Within the ranks of 2old2play, the monster-hit game Guitar Hero II, developed by Harmonix and published by Activision, does not need further introduction.
With much enthusiasm, the members have embraced their mock-guitars, lovingly dubbed them 'axes' and have become avid living room rockstars.
Some members own copies intended for the PS2 and the 360, others own two guitars for one version so they can multiplay with family and friends and other still just go about becoming Guitar Heroes in solitude. They're connected to each other by the online leaderboards featured only on the 360 and check up on each other's progress. Friendly rivalry does exist and it must be noted that the wannabe rockstars engage in the rivalry in the spirit of Guitar Hero 2, with a firm tongue in cheek!
Guitar Hero II has indeed taken the 2o2p-community by storm and that's a testament to the game as pure and ultimately simple in concept as Guitar Hero II is. It's very easy to get into, overly simple to learn and yet a challenge to master. You, the player, are given a mock-guitar with five color coded keys sitting on the fretboard, a lever used to strum imaginary snares and a tremolo called a whammybar. On your screen, colored dots, with colors corresponding to the keys on the mock-guitar, fall down towards targets. At the moment the dots reach the target, you must press the right color key down and work the lever (called the strumbar) to activate the key. Time it right and points are awarded. Every ten times in a row you succeed, the score per note gets multiplied, up to a total of four times the nominal worth if you manage to time forty notes in a row. But fail once, and your multiplier is void...
It doesn't stop there... Every so often stars, instead of dots, fall down and they add starpower to a gauge. When the gauge is halfway full, you must activate starpower by tilting your mock-guitar rockstar-style. Now the scoring gets doubled for the time you have starpower in your gauge, for a maximum of eight times the nominal worth of a dot!
Of course, if it was just that, then it wouldn't be much of a game. Luckily, you get to work your magic playing legendary and not so legendary guitar-heavy rocksongs from the seventies and eighties. From Surrender (Cheap Trick) to Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Sweet Child O' mine (Guns 'n' Roses). You're bound to find a song in that eclectic mix that tickles your fancy, but if you want to unlock all the goodies to be had, you must successfully complete the 'career' which involves you playing every song on the disk.
If you want in on the fun that a good percentage of the 2o2p-community is having, get yourself a copy of Guitar Hero II and join the ranks of the living room rockstars. The pricing might look steep to you, but the game will pay for itself inside three days due to the sheer fun it provides. Add to that the lively forum 2o2p sports dedicated to Guitar Hero II, the fact that you can taunt fellow heroes over XBL and your own personal satisfaction of enjoying the ultimate partygame and you'll quite surely agree when I say:
"Guitar Hero II is here to stay!"
Some members own copies intended for the PS2 and the 360, others own two guitars for one version so they can multiplay with family and friends and other still just go about becoming Guitar Heroes in solitude. They're connected to each other by the online leaderboards featured only on the 360 and check up on each other's progress. Friendly rivalry does exist and it must be noted that the wannabe rockstars engage in the rivalry in the spirit of Guitar Hero 2, with a firm tongue in cheek!
Guitar Hero II has indeed taken the 2o2p-community by storm and that's a testament to the game as pure and ultimately simple in concept as Guitar Hero II is. It's very easy to get into, overly simple to learn and yet a challenge to master. You, the player, are given a mock-guitar with five color coded keys sitting on the fretboard, a lever used to strum imaginary snares and a tremolo called a whammybar. On your screen, colored dots, with colors corresponding to the keys on the mock-guitar, fall down towards targets. At the moment the dots reach the target, you must press the right color key down and work the lever (called the strumbar) to activate the key. Time it right and points are awarded. Every ten times in a row you succeed, the score per note gets multiplied, up to a total of four times the nominal worth if you manage to time forty notes in a row. But fail once, and your multiplier is void...
It doesn't stop there... Every so often stars, instead of dots, fall down and they add starpower to a gauge. When the gauge is halfway full, you must activate starpower by tilting your mock-guitar rockstar-style. Now the scoring gets doubled for the time you have starpower in your gauge, for a maximum of eight times the nominal worth of a dot!
Of course, if it was just that, then it wouldn't be much of a game. Luckily, you get to work your magic playing legendary and not so legendary guitar-heavy rocksongs from the seventies and eighties. From Surrender (Cheap Trick) to Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Sweet Child O' mine (Guns 'n' Roses). You're bound to find a song in that eclectic mix that tickles your fancy, but if you want to unlock all the goodies to be had, you must successfully complete the 'career' which involves you playing every song on the disk.
If you want in on the fun that a good percentage of the 2o2p-community is having, get yourself a copy of Guitar Hero II and join the ranks of the living room rockstars. The pricing might look steep to you, but the game will pay for itself inside three days due to the sheer fun it provides. Add to that the lively forum 2o2p sports dedicated to Guitar Hero II, the fact that you can taunt fellow heroes over XBL and your own personal satisfaction of enjoying the ultimate partygame and you'll quite surely agree when I say:
"Guitar Hero II is here to stay!"
