The Guitar Hero franchise has been a hugely successfully one since the release of the original Guitar Hero on the PS2, which was released in April 2006 in the UK, and rightly so. The series is one of the most and popular and original available in videogaming today, and so it is no surprise ... Read review
Unleash your inner rock starKiller soundtrack includes over 70 jaw dropping tracksYou ... more
Really Got MeWar PigsBeast and the HarlotCrazy On YouCarry on Wayward SonHeart-shaped boxKilling in the nameSweet Child O' MineMessage in a bottleShout at the devilSu...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
* This item is only available for UK mainland delivery. Please contact us if you are ... more
interested in having this item sent elsewhere.Includes:Guitar Heroes II 2 GameGuitar Heroes Guitar ControllerRock the Rhythm, Lead, and Bass Guitar tracks in the follow-up sequel to the Best Music Game of the year of 2005. Form your guitar duo and shred riffs cooperatively or go head to head in all new multiplayer modes. With over 55 tracks to rockout to, you`ll go from Guitar Hero to Guitar god in one press of a fret button. Choose from multiple rock characters and jam at concert venues that grow in size as your rock career progresses! You`ll start your rock career playing small clubs and bars, but if you play well you`ll work your way up to stadiums and arenas.Current "set list":Opening Licks:Cheap Trick - SurrenderDanzig - MotherMotley Crue - Shout at the DevilSpinal Tap - Tonight I`m Gonna Rock You TonightAmp-Warmers:Kansas - Carry on Wayward SonKiss - StrutterNirvana - Heart-Shaped BoxPolice - Message in a BottleVan Halen - You Really Got MeString-Snappers:Alice in Chains - Them BonesBlack Sabbath - War PigsFoo Fighters - Monkey WrenchIggy Pop and the Stooges - Search and DestroyPretenders - Tattooed Love BoysThrash and Burn:Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last NightGuns N` Roses - Sweet Child O` MineRolling Stones - Can`t You Hear Me Knockin`Matthew Sweet - GirlfriendWarrant - Cherry PieReturn of the Shred:Aerosmith - Last ChildPrimus - John the FishermanRage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name OfSword - FreyaThin Lizzy - Bad ReputationRelentless Riffs:Allman Brothers - JessicaHea
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Advantages: Large choice of songs, online leaderboards, extensive practise mode Disadvantages: No online multiplayer mode
The Guitar Hero franchise has been a hugely successfully one since the release of the original Guitar Hero on the PS2, which was released in April 2006 in the UK, and rightly so. The series is one of the most and popular and original available in videogaming today, and so it is no surprise that it has finally made it's way to the Xbox 360 in the form of the newer, shinier version of Guitar Hero 2.
For those unsure, the principle behind ... ...conventional pad, you use a guitar shaped one. It features a strum bar and five fret buttons, as well as a whammy bar. To play a note you do exactly as you would with a real guitar; hold down one of the fret buttons, and hit the strum bar to produce the relevant note. As the song you're playing along to kicks in, a fretboard appears on screen, and scrolls towards you, with finger placements on it on the relevant notes. All you have to do to successfully ... more
The Guitar Hero franchise has been a hugely successfully one since the release of the original Guitar Hero on the PS2, which was released in April 2006 in the UK, and rightly so. The series is one of the most and popular and original available in videogaming today, and so it is no surprise that it has finally made it's way to the Xbox 360 in the form of the newer, shinier version of Guitar Hero 2.
For those unsure, the principle behind Guitar Hero 2 is very simple. First and foremost, rather than a conventional pad, you use a guitar shaped one. It features a strum bar and five fret buttons, as well as a whammy bar. To play a note you do exactly as you would with a real guitar; hold down one of the fret buttons, and hit the strum bar to produce the relevant note. As the song you're playing along to kicks in, a fretboard appears on screen, and scrolls towards you, with finger placements on it on the relevant notes. All you have to do to successfully play that note is strum the strum bar whilst holding down the given fret button, just as if you were playing guitar. Simple eh?
With this unique control system, Red Octane have found a winner. The controller is responsive, sturdier than its PS2 counterpart (not to mention downright sexier) and comfortable to use.
The tracks you can play along to are well chosen as well. There are some obvious classics available to rock to including Van Halen's "You Really Got Me", Guns 'n' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" and the infamous "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. However there are also some very modern songs, some lesser known. A personal favourite of mine is Every Time I Die's "The New Black", as well as "Six" by metalcore band All That Remains, whilst My Chemical Romance also make an appearance with "Dead!" Other better known tracks include Foo Fighters' "Monkey Wrench", Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" and Wolfmother's "Woman". Whilst some of the songs are original recordings, cover bands perform most, quite wonderfully I would argue. There are a few exceptions; the removal of the line "F**k you I won't do what you tell me" from Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name", as well as a debatably irate vocalist mean the song loses a lot of it's power, and the vocalist on "Heart Shaped Box" does an admirable job of trying to replicate Kurt Cobain's unique vocal style, but falls slightly short of the mark.
Already, there's plenty to enjoy. Using the Quick Play mode, you can hop straight into one of the songs from the main set list and any that you've unlocked, choosing the difficulty setting as you do so, and rock until your shirt's ripped and your hair is matted with sweat, or something.
However, there is a substantial Career Mode to enjoy as well. In this mode, you choose a "guitar hero" from the list of available characters, and play your part in a rock band. The career is split up into eight sections, (seven on the easiest difficulty setting), with the tracks getting gradually more complex and difficult to play. Each time you unlock a new section, often by successfully completing an encore, you're band moves to a bigger and more impressive venue, eventually culminating in a gig at Stonehenge. After each song is completed, you'll get a breakdown of how well you performed each individual section, and therefore you know exactly what you need to work on to better your score and make the crowds go even wilder in the future. The career can be completed on all difficulties, and you needn't complete the entire tour on one difficulty to unlock another; the freedom available makes for a full on rock experience. Also in the Career Mode you can buy new guitars, finishes, songs and characters, as well as access the now available song packs from Xbox Live Marketplace.
Having just mentioned the increasing technicality of the tracks you'll perform, the learning curve of the game requires a mention. It's well judged, to be fair, and the different difficulty settings are well titled. The Easy mode is perfect for just getting you used to the idea of a guitar controller, and getting the timing with the notes on screen correct. I had never played a Guitar Hero game before, but had few problems getting 5 stars on all the tracks on Easy; it's perfect for getting you into the swing of things. Medium starts to throw more notes at you, and more chords, as well as using more of the fret buttons. The jump up to hard is large, no doubt, but with practice (more on this shortly) many songs can be conquered. Finally, Expert offers the ultimate challenge to gamers; you'll need mighty quick fingers to defeat some of the horrendously complex hammer-on and pull-off sequences, as well as a fast strumming arm, in both directions. Some of the songs on this hardest difficulty setting (which I am in fact struggling with at the moment) require some serious patience, a certain amount of luck ("how did I pull that off?") but, most importantly they require skill. This game rewards skill, no doubt about that.
After mentioning the need to practice, what better place to head now than the brilliant, life-saving training mode? There are practice modes on most games, but few let you practice in such a detailed and interactive way as Guitar Hero 2. When a song that, and I quote from one of the humorous loading screens, is "kicking your butt", load it up in practice mode, choose the difficulty setting you'd like to practice on and bash away without fear of being booed off, as happens in the career mode when a song is failed. However, there's far more to this mode. Maybe you don't want to practice an entire song, as it's only the solo that's giving you a problem? No problem, choose the section of the song to start from, the section where you'd like to end the practice, and go at it. Maybe it's the speed of play required that's giving you issues? No problem here either, each song can be slowed down to a snail's pace (there are three settings besides 'normal speed') so you can master the sequences and gradually improve. Come the end of each session you'll be told the percentage of notes you hit, so you can work your way to perfection before blasting it off in the Career mode. It is, by far, the best practice mode I've ever come across, and unlike many, it actually really, really helps.
The online features of the game are, all things considered, the only area that could be improved. There is no online multiplayer mode whatsoever (you and a friend can rock out when plugged into the same console, however), but Red Octane have said that it is a probable feature in the future. There are online leaderboards though, and trying to beat your mates on a particular track or in the career mode is an enjoyable and focusing task. Unfortunately, my best mate is far too good at this game, and therefore has wiped the floor with me on most tracks. Hopefully you have nicer friends.
All things considered, this is an excellent, must own game. It's brilliantly presented, with a proper rock 'n' roll stereotype teacher on the practice mode, ludicrous artwork and characters throughout, as well as the comical "advice" given on each loading screen. In fact, the feature of this game that best describes what Red Octane were looking to produce, is that by tilting your guitar controller vertically, likely as you're thrashing around your room, you can activate Star Power to drive the crowds wild and double your score for each note hit. And who said rock was dead?
Advantages: very enjoyable, novel game with some clssic songs to choose from Disadvantages: overall not great set list, new songs expensive to download
...and enjoyable games ever created. Guitar Hero 2 allows you to act out those rock and roll fantasies (excluding the drugs of course and other associated shenanigans) from the comfort of your own home. As the name suggests this is a game all about guitar playing, most importantly though you don't have to know how to play guitar to become the next Slash or Eric Clapton. The game comes with the X - Plorer guitar which you need to play it. The guitar ... ...How to play :
The guitar has five colored buttons where the frets on a normal guitar would be green/red/yellow/blue/orange. As these notes appear on the screen, you must hold down the button and strum using the strummer located in the main body of the guitar. Furthermore some notes are held down for long periods indicated by colored lines running from the notes, during these you can use the whammy bar to fluctuate the note which has its rewards.
...
hmd3 14.06.2007 (21.06.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)
Advantages: Guitar Looks Great, Very Addictive, Easy To Learn, Hard To Master Disadvantages: Second Guitar Really Needed For Two Player Game, No Online Co-Op Play
...plugged away trying to learn guitar in the hope that one day I will grace the stage with thousands of fans screaming at me, but lets face it, that will never happen, so what am I to do? Well thankfully Activison have the answer in the form of Guitar Hero II, it may not bring me the dream that I once hoped of but it's as close a lot of us are going to get.
The first thing that strikes you about Guitar Hero II is how well the Guitar Controller is ... ...the same, meaning that the Guitar is an essential purchase if you want to play Guitar Hero II.
The controls are very simple to get to grips with, on the necks of the Guitar are the green, red, yellow, blue and orange fret buttons, each corresponds with the note of the same colour, although at first you may not play all the notes depending on what difficulty you choose, at the other end of the guitar you have the strum bar which you move in time ...
TJGardner 26.04.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)
Advantages: Good song selection, Great Sound, Unlockables Disadvantages: Expensive marketplace downloads, Need's time and effort to be good at it.
So think you're a Guitar Hero? Well you can be with Guitar Hero 2 on the Xbox 360! Guitar Hero 2 boasts a massive selection of over 70 songs, with the option to download extra content via the Xbox Live marketplace (if you have a subscription that is).
Starting out is easy, there is a mini tutorial to get you shredding in no time. The tutorial starts out easy with the simple tasks of hitting a few notes as they appear on screen. Next you can move ... ...tracks, new characters and new guitar finishes. The career takes a while to complete "fully" which would be to achieve every song with a maximum 5 star rating. But don't be scared, Easy mode starts of as it sounds... Easy. You will soon learn the sounds and tempo of each song giving you an upper hand in the later game difficulties. Half of the game is based on knowing to press the note; the other is based on your ability to press the right one!
...
Benf199105 29.05.2007 (30.05.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)
Guitar hero 2 originaly came out on the playstation 2 which was a great hit at the time, but didnt take of very well as the compatition of othere consols was in the mist. reluctantly xbox 360 was the second consol to re-release guitar hero 2 but had additional new songs and features to keep the audience entertained. the new look of the guitar was a big improvement compared to the old style guitar, they based this on the gibson explorer to give it ... ...it, and these were from guitar hero 1 so no great difference there. also the prices of the songs where kinda expensive considering they where songs from a older game you would of thought it would be cheap.
I have this game and currently still play it intill the new guitar hero 3 comes out or rockband, it keeps me busy when im bord. I must say it does get boring now and then being the song choices are limited and there is no more downloadable content, ...
chering123 23.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)
Advantages: Loads of fun Disadvantages: Many songs are not by original artists
Guitar Hero 2 is the popular sequel to the PS2 Game Guitar Hero. Release on Xbox 360 in April 2007 with additional content this game uses a guitar shapped controller to simulate playing real songs. There are 5 buttons at the top of the guitar which act as chords, and a strum and whammy bar for strumming and changing the sound.
The game has many songs (some cover versions) from 1960's to 2000's, which involves playing scrolling notes by pressing ... ...expert you truly are a guitar hero!
2 player mode in available in 3 different forms - Cooperative, Face-Off, and Pro Face-Off. Co-op involves a 2 player career with one person playing lead guitar and one playing base. Face off mean you both play the same song (on whatever difficulty you want) and the winner is determined by score and difficulty level. Pro Face-off is the same as face off but both players have to play the same difficulty.
Overall ...
mcicp19 15.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)
Gameplay/Playability
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Value for Money
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Advantages: Excellent gameplay, and great to play as a group! Disadvantages: Price maybe abit high, but game can be bought seperately with solo peripherals
This game offeres exceptional gameplay for people looking to play alone or with a group of friends. To fully enjoy this game you will have to purchase the game with all the peripherals;
1.Rock Band Guitar
2.Rock Band Microphone
3.Rock Band Drum Set
4.Rock Band Guitar (for use as a bass guitar)
The original GuitarHero2guitar (X-Box360) can be used to play the game, but as far as i know you cannot use the Rock Band Guitar to play GuitarHero.
With plenty of songs and other downloadable content, this game offers the fun of guitarhero with the added fun of Drums and Vocals!
Controller Info:
Guitar: The Rock Band Guitar can be used to play both Guitar and Bass Guitar, and Features a number of inputs. The Guitar neck consists of 10 buttons, 5 at the top and 5 at the bottom. These are the standard Green, Red, Yellow, Blue ...
Advantages: Graphics, Gameplay, Games, Online features, Media centre capabilities. Disadvantages: Quite noisy, Relys on HDTV for top notch graphics.
there are a collection of EA games including FIFA and other sports as well as the latest installment of the popular football rival Pro Evo.
There are also a huge range of racing games such as Burnout Revenge, Project Gotham Racing and Test Drive Unlimited.
Other game highlights include: Crackdown, Lost Planet, Viva Pinita, Call of Duty 2 and 3. And with some highly anticipated titles on the horizon such as: GTA IV, Halo 3, Halo Wars, Burnout 5, Turok, GuitarHeroII, Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Mass Effect, Medal Of Honor: Airborne, Resident Evil 5. Don't forget that Xbox360 is yet to reach its prime and amongst the high profile titles their will no doubt be something for everybody. ...
tomwebbz 23.03.2007 (25.03.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Microsoft Xbox 360
Advantages: Amazing Online Play Lots of Great Games Good graphics Disadvantages: Tendency to Break.
Below is what you get when you buy an XBOX360:
20GB Detachable HDD
Wireless Controller
Ethernet Cable
Xbox Live Headset
Component Cable
Composite Cable
TOSLINK Output Port
Stereo RCA Cable
Xbox Live Silver
1 Month Of Xbox Live Gold
3.2GHZ Tri Core Processor
512MB GDDR3@700mhz
Custom ATI 500mhz GPU
Dimensions(cm):
8.3 X 30.9 X 25.8
In my opinion the XBOX360 is the best current gen console out there. Ive had my XBOX360 since January this year and its been great until now. I was playing GuitarHero2 and the game froze i turned the console off ...
Product Information for "Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)" »
Product details
Publisher
Activision; RedOctane
Developer
Harmonix
Release Date
6th April 2007
Age
12+
Genre
Music/Rhythm; Kids/Family
Max Number of Players Offline
2 Player
Format
DVD-ROM
Platform
Xbox 360
Aka
GH2
EAN
5030917043178; 5030917051814
Manufacturer's product description
Guitar Hero II explodes onto the Xbox 360 with over 70 songs and the revolutionary X-Plorer controller!
RedOctane\'s follow-up to the critically acclaimed rhythm game. Guitar Hero II features a brand-new and expanded track list, more venues and new play modes, and aims to rock longer and harder than its predecessor. RedOctane has once again teamed up with veteran music game developer Harmonix for the sequel, and is using famed recording studio WaveGroup for its music production, who also recorded the covers for the licensed tracks in the original Guitar Hero. The Xbox 360 version also adds 10 new songs, a huge amount of downloadable content features and songs, leaderboards and online features, plus support for the Guitar Hero X-Plorer guitar controller.
