Guitar Hero II is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane. This GaMe Rocks!!!!
A demo version of the PlayStation 2 version of Guitar Hero II was released with issue #110 of Official Playstation Magazine on October 5, 2006. Features of the demo included four playable songs on four difficulty levels for single player and co-op modes. Demo releases do not feature the ability to flip the notes for left-handed players. Demo versions feature the songs "Shout at the Devil", "You Really Got Me", "Strutter" and "YYZ".
The retail game was released for the PlayStation 2 on November 7, 2006 in North America, November 15, 2006 in Australia, and November 30, 2006 in the United Kingdom and Europe. It was released as both a stand-alone game and as a bundle containing the game and guitar controller.
The Xbox 360 version was released on April 3, 2007 in North America and Australia, and then on April 6, 2007 in Europe, only as a bundle containing the game and guitar controller. The Xbox 360 version of the game includes 10 exclusive songs and additional content available for purchase through the Xbox Live Marketplace.The Xbox 360's X-Plorer controller supports an optional foot pedal for effects, based on the game manual, but this is not yet available for retail. The game itself retailed for US$89.99, US$10 more than the PlayStation 2 version. This is common amongst next generation iterations of current generation games.
Gameplay
Gameplay is based on the successful formula created for the first Guitar Hero game; the player may use the guitar peripheral to play scrolling notes by holding the corresponding fret button on the guitar neck and simultaneously pressing the strum bar. Alternatively, one can play with the DualShock 2 or Xbox 360 controller by using 4 shoulder buttons and a face button, mapped to specific fret keys.
Several changes have been made to the gameplay mechanics for Guitar Hero II: hammer-on and pull-off functionality has been improved, and three note chords have been introduced, scored as triple points if played correctly. There are additional statistics available for a song upon completion, and the scores achieved in either Quick Play or Career mode are saved to the same in-game high-score list. The handedness of the guitar can now be toggled from the Pause menu when playing a song (previously, this was only available from the game's main menu). For the Xbox 360 version, scores can also be compared with other players through Xbox Live via the Leaderboard feature, and there are 50 Achievements that can be earned in the game.
Career mode
In Career mode, players create a band name and select a guitarist from among the available characters. Eight characters are available from the start of the game: Eddie Knox, Axel Steel, Casey Lynch, Lars Ümlaüt, Izzy Sparks, Judy Nails, Johnny Napalm, and Pandora. Additional characters — Clive Winston, Xavier Stone and the Grim Ripper — can also be purchased, allowing them to be used in later sessions.
Only the lead guitar is available to be played in the Career mode. Over the course of the Career mode the band plays at eight available venues. The venue system from the original game has been altered slightly. Every venue is in a different city, and the Career mode has the band traveling from town to town in order to play at the next arena. The band starts out at Nilbog High School ("goblin" backwards), in an unspecified city in Ohio referred to only as the "Midwest", at a Battle of the Bands competition. Then the band progresses to bigger New England venues: the Rat Cellar Pub in Boston, Massachusetts (paying homage to the legendary, defunct punk-rock club The Rathskeller, or "The Rat", which was located in Kenmore Square); the Blackout Bar in Providence, Rhode Island; the RedOctane Club in Brooklyn, New York; and the Rock City Theater in Detroit, Michigan (named after the Kiss song "Detroit Rock City"); before crossing back to the West Coast, making a stop at the Vans Warped Tour in Austin, Texas; the Harmonix Arena in Oakland, California; and culminating at Stonehenge in the United Kingdom. The latter is a reference to the film This Is Spinal Tap in which the band performed the song "Stonehenge" on stage with a model of the monument. The venues feature lighting and pyrotechnics that are synchronized with the music.
Not all songs in the main set list are available from the start. Once a song is unlocked for play within Career mode, it becomes available for play in all other modes. When working through Career mode at a specific difficulty level, the next tier of songs is unlocked once the required number of songs on the current tier (3-5, depending on difficulty and console) are completed. Additionally, the encore song for a particular tier is only made available once its requirements are completed. On the Easy difficulty setting, there are no encores available, but the next tier will be unlocked immediately after completing the required songs in the previous tier.
Successful completion of a song on Medium or higher difficulty during Career mode will earn the player in-game cash. Higher difficulty levels and better scoring performances are rewarded with more cash.In-game money can be used at The Store to buy various items. Some items are available only after completing all songs at higher difficulty levels or 5-star performances. Purchases in The Store carry over to each difficulty in career mode and all game modes. Within The Store, the player can purchase new Gibson guitars, guitar finishes, three additional characters, alternate outfits for the eight characters available from the start, bonus songs, and videos. For unknown reasons, the bonus videos are absent from the PAL version of the game. Within the Xbox 360 version, there is also an option to access the Guitar Hero II content on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Multiplayer
There are three different multiplayer modes available: * Cooperative One player plays lead guitar while another plays either bass guitar or rhythm guitar, depending on the song. Both players share a score, rock meter, star power meter, and streak multiplier. Cooperative mode is the only multiplayer mode in which a song can be failed. Star power can only be activated by both players simultaneously. * Face-Off This is the same multiplayer mode as featured in the original game, though in Guitar Hero II both players can individually select their level of difficulty. In this mode, players alternate between playing sections of each song. The scores are weighted so that a player who hits less notes on Easy difficulty may not necessarily lose against an opponent on Expert difficulty who hits more notes. * Pro Face-Off Players play the full lead guitar track on the same difficulty. For the PlayStation 2 mode, this is available upon completion of any career level, while for the Xbox 360 version, the mode is unlocked after completing the career mode at Medium level or higher. The score system is identical as the song could be played alone, but songs cannot be failed in this mode.
While online multiplayer was not available at the release of Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360, RedOctane has stated that they hope to be able provide this later once they are able to work out the technical issues.
Practice mode
Practice mode is a new addition to the game, allowing a player to practice certain sections of a song ("Verse 2," "Chorus," "Bridge 3," etc.) on different difficulties and instruments. Practice mode gives the player the ability to toggle the speed of the notes (Full Speed, Slow, Slower and Slowest) and does not stop a song no matter how many mistakes are made.