Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)

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Description

Guitar Hero II, the follow-up to the PS2-only game Guitar Hero, expands upon the gameplay and features of the original game. As a wannabe rockstar, you need to play songs by pressing combinations of five fret buttons on a guitar-shaped controller, while working the strum bar, along with an optional whammy bar for distortion. The sequel contains 64 songs, of which 40 have been licensed. One of the tracks was discovered through a contest at beaguitarhero.com, where unlicensed bands could send in a demo to be included in the game. Most of the tracks have been covered in-studio, but a few use original recordings.

The career mode has been revamped as a high school battle where you need to make your way to the top. Every venue is now represented by a different city. There are also encore performances, and unlockables can still be bought in the shop. A completely new addition is the practice mode (Shred School). When you keep getting stumped by a single track, you can train in this mode. The background music is dropped, you can choose a certain section to practice, and there four types of speeds available, to slowly get the hang of difficult passages.

In the multiplayer mode, you can still play the traditional mode from the first game, where sections are traded off between players. The co-op mode is new: both players play the same song at the same time, but one is given the lead guitar, while the other handles the bass or rhythm guitar. Unlike the traditional mode, you can fail and both player share the score, rock meter and multiplier. To activate star power (a short power-up mode where the score multiplier is doubled, built up in a meter by playing a number of star-shaped notes without flaws and best saved for difficult sections) both players need to raise the guitar at the same time. You cannot practice together in this mode, but the different sections are available in the singleplayer practice mode. The final mode is called Face-Off. Here, both players play every single note at the same time. In the multiplayer mode, each player can now choose an individual difficulty level. Upon completing Face-Off, Pro Face-Off becomes available, where both players need to use the same difficulty level.

Other additions are the introduction of three-button chords, the use of hammer-ons and pull-offs (holding one note while playing another and vice versa) is smoother, and the screen now shakes if you break a note streak (only of the side of the player who makes the mistake in the multiplayer mode).

Screenshots

Alternate Titles

• "GH2" -- Common abbreviation

Part of the Following Groups

• Games referenced in movies
• Genre: Simulation - Music
• Guitar Hero series
• Hero music games
• Middleware: FaceFX

User Reviews

There are no reviews for the Xbox 360 release of this game. You can use the links below to write your own review or read reviews for the other platforms of this game.

The Press Says

EmpireOnline.com	2007		100
SFT	Apr, 2007	1.2 out of 6	96
TeamXbox	Apr 02, 2007	9.3 out of 10	93
Worth Playing	May 03, 2007	9.2 out of 10	92
Gamestyle	Apr 11, 2007	9 out of 10	90
Gameslave UK	Apr 17, 2007	9 out of 10	90
Wham! gaming	Apr 20, 2007	9 out of 10	90
Thunderbolt Games	Apr 16, 2007	9 out of 10	90
Digital Entertainment News (den)	May 08, 2007	8.9 out of 10	89
Games Master	May, 2007	88 out of 100	88

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
What motion fiction?	6	Sciere (255534) Jan 13, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Guitar Hero II appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Defect Guitar Controllers

A batch of 360 guitars have a faulty whammy bar causing certain movements not to be registered or with a slight delay. The issue was isolated to the numbers 95065 and 95055, found on the guitar's packaging. Customers could exchange their guitar for a new one. Tech-savvy users can also fix the problem themselves, a guide can be found in the related links section.

On 14th April 2007, RedOctane also released a patch over Xbox Live that solves the issue.

PlayStation 2 Releases

The PS2 version comes in different bundles. The first one only includes the game, if you already own the Gibson SG from the first game, as it is compatible with the sequel. A second bundle includes the game and a red Gibson SG guitar (+ stickers and a T-shirt for the US pre-order). A third, multi-player package includes the game, stickers and two controllers: the classic SG and the new one (+ black dual guitar gig bag for the US pre-order).

Xbox 360 Releases

The Xbox 360 single-player bundle comes with: the game, 1 X-plorer guitar controller, sticker pack, and free guitar bag if you by it from the publisher (RedOctane.com). While the Xbox 360 multi-player bundle comes with: the game, 2 X-plorer guitar controllers, sticker pack, and a free double-guitar bag if you buy it from the publisher.

Awards

• 4Players
  • 2006 – Best Party Game of the Year
• GameSpy
  • 2006 – #7 Game of the Year
  • 2006 – #6 Console Game of the Year
  • 2006 – #3 PS2 Game of the Year
  • 2006 – #2 Offline Multiplayer Game of the Year
  • 2006 – PS2 Party Game of the Year
  • 2006 – PS2 Offline Multiplayer Game of the Year
• Golden Joystick Awards
  • 2007 - Girls' Choice Game of the Year
  • 2007 - Soundtrack of the Year

Information also contributed by Charles Lentz and piltdown man.

Related Web Sites

• Faulty Guitar Hero II Controller Fix (A guide to fix your 360 guitar manually if it's one of the faulty models.)
• Guitar Hero II (Official game website)
• Wikipedia: Guitar Hero II (Information about Guitar Hero II at Wikipedia)
• X360A achievement guide (X360A's achievement guide for Guitar Hero II.)