Guitar Hero 2
| Guitar Hero II | |
|---|---|
Box art for two versions of Guitar Hero II.
Left: PlayStation 2, PAL release. Right: Xbox 360, NTSC release. |
|
| Developer(s) | Harmonix |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Distributor(s) | RedOctane |
| Director(s) | Daniel Sussman |
| Designer(s) | Chris Canfield |
| Series | Guitar Hero |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 |
| Release date(s) |
PlayStation 2 Xbox 360 |
| Genre(s) | Music, Rhythm |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Review scores | ||
|---|---|---|
| Publication | Score | |
| PS2 | Xbox 360 | |
| 1UP.com | A | A |
| Game Informer | 9/10, 9.25/10 | 9.5/10,9/10 |
| GamePro | 4.5/5 | 4.75/5 |
| GameSpot | 8.7/10 | 8.9/10 |
| IGN | 9.5/10 | 9.6/10 |
| OPM (US) | 10/10 | |
| Play | 9/10 | |
| X-Play | 5/5 | |
| Aggregate scores | ||
| GameRankings | 93% | 93% |
| Metacritic | 92/100 | 93/100 |
| Awards | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Award |
| E3 2006 | Game Critics Award for Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game |
| IGN's 2006 Awards | Best Music Game Best PlayStation 2 Music Game Best Licensed Soundtrack Best PlayStation 2 Licensed Soundtrack Best PlayStation 2 Offline Multiplayer Game |
| 2007 IEAA Awards | Post Logistics PlayStation Game of the Year |
| Next Generation's Top 50 | 4th best game of 2006 |
| 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards | Best Soundtrack |
Guitar Hero II is a music rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by Activision and distributed by RedOctane. It is the second installment in the Guitar Hero series and is the sequel to Guitar Hero. It was first released for the PlayStation 2 in November 2006, and then for the Xbox 360 in April 2007, with additional content not originally in the PlayStation 2 version.
Like in the original Guitar Hero, the player uses a peripheral in the shape of a solid-body electric guitar to simulate playing rock music as notes scroll towards the player. Most of the gameplay from the original game remains intact, and provides new modes and note combinations. The game features more than 40 popular licensed songs, many of them cover versions recorded for the game, spanning five decades (from the 1960s to the 2000s). The PlayStation 2 version of Guitar Hero II can be purchased individually or in a bundle that packages the game with a cherry red Gibson SG guitar controller. The Xbox 360 version of the game is offered in a bundle that packages the game with a white Gibson Explorer guitar controller.
Since its release, Guitar Hero II has been met with both critical and commercial success, helping the Guitar Hero series become a cultural phenomenon. As of December 1, 2007, the game has sold 3.1 million copies. It has spawned the "expansion" title Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s for the PlayStation 2. A sequel, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, was released in 2007.
The surprise success of Guitar Hero readily led to the development of a sequel for the game. According to developer John Tam, the team felt they "hit the sweet spot" of genres and decades within the set list and wanted to maintain that for the sequel. The costs of obtaining licensing rights for music from "big bands" such as AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, and Metallica, in addition to the lack of understanding of how the music would be used prevented these groups from being used in Guitar Hero. However, Tam notes that with the success of Guitar Hero, "They understand that we're not going to embarrass their music, we're going to actually pay homage to their music and get it to the point where people are going to fall in love with their music and understand their music in a totally different way than they've ever experienced it before." They also had requests by artists to include master tracks within the game.
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