Guitar Hero II is the second entry of the Guitar Hero series developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 on November 7, 2006. An updated Xbox 360 version was published by Activision on April 3, 2007.
The PlayStation 2 version received a Greatest Hits reprint on 2006 in North America and was also reprinted in a bundle pack with the first game on October 31, 2007 in North America and July 3, 2008 in Australia. The Xbox 360 version was reprinted in a bundle pack with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on July 13, 2008 in North America.
Gameplay[]
Gameplay is the same of that of the original Guitar Hero. Player can use either use a guitar controller or a gamepad (DualShock 2 or Xbox 360 controller) to hit notes that cross targets at the bottom of a fretboard. Hitting notes consists of using colored frets on the guitar controller to target notes on the in-game fretboard. There are still four difficulties including Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert. Each difficulties range in the number of frets used. Easy uses the first three, medium uses the first four, hard, and expert uses all five.
New changes since Guitar Hero[]
While retaining the original gameplay style, there were several improvements and new features added to Guitar Hero II since Guitar Hero.
- New features include
- New playable tracks: In addition to the playable Guitar track, Guitar Hero II's new Cooperative and Practice game modes now support a playable Bass track in most songs alongside the Guitar track while some songs will have a Lead Guitar track (separate from the Guitar track) and Rhythm Guitar track. Lead Guitar and Rhythm Guitar playable tracks are also available in cooperative play of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but were removed in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and every entry after Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.
- New multiplayer modes:
- Cooperative: Two players play entire songs together on Guitar & Bass or Lead & Rhythm and cooperate for a high score together.
- Pro Face-Off: Two players play the entire Guitar track competitively on contrast to regular Face-Off (that the first Guitar Hero title only had). This mode is unlocked after completing Career on Medium or higher difficulty.
- Practice mode: The ability to play songs on any playable track with no Rock Meter, no scoring (multiplier is still displayed), and no Star Power phrases. The player can also choose to play certain sections of a song with a start point and an end point. The player can also play songs at full speed, slow, slower, or slowest.
- New option menus:
- Lag calibration: The first Guitar Hero game lacked the ability to adjust audio and video delay, making the first Guitar Hero game visually or audibly unplayable on certain televisions, especially on high-definition televisions. In Guitar Hero II, the delay can be adjusted from strum testing.
- Widescreen mode: Adjusts and extends the edges of the screen from 4:3 to 16:9 aspect ratio for widescreen televisions.
- Progressive scan: With RGB component cables hooked up to a PlayStation 2 (VGA cable could also be used), Guitar Hero II can be displayed at 480p on high-definition and enhanced-definition televisions without interlacing.
- New improvements include
- Hammer-ons and pull-offs: In the first Guitar Hero game, hammer-ons and pull-offs had some strict rules for them to work. These strict rules were removed in Guitar Hero II. Players can now tap hammer-ons and pull-offs while in a combo without needing to keep frets held, making them easier to play. In most songs, hammer-on and pull-off notes will only appear on notes less than an eighth-note distance apart but in some songs such as "Thunderhorse", hammer-ons and pull-offs are placed on notes within the distance of an eighth note.
- For more changes, comparing the PlayStation 2 version with the Xbox 360 version, see: Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360)
Soundtrack[]
- Main article: Setlist in Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero II features more songs than the first Guitar Hero game. These songs are placed on a scale of difficulty easy songs like "Shout at the Devil", and "Mother" are at the top, while more difficult songs are at the bottom. Examples of these are "Hangar 18", and "Free Bird".
The Xbox 360 port included additional songs in the setlist with some songs in the tiers swapped and fixes/changes to some song charts.
Other game contents[]
Characters[]
Every character from Guitar Hero returns for Guitar Hero II along with some new faces in Guitar Hero II. New playable characters featured in Guitar Hero II include Eddie Knox, Casey Lynch, and Lars Ümlaüt. There are 11 playable characters in Guitar Hero II for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 versions: 8 are playable from the start while the other three are bought in The Store in Career mode. Clive Winston and Xavier Stone costs $3000 to unlock while the Grim Ripper costs $6000 to unlock. The four non-playable characters from the first game also returns to assist the player's band.
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Venues[]
Guitar Hero II features new venues; new locations where the player's band plays at. Here is a list of venues and their associated Career tier/gig name in Guitar Hero II.
- Nilbog High School (1. Opening Licks)
- The Rat Cellar (2. Amp Warmers)
- Blackout Bar (3. String-Snappers)
- Red Octane Club (4. Thrash and Burn)
- Rock City Theater (5. Return of the Shred)
- Austin,TX (6. Relentless Riffs)
- The Arena (7. Furious Fretwork)
- Stonehenge (8. Face-Melters)