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Guitar Hero II Review - PS2

Introduction

Guitar Hero II fills a primary function in the role of interactive entertainment.

Wish fulfilment.

For so long we have been the hero who has slain the dragon and rescued the princess, the race car driver who takes the championship, the martial artist who overcomes all comers.

Here we are, fulfilling the dream of any young lad or lass who ever picked up a tennis racket and strummed it like an air guitar.

Guitar Hero has little story to speak of. You pick an avatar, from the available muso stereotypes (rock dude, metal man, punk chick, over-the-top, laid back cool) and embark on a career.

You start in a “battle of the bands”, progressing to your own gigs, with sponsors, and as you get further and further up the rock food chain, venues improve, becoming the over the top glam rock from days of legend.

I must admit, however, that the final act is a wonderful tie in to the original Guitar Hero.

Gameplay

First and foremost, throw away any illusions that Guitar Hero will actually teach you to play guitar.

Your sense of rhythm may improve, you may get a feel for the ebb and flow of music, but any actual skill earned? Negligible.

Playing Guitar Hero teaches you to play guitar about as well as Street Fighter teaches you martial arts.

The illusion, however, it well put on.

By now you're probably well aware of the controller that comes packed in with Guitar Hero 2. Aside from the slight cosmetic change, black to red, it's exactly the same. You can purchase the game separately if you've already got a couple of guitars ready to rock with.

The controller takes a little getting used to. There are five buttons along the fret board, or neck, colour coded for your convenience.

The body of the guitar has your start and select buttons and a strum bar. Wiggling this up and down acts like strumming the strings which, with the appropriate fret button held down, makes the music sound good.

The notes come at you, arranged in five rows, one for each fret button. As the note hits the bottom line, you hold the fret button and strum. When chords come along, you hold down two or more fret buttons.

For every ten notes in a row that you nail, you get a bonus multiplier, all the way up to 4x.

There is also a whammy bar, used to change the pitch of long notes, as well as milk special “star notes” for Star Power.

Consider Star Power your mojo. When the meter fills, you get to tip the controller vertical and the crowd will go wild. All points earned whilst in Star Power mode are doubled which, when coupled with the normal bonus multiplayer,means you can rack up a x8 bonus for every note hit.

Star Power also works ... (continued next page)