[Multiplatform] [Multi-platform] Guitar Hero II

Just played GHII at bestbuy, REALLY SWEET!

The only thing that really bugs me is that bestbuy uses those
stupid Wide Screen LCDs so the timing is off.... ANNOYING!!

But other than that, i did Anthrax - Madhouse on Expert!
NICE!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I played it at best buy today as well. And if the demo is any indication, the lists in this thread aren't very accurate.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Is the guitar hero II controller better??

The one i played at bestbuy felt better (less clicky) than my
controller at home... Can anyone confirm this?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Playing Freebird is like going throgh 10 orgasms at the same time. It's that good!

How ya doing, buddy?

When I played the Demo of Guitar Hero 2 from my PS2 harddisk, some songs had stuttering and lagging issues in the harder parts with many chords on the screen. Did anyone play the full version on HDLoader already?

Most amazing jew boots

It's posted in my chocojournal, but I believe the review I did deserves to be put here as well.

Quote:

Okay, so due to the ever-amazing capabilities of modded PS2s and suchlike, and through various sources, I was able to get my hands on a copy of Guitar Hero II. I'll try to be as detailed as possible, but as I've been playing it basically nonstop since last night, it's hard to remember much of anything.

Well, the interface and idea and concept and everything about it is almost exactly the same, it just looks prettier. You can use your old guitar controller (thank goodness!) from Guitar Hero, so if you have one already, you'll only have to buy the game itself. Now, I haven't played through every single difficulty - just Expert - so I can't say exactly what you unlock when you beat each difficulty, or when you get five stars on every song in each difficulty (I tell ya, doing that on Expert is going to be impossible.) So most of my review is going to be based off of my experiences playing the game on its hardest setting.

That being said, the opening licks have already been kicked up just a notch in difficulty from the first game. They weren't kidding when they said they set out to make this game just a little bit harder, so that old pros will still have a challenge. Half the bands and songs I've never heard of before, but trust me when I say they're all high quality and all VERY fun to play. The first highlight is Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight, an encore song in the first set, by Spinal Tap. I won't tell you what happens at the end, but suffice to say if you've seen Spinal Tap, you'll think it's hilarious. The way encores work is you finish the entire set, and after you finish the 4th and final song, the crowd starts cheering for an encore. If you oblige, you play another song immediately, and the crowd gets some extra eye-candy to add to the dramatics.

In fact, the encore songs from every set are easily the most enjoyable - Sweet Child O' Mine is definitely one of my favorites, and Carry On Wayward Son is something Ron Burgundy would be proud of, but YYZ and Freebird were saved for the last two sets, because they rock your face off. A few other highlights would be Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In The Name" and Lamb of God's "Laid to Rest" (I felt so rad playing this one, because your fingers are flying around the frets the WHOLE SONG but by the time you get to this song you should be able to play it no problem. It's like one big huge guitar solo.)

Now, problem spots for me are likely to be the same for others. The Sword's "Freya," Heart's "Crazy On You," and Reverend Horton Heat's "Psychobilly Freakout" provide some difficult, oddly-timed and annoying licks and chord changes that just KILL, and the last few songs on the last set - namely, Suicidal Tendencies' tempo-unsteady "Institutionalized," Dick Dale's fret-burner "Misirlou," and Megadeth's solo-peppered "Hangar 18" are EXTREMELY HARD. These last three I still haven't beaten on Expert, admittedly. But, in my defense, I was able to play through every other song on Expert, save just a couple, without even using my star power.

The Practice mode is nice and I'll admit it came in handy on Freya, but I wouldn't suggest using it to practice any passages SLOWER. Just practice specific passages full speed, without having to go through the ENTIRE song just to get to it. It's the only way it'll REALLY help you, at least, that's how it seemed to be for me. But it's a very nice option to have. Also, the three-note chords are surprisingly easy to adapt to, and wicked fun to play while going crazy on your whammy bar.

The characters have had a LOT of detail added, though they still look cartoony, for good reason - it's just better that way. Your hands will flame when you've got a good streak going, and the strobelight that flashes when the drummer goes crazy makes you feel like you're right in the thick of it. Every character's look has been updated, and all the venues are different, save for the Red Octane venue, and that one's been updated. Rocking out in Stonehenge for the last set is crazy fun though, especially with the Grim Ripper's new look.

With the increase of difficulty, they seem to have decided to take it a little easier on the player, so hammer-ons and pull-offs are now MUCH easier to perform and trust me, you need it. Also, they've added a very nice feature which allows you to adjust for latency due to the signal to your TV or whatnot. So no more lag from your fancy-pants plasma or HDTV... just adjust, and play, and you'll be good to go.

The unlockable songs are fun, though I've only played a few. You've got some groups that returned for the sequel, such as The Artillery (now known as The Breaking Wheel, which was the name of their song in the last game) and Freezepop - Less Talk More Rokk is definitely fun and cool to play, but somehow isn't as catchy as Get Ready 2 Rokk. However, I think almost anyone would agree with me that the absolute highlight of the game, and the coolest bonus track EVER, is...

TROGDOR!

The song rocks hard, and it's surprisingly difficult, at least on Expert. But being able to play a Strong Bad song in a Guitar Hero game...? There's nothing better.

See if you can catch the hint that Stairway to Heaven will be in the next Guitar Hero game. They hinted at Freebird in the last one, and it's in Guitar Hero II...

FELIPE NO

OMGosh.....

I'm playing through expert right now and let me tell you...
Not only did everything get much harder!
It rocks more than part 1 by a 1,000 times!!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

My favorite addition to this series is Progressive Scanning.

Now I won't have to play on a small tube TV, I can finally play on my DLP HD set without the lagging associated with de-interlacing.

At least, I hope I won't have to, I'm still burning the game now.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I love the Hi Speed code option this time around.
Sometimes in part 1 i needed some spacing to see the charts better.
I'm very happy that they decided to add it in.

I'm not sure why some people (on other forums) are unhappy with
the hi-speed code. They say it takes away from the game because
people will use it as a way of looking cool. I'm not after coolness,
i'm after spacing for rhythms ^_^

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Aye, the progressive scan is a GREAT feature. Super great, in fact.

Also, as a quick update, I finally beat the last three songs in the final set - but I'm stuck on Freebird. It's ... well let me just say that I have no idea how anyone could possibly beat that song on expert, let alone get five stars on it!

Double Post:

Originally Posted by SCHWARZE-3

When I played the Demo of Guitar Hero 2 from my PS2 harddisk, some songs had stuttering and lagging issues in the harder parts with many chords on the screen. Did anyone play the full version on HDLoader already?

I've noticed some stuttering with the full version myself, but I thought it was just because the disc was having read error issues. It would pause, then start up again but the sound would be a full second behind the video - although, I was still able to play just fine, I just had to ignore the sound.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Ive had no problems with the full version and stuttering (after I burned it to a dvd that wasnt missing part of a layer :O)

I was never particularly good at GH1, but i could easily beat every song on expert (5 stars is another story, never tried, never will) but I've been having a damn hard time in the Oakland tier of songs. Madhouse is simple (for some reason) , but Laid to Rest made my hard scream bloody murder

Loving the game still, but wondering if I'll be able to finish it on expert :O

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I dunno about you guys, but I'm enjoying some of the bonus songs better than the main ones.

Then again, I'm not that into "classic rock."

I was speaking idiomatically.

Update:

HOW THE F*** DO YOU BEAT MISIRLOU ON EXPERT OMFG.

im crying on the inside

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I can't stop playing Jessica~ It's like Hammer On / Pull Off City!

And is it just me or does the Rage cover vocalist doesn't sound ...
well, right for the song ^_^'' Maybe they had a hard time finding
a guy with that kind of high voice.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Lipid

HOW THE F*** DO YOU BEAT MISIRLOU ON EXPERT OMFG.

Here's what I had to do... strum up and down really fast. Ha. No, kidding. Key here is getting through the first part, because chances are you're dying at the exact same place I always did... the section where it's still going ridiculously fast, but you have to walk up and down on your frets every two notes.. greengreenredred greengreenyellowyellow greengreenblueblue greengreenorangeorange greengreenblueblue greengreenyellowyellow AAAGH! I THINK I IS GOING TO INSANE!

If you can manage to snag your star power at the beginning though (which is tough) you can always star-power your way through that section, and you should be fine the rest of the song. I had to do that the first time I beat it. Second time I managed SOMEHOW to stumble through that difficult section, and the rest of the song is cake, comparatively.

Double Post:

Originally Posted by DjMeas

And is it just me or does the Rage cover vocalist doesn't sound ... well, right for the song ^_^''

Yeah, he sounds NOTHING LIKE the original vocalist. Which is okay I guess. But it ruins the song for me.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

well it doesnt matter if i beat Misirlou or not.. I wont be beating Institutionalized or Beast And The Harlot anytime soon ><

GH2 gods frown upon me :P

Jam it back in, in the dark.

God damn I want to play this game ASAP. The guys at the dorms are waiting for their copy to arrive in the mail so we can all play the damn game already. Sounds like it's going to be a GH2 party this weekend.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Beast and the Harlot was fairly easy for me, but Institutionalized gave me some grief. The tempo changes suck, and the wicked-fast chord changes just kinda make me sit back and go "WTF man..." but I finally just decided I'd hit two out of every three chords during the difficult parts, or something like that. Seemed to work well enough.

Yuni, come have a GH2 party at my house. There will be mudwrestling pasta. And 100% fruit juice.

How ya doing, buddy?

Does GH2 have widescreen support on the PS2?

Honestly, the only things keeping me from buying it for the PS2 right now instead of waiting for the Xbox 360 version are lingering questions about widescreen support and the possibility of Marketplace downloads of songs.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by JasonTerminator

Does GH2 have widescreen support on the PS2?

Honestly, the only things keeping me from buying it for the PS2 right now instead of waiting for the Xbox 360 version are lingering questions about widescreen support and the possibility of Marketplace downloads of songs.

Yes.

Progressive Scanning and Widescreen.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by JasonTerminator

Does GH2 have widescreen support on the PS2?

Honestly, the only things keeping me from buying it for the PS2 right now instead of waiting for the Xbox 360 version are lingering questions about widescreen support and the possibility of Marketplace downloads of songs.

Dude, seriously, just wait for it. If you really need to quench your thirst for new guitar hero songs, go to a store that has a copy of GH2 set up for playing, and fiddle with that for a bit. I was glad to get my PS2 copy, but I got it for free, and there's no way I'm paying for it - GH2 for the 360 will be so much more worth it.

Most amazing jew boots

Yeah, except then I have to buy TWO guitars, instead of just one. Not to mention 360 games are more expensive to begin with.

I'm seriously thinking about picking this up when I get GoW tomorrow, but my money is getting thin, with the DDD sale coming up and the launch of the Wii, which I'm also considering.

Dammit, things cost too much.

FELIPE NO

Yeah, good point(s) ... hm. Well, chances are you could have enough money when it comes out for the 360, since you gotta wait for it anyway.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

This game is KILLING ME it's so good. My wrist feels like absolute hell after blowing through 35 songs in a row on hard.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yeah. Trust me. I know the feeling. That and the feeling of the tiny blood blister on the tip of my pinky. And the best part is... I still haven't given it a rest. I keep going back to this wondrous game.

There's nowhere I can't reach.