[10 Years] Guitar Hero 2

[Smoove_B]

Believe it or not, it's actually been almost a decade since Guitar Hero 2 was released on the PS2 (11/7/2006). I didn't actually pick up the game (and a PS2) until the week after Xmas that year, but after I did, I went absolutely insane for many months pushing little plastic buttons on a scaled guitar controller. After significant ridicule from both Trent and RM9, they were eventually converted after witnessing the greatness that was me playing Sweet Child O' Mine - on Medium difficulty.

While there have been many other plastic instrument voyages, for me it all started with Guitar Hero 2 and so I thought it would be fun to go back and replay the whole thing over again - from scratch. I know this console forum has tumbleweeds blowing through it, but if anyone else wants to join in or offer commentary, that's terrific. I plan on going through song by song and giving them what has become the YellowKing treatment - observations, facts and general feelings about the experience. With a decade of perspective and likely some arthritis, I'm quite excited to get back into it again and hopefully re-experience the game for the first time. As the last generation of consoles (and associated plastic instrument hardware) will likely be riding off into the sunset sooner than later, I'm afraid this might actually represent a swan-song experience and I wanted to post it for public consumption.

I've been going back and forth over the last month wondering if I should play the original PS2 version or the Xbox version that came out in April of 2007 and I'm leaning towards the Xbox version simply because I have it all connected right now. If you have either, join me on what will likely be a painful reminder of the greatness that was Guitar Hero.

[Isgrimnur]

I know this console forum has tumbleweeds blowing through it

Blame it on multiplatform titles, the lack of many good exclusives, and the complete crater that was the WiiU.

[coopasonic]

I suspect it would be pretty easy after spending an hour a night for the past couple weeks working on Rocksmith 2014... but since I have neither the games, guitars nor ancient consoles, I won't be joining you.

I do remember the first time I strapped on that plastic guitar though... good times.

[Daehawk]

Never interested me sorry. Maybe I was too old for the plastic controllers and such. I did consider RockSmith. I was 37 in 2006. Honestly if you'd asked me GH2's release date I would have likely said 2010 or 2011..thats how much I know.

Good luck with it. I hope you have fun. Maybe it wont be as much but ya never know.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I remember the day I bought the original Guitar Hero for my PS2. I had been playing for only an hour or so when Captain Caveman and Miss Taken (then, Miss Not-Taken-Yet) came home. I received much ridicule for my nerdiness. But after convincing them to give it a shot, they were hooked.

[RunningMn9]

I still have the GH2 XPlorer controller for the 360, but I'm not sure I have the game any more. I will have to investigate.

[Smoove_B]

Never interested me sorry. Maybe I was too old for the plastic controllers and such. I did consider RockSmith. I was 37 in 2006. Honestly if you'd asked me GH2's release date I would have likely said 2010 or 2011..thats how much I know. Good luck with it. I hope you have fun. Maybe it wont be as much but ya never know.

You're never too old for plastic controllers. I don't consider myself a console gamer but playing Guitar Hero for the first time was as memorable for me as using the Atari 2600 in my friend's living room or playing DOOM on a Packard Bell PC. I fully believe 20+ years from now people are going to be looking back fondly at the plastic instrument era of gaming. I wouldn't knock it until you try it, though getting your hands on the hardware at this point seems prohibitively difficult...which is unfortunate and part of the reason I wanted to create this thread.

[Daehawk]

DOOM on a Packard Bell PC

those were the days.....

[RunningMn9]

Dammit. I have the controller but no game.

[Chrisoc13]

I have the controller and game but my 360 is in storage somewhere. Not sure I'll be able to dig it out.

I too used to mock it. But oh was it fun. I do have the new one for xb1. It's good fun. But nothing beats the original.

[Smoove_B]

Dammit. I have the controller but no game.

Used copies are <$5 on Amazon Prime. I have to believe GameStop has an entire warehouse wing dedicated to Guitar Hero discs.

[hitbyambulance]

Dammit. I have the controller but no game.

Used copies are <$5 on Amazon Prime. I have to believe GameStop has an entire warehouse wing dedicated to Guitar Hero discs.

e.g. i have seen before that the local media pawn shop has bunches of copies for $2 or so.

[YellowKing]

That sounds like fun.

I was an early adopter of music games. I played the heck out of Frequency, and when Guitar Hero came out I was all over it. Bought the game, took it to a friend's house, and we would literally spend 8 or 9 hours playing with very little break. I got pretty good - to the point I could at least finish just about any song on Expert, even if nowhere near perfectly.

After that, I pretty much picked up every iteration that came out up to Rock Band, then I switched over to that and dropped the GH series. Even after Rock Band 2, however, I went back and filled in the gaps, picking up some of the GH titles I had missed.

It wasn't until the latest incarnation of GH that I realized my plastic instrument days were over. Oh, I'm sure if I practiced I could once again relive those early days to some degree. But I realized I was an aging rock star, and I was never again going to reach the lofty levels of my prime. I didn't recognize the music, the notes came too fast. I sold it only a week after buying it, and retired with some dignity.

[McNutt]

Guitar Hero 2 and 3 were great games. Rock Band was really good too, but the magic of Guitar Hero was unmistakable. I still have my equipment tucked away for when my boys get old enough to jam.

I played the newest Guitar Hero on my Nephew's XBox One and the magic is gone. I'm not a fan of the live footage and the song choices are terrible for jamming.

[Fretmute]

It's going to be extra hard to knock the rust off after moving to the solo buttons on the Rock Band guitar full time.

[Smoove_B]

I can appreciate that, yes. As a multi-platinum vocalist my guitar skills have all-but disappeared - and they were mediocre at the best point of my Guitar Hero / Rock Band career. While my motto for Guitar Hero was "Always Hard", I've come to the conclusion that I should probably do this re-play on medium. Not only because of my old man hands and brain, but my extreme reservation over the UI. I remember trying to play Guitar Hero about 5 years ago and the tilt of the note-track was prohibitive after becoming so completely comfortable with Rock Band. I'm hoping more time away will fix that, but I just don't know. I might noodle around a bit over the weekend, but gameplay starts on Monday.

[Fretmute]

I fired it up. It seems I still have my old save, so I can compete not only against the rest of the olds, but also younger, more handsome Fret. The results: not good.

Old Fret, Beast and the Harlot, Expert: 187k
Younger, more handsome Fret, Beast and the Harlot, Expert: 411k, ranked 7760 out of 1.1M.

Yeah. Not much of a contest.

[Smoove_B]

Wow...that was something. The note charting UI wasn't as problematic as I remember. My skills? Oddly not as bad as I'd assumed. I was at the point where playing on Medium was causing problems at the lower tier songs but if I bumped it to medium, everything fell apart somewhere around the tier 4 songs.

My quick impressions after flailing around for ~90 minutes is that this game still has it. I forgot just how zen-like it can get when you're noodling away and can't think about anything else at all. My forearms are on fire and I'm struggling to type this. Tomorrow I expect to be incapacitated, but tonight - tonight I was a (mostly hard) guitar god.

I'll start working my way through it all and filling in the blanks but I do hope others have the ability to fire it up as well -- you might be surprised at what you remember.

[Isgrimnur]

Less Talk, More Rokk!

[Fretmute]

I played through the first five sets this evening. I feel that I actually got much better at guitar with Rock Band (despite my move to mostly drums) due to the marketplace; I bought nothing but extreme noodling songs (see: Caprici di Diablo). I recognize a lot of sections in these songs now that I used to just flail at that I now properly attempt. So I have more skills, in theory.

That said, I'm still old, and this is a game that rewards flawlessness. I am now filled with rust, and most of the flaws. I may play some more tomorrow and then compile a then vs. now scoreboard while ignoring election news tomorrow evening.

[Smoove_B]

I was surprised that apparently there's a mental/physical "floor" that now exists allowing me to still play at 90%+ on medium as I figured any skill I had was completely gone, so it was encouraging. However, in messing around with the higher level tiers for a while my skill degradation was in the chords and chord transitions. But single note noodling? I'm all over it - which is nice as it still has the feel of actually guitaring (I made that up) your way through a song.

I have to believe if you were at the point where Jordan or Caprici Di Diablo were in your wheelhouse your initial floor is going to be much higher, but I can't imagine ever being able to play at that level again without dedication (and arthritis). I'm also beginning to think that sooner than later, playing Rock Band is going to be like playing a new game again. Well, maybe not my silky smooth vocals, but the guitar and drums, yes.

[Fretmute]

Since I snapped a (solid steel) piece in my rock pedal I haven't played Rock Band. I guess I'll have to modify another pedal on my own to get it going again . . . there's no way I could go back to the stock one.

Speaking of plastic instruments, the explorer is still in grade A condition, proof that clicky strum bars are superior.

Re: skill cap, I seem to recall that GH2 was pretty much the only game I was playing at the time, so that means I was probably playing it for at least two hours a day. I know for a fact that I played Psychobilly Freakout about 30 times in a row one day in an attempt to wring more points out of it. It seems the battle between the Best in Soviet Architecture and Peril Awaits You in the Fjords will not be close.

[Fretmute]

Yeah, I'm bumping my own reply. Now I'm baby Rip.

I've done up the spreadsheet. Short version: I am not nearly as good as I used to be. I played everyone one of these songs once, and managed to never fail, so that's nice. Also, I never 5 starred Hanger 18, and that's all noodling, so maybe I can pull that off this time.

[RunningMn9]

I tried to play Rock Band today. It didn't go well.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, I'm bumping my own reply. Now I'm baby Rip.

I've done up the spreadsheet. Short version: I am not nearly as good as I used to be. I played everyone one of these songs once, and managed to never fail, so that's nice. Also, I never 5 starred Hanger 18, and that's all noodling, so maybe I can pull that off this time.

C'mon now. Maybe you can totally cruise through Free Bird now...

[Skinypupy]

We finished our basement last February, and I gave all my GH gear to the thrift store. Donated my 360 to a "Sub for Santa" last year as well.

Looks like no more Guitar Hero for me.