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Guitar Hero II (PS2)
by cath_del
I played Guitar Hero II at a friend's house, and after the first couple of plays, I was hooked on the series. After playing it at her house, I was given the guitar controller and game as a gift for my birthday, and I'm pretty sure I played it for around 4 hours straight when I got it.
The game was around £40 including the ... controller when it was given to me as a gift, however now the guitar controller and game is much cheaper than that. Now on Amazon or in your local GAME store, it can be purchased for around £5. It's rated at 12 plus, due to the sex references and swearing included in the game, however I don't think this is noticeable once you get into the swing of the game.
Those who have played Guitar Hero before will know what it consists of, however for those who haven't the game has a pretty simple concept. Notes come up onto the screen, and you must press the fret buttons in time when they hit the bar to gain points, this must also be done while pressing the strummer at the note time to. It doesn't take quite long to get into the swing of the game, and within 20 minutes you'll have mastered it.
The controls are simple using the guitar controller, as the guitar frets are placed on the neck of the controller and you play them the same as you would a regular guitar. Then, there is the strummer which you just move up and down. Pressing them at the same time is pretty easy, even though it doesn't seem like it.
Throughout the game, there is the option for choosing difficulties - Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert. Easy and Medium are great for the first couple of months playing, as they get you used to the controls and can take a while to get everything on full marks. However, like the other Guitar Hero games, when you reach Hard and Expert, things get really difficult. This is probably just down to the fact that there are more and more buttons to press and everything goes faster, but you'd definitely have to practice a lot if you want to master these levels.
The songs on Guitar Hero are great for any rock music fan, as there is a wide variety of choices for those who like whatever style of the rock genre. There are so many well-known hits it's hard to count them all, but from what I remember, there are songs like
-Wolfmother by Woman,
-Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana,
-Monkey Wrench by Foo Fighters
-Message In A Bottle by The Police
-Can't You Hear Me Knocking by The Rolling Stones
-Sweet Child O'Mine - Guns N Roses
-Killing In The Name Of - Rage Against The Machine
-Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
One thing that's really good about the game is that there is quite a few modes for the player. Practice mode is definitely the one to begin with, as this will allow you to practice a particular song or just get you warmed up for playing the game itself. Then there is the regular Career Mode, which is what I play to waste a couple of hours as you really get into the game trying to get as many high scores as possible. However, if you're looking to just play for around 15 minutes, there is also the option of Quick Play, as here you can just throw on songs and play.
There is also the option for multiplayer, and I've played it only a couple of times with friends when at their house. There is co-op for those who get annoyed at the thought of competition, and does make the game much more fun as you have to work together to get the highest scores. Then there is face off, which is where you challenge each other by playing a song, and there is also the ability to have the difficulty setting that you can play e.g. my friend plays on easy while I play medium.
Customising does occur slightly throughout Guitar Hero, and it was this that kept me wanting to play. You have the ability to update your character look, unlock songs and get new instruments by collecting enough money to purchase them. I liked this added feature as it constantly kept me playing to unlock everything, adding extra gameplay.
I found that the gameplay on Guitar Hero II is definitely worth the money that you would pay for it. The modes provide enough challenge for you to keep playing and combined with the customisation included, there is probably months of gameplay involved. I've had this game for 2 years, and I still haven't completed everything to the highest it can go!
The graphics are pretty good for a PS2 console, and they are some of the best that I've seen on the console. The colours really match the rocky look to the Guitar Hero series, and are pretty detailed from the characters to the fret board itself. With graphics combined with great sound, this game has clearly been developed well.
Overall, this is a really great game as it is has been well developed and has a lot of gameplay for the price that it is currently offered at. It is unique from any other games on the PS2, and while it does require practice to fully achieve everything in the game, it is definitely worth it. Fun on single player and multiplayer, this is a game that has hardly any faults.
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EyeToy Groove (PS2)
by cath_del
After my mum got pretty mad that all she could hear was the smash of the dancemat on our living room floor, so instead she bought us Eyetoy Groove as she figured it was like a dance game except we wouldn't make as much noise. Thankfully for her, she was right.
It must be around £7 right now, as that is usually the price PS2 ... games are due to the fact that the PS3 has taken over. It's rated U, which is a decent rating, seeing as nothing happens aside from hitting the right symbols at the right time and the songs aren't explicit at all. One thing you must have though is the Eyetoy itself, which is a camera that plugs into the Playstation and is basically a webcam, as you can see yourself on the screen and it allows you to select things using your body, similar to the more recent Kinect for Xbox.
The main point of the game is simply to score as many points as you can through hitting the right pads at the right time throughout the song. There are 6 pads in total going along the screen with two opposite each other at the top, middle and bottom of the screen. From around the centre of the screen, random colourful circley things will start throwing themselves at these pads and you have to hit the pads using your hands at the right time when the circles fly over them to score points.
The most important part of the game is to make sure that you hit everything on time and once you've played it for a couple of minutes you do get the hang of it and it becomes easier and easier. It's not too difficult to get the motion of the controls going, and as soon as you've played it for a couple of hours you'll feel as if you have mastered them.
All the songs included really make you want to get up and dance, most of them aren't that well known and remind me of the ones you find on dance machines. However, they are pretty energetic and fast paced, so there is never a dull moment when you're playing.
The game can get quite tiring after a while especially as you have to have your arms up a lot. However, the developers have tried to improve all the beats and make it more interesting than just hitting simple beats. They've done this by having beats where you have to shake your hand over it, allow the pad to get larger if you hit a certain beat and have moments in the game where the player will have to strike a Pose. All these added little things are much more fun as they add some challenge to the game.
I'd say that I prefer the multiplayer mode to the single player, as it is much more fun to compete or work together as a team. You can play co-op to try and get the highest score or you could compete against each other to get a higher score or copy the moves that you do. I get quite bored playing it by myself, and its much more fun watching my friends do really weird moves when you watch them in reality - it reminds me of Just Dance a little bit!
The graphics that the video game put over the camera make it look much more colourful and engaging than if the Eyetoy was simply on by itself. The developers have added a lot of sharp colours, backgrounds and effects which while aren't the best on the PS2 still are relatively impressive. The video feed from the Eyetoy itself though isn't as good as these added ones, as it looks quite fuzzy in comparison to the added graphics.
Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed the previous EyeToy games or is looking for a quieter dance style game for the PS2. It's quite cheap and did have the unique aspect of seeing yourself on TV before other consoles came out and added this, however aside from this, it's still a fun game to play with your friends or alone for a while to occupy yourself at beating high scores.
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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2)
by cath_del
After playing the other games within the Guitar Hero brand and becoming pretty good at playing it on the Guitar Hero controller, I had to buy the new game when it came out, otherwise it's just pretty much of a waste of this new skill I'd acquired! The game lived up to it's expectations that I had of it and definitely has made some ... improvements from the previous in the series with even more great song titles to pick from.
The game was around £25 when I bought it, but this was simply down to the fact that the fancy PS3 didn't exist! Now however, you can buy it for around £15 from Amazon or cheaper preowned at a GAME store. It's rated at a 12 due to the fact that some of the songs can contain mild sex or drug references, but once your playing in the game, you get so immersed in hitting the notes at the right time, you'll probably never even notice them.
Those who have played Guitar Hero before will know that this game is no different to the others, and has the exactly the same controls and still uses the same controller as before. The simple definition for those who have not played before is that using a guitar controller that can be purchased relatively cheaply, you will have to hit the five fret buttons on the controller in time with when they appear on the screen while using the strummer. It does take a while to get the hang of, but once you play for a while, it does get much easier. Usually it takes around 20 minutes upon first playing to get to grips with playing it and from then on you'll be used to the controls.
Scoring is easy to understand on this game, as you get points based upon how many notes you hit and whether you hold the long notes for enough time. You are also awarded points for combos, which gave me a bit more added interest in the game as I was constantly trying to get really long combos. In the game, there is also the abilty to get Star Power bonuses, which are where you play enough Star notes in line correctly to gain this power. While this does boost you extra points, I found it quite annoying to start as you have to lift the controller to activate it, which took a few tries at some points and often would distract you from hitting notes correctly.
The fact that there is 4 different difficulty settings from Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert is really great for families who are playing as in mine it has allowed everyone to be able to play without needing others for assistance. The easy and medium are great for casual play or just getting started, as they are not too difficult and not too easy, so there is still a small element of challenge within the game.
However, when the game reaches Hard and Expert, there is a clear difference between the settings and these definitely do need to play these modes a lot to fully master them. The only problem I found with these settings however, is that sometimes the songs included within this mode are ridiculously difficult and can be hard to even get on 2 stars. You'd definitely have to master the Medium mode before even thinking about trying these. However, when you do complete them, there is some greatg satisfaction at getting a difficult song on 5 stars.
The music is clearly one of the best parts of the Guitar Hero games, and is what makes the game as great as it is. There is music for any rock fan, as it as such a wide range of songs to suit any taste. Classic rock has songs represented by The Rolling Stones and ZZ Tops, with Alternative Rock by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Queens of the Stone Age, Metal by Iron Maiden and Slayer and Punk by the Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys.
There must be around 80 songs to play on Guitar Hero, most of them with great accompanying guitar tunes that really fit the game which makes playing it feel much more acheiving as it is like you are really playing the song. The music is enough to keep it varied and interesting, as if the songs had all been the same I know I would have gotten bored of it extremely quickly. Each "level" has a different variety of songs to, so you never really have a music set where all the songs sound the same. I also really liked the fact that within the game there was the ability to purchase song sets from famous bands like Tool, and it gave me more of a motive to play, as I kept trying to raise enough money to buy the sets.
The graphics do look better than some of the PS2 games I have played in the past, and the locations that the characters play in are quite well done for this console. The colours really do mix in with the rocky vibe to it, and nothing ever glitches in it. The characters are well developed, with a lot of customisation options and a nice variety to choose from.
Guitar Hero III definitely does have a lot of gameplay involved within it, as you could play for hours trying to get all the high scores or beating your previous ones. Aside from that, there is also the chance to purchase clothing/characters/guitars to customise your gameplay, and along with song sets available these really keep those who like collecting everything in a game motivated to carry on playing to earn money.
Multiplayer mode is the same as it has been previously and it hasn't changed much since the previous games, this is a nice addition, but I didn't play it that much as it required another controller that my friend had to bring around. However, there is also the option of a co-op career mode, where you take on the role of a band, and can have different roles from singer or bass or guitar players. I didn't get much of a chance to fully try this out, but from what I played it was quite impressive, and if I had another guitar controller I would have probably ended up playing with my sister for a long time.
Overall, I would say this is a great game for any Guitar Hero fan or someone who simply wants to try out Guitar Hero. It has a lot of gameplay time for the price, and has so many famous songs, it is bound to keep any rock music fan happy whatever style they prefer. The new improvements have only bettered the game, and multiplayer mode has become even more fun from what I have experienced from it.
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