't significantly change from game to game in the franchise.  I understand why players want to play them.  I don't understand why they continue to hit the Top 100 list.  The Guitar Hero franchise demonstrates this dichotomy.  Games in the franchise that changed significantly, made the list.  Games that simply changed the music sets did not.