[Guitar Hero II] Initial thoughts

[Ineti]

Picked up a copy this morning at Target, and had about 1/2 an hour to play it before I had to go in to work. Lots of fun. The one thing I did notice is that the medium difficulty of Kiss's "Strutter" has a different note layout than the demo disk had.

Looks like a lot of fun. The red guitar controller is very purty, but I didn't get a chance to unwrap it.

I also got a little insert card in the box with a 'Target exclusive' secret code to unlock Guitar God Mode, but I couldn't figure out where to enter the code in the game.

At any rate, go get a copy and rock out!

[aiwendel]

I've been playing on-and-off in the break room. We've alternated between the drudgework of unlocking stuff in solo mode and rocking out in co-op.

What has made me smile most? I forced one of my younger cow-orkers to play "Jessica" with me. I took lead, he took rhythm.

For six minutes, you couldn't peel the smile off my face. I don't know when was the last time I really felt that way.

[florin]

Yeah, the playing of two parts in the multiplayer mode really appeals to me. Have we had a complete playlist posted with all the tracks available in the game? I've seen some, but they didn't have any of the indie tracks or anything on them.

[SJBenoist]

My wife usually won't touch a game with a ten foot pole. She had tried GH before and wasn't really enthused.

She wouldn't let me go to sleep last night until we played the entire GH II starting songlist in co-op. She loves playing bass. :cool:

[SJBenoist]

Yeah, the playing of two parts in the multiplayer mode really appeals to me. Have we had a complete playlist posted with all the tracks available in the game? I've seen some, but they didn't have any of the indie tracks or anything on them.

You can get the entire list at guitarherogame.com (http://forum.guitarherogame.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=5783).

The link is to a forum post.

Rock On.

[Ragnarok_Engine]

I'm really peeved that the new game doesn't seem to work with the wireless guitar controller I picked up for this express purpose. Looks like I'm going to be trolling eBay for another SG controller. :mad: It worked fine with the first game.

[Mattakamoose]

If you got the Wireless Flying V from TAC, you need a $7 adapter from them to play. Red Octane tightened up the code to detect guitars.

(also has the V, but currently rocking the cherry SG)

[Ineti]

And it just so happens that there will be an 'official' wireless out sometime later this month. I wonder if two can be used at the same time. I'd hate for me to be wireless but my co-gamer still chained to the console.

[Deathlok]

I grabbed this at lunch, then picked up a friend after work; we went through the initial 8 songs on hard co-op, then realized that we'd have to unlock everything in single player. So we went to Medium and buzzed through the whole playlist (four- and five-starring everything, except a couple I messed up in tier 7 and 8 that only 3-starred). Even without having to redo any songs, it was still a good 2.5 hours of playing.

Best part? After bitching about who would have to play Freebird, I do the last song on tier 8, and it does the little Encore animation; people start yelling "Freebird!" It says, "Want to play an Encore? Yes/No" Yeah. "Are you sure you want to play Freebird?" ... No.

"C'mon, we have to do that to beat the game."

"Fine!"

Message in a Bottle, Miserlou, and Killing in the Name Of were high points of co-op, but we didn't get to play everything yet.

Also, one of the last songs we did before calling it a night gave us another Bass to select; I don't know why, since we only got 80% each, and 4-starred it. Maybe 15 songs completed in co-op?

[soylent]

I'm really peeved that the new game doesn't seem to work with the wireless guitar controller I picked up for this express purpose. Looks like I'm going to be trolling eBay for another SG controller. :mad: It worked fine with the first game.

From Kotaku:

TAC Guitars Don't Work with Guitar Hero 2
That's the bad news. The good news, according to The Ant Commandos, is that they are coming out with some sort of device or attachment that will allow gamers to plug their old school Guitar Hero guitars into the PS2 and play Guitar Hero 2.

According to a source, the peripheral will make all Guitar Hero guitars work with the news game. Yep that includes the wireless ones. I'm not sure if this compatibility issue is an ANT issue, or one that effects all Guitar Hero guitars, official and not so much.

[soylent]

And it just so happens that there will be an 'official' wireless out sometime later this month. I wonder if two can be used at the same time. I'd hate for me to be wireless but my co-gamer still chained to the console.

I was upset that the XBOX360 version's controllers aren't wireless. Apparrently, Red Octane didn't want to pay MS's lisencing fee (MS uses a proprietary wireless system for their controllers). If they had been, Red Octane would have had me for another 2 controllers and a copy of the game. The potential for downloadable content is almost too good to pass up...

I had about an hour with my PS2 copy today. I think I'm a little more than 1/2-way through the songlist on Medium difficulty, and am constantly reminded why I never finished GH1. Ah well, as long as I can limp my way though earning enough money to unlock the songs to play on Easy mode, I'll be happy.

[Kaiten]

After I got off of work today, I discovered that my wife had picked up my preorder copy from EB for me. The woman's an angel.

So I've been rocking out for the last 4 hours or so. Much like the first game, I can't put it down. Of course, when I started playing the first game, I could only manage an hour or so before my hand would cramp, and this time around it took 4. In any event, I haven't had too much trouble so far, but it does seem like the level of difficulty is a bit higher this time around. It seems to me like the default assumption is that you've played a good bit of Guitar Hero and should take the extra challenge pretty easily. Of course, in my case, that's true.

[admiralducksauce]

The simple fact that you can independently choose a difficulty level would've sold me on the game, even if it was an exact copy of GH1.