Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's (PS2)

(RedOctane, Activision)
(Harmonix)

Guitar Hero has become quite the run away success for Harmonix. Harmonix was able to grab the interest of previous non-gamers, and create an essential purchase for many casual gamers with their modernised rhythm game. And so sometime last year, Harmonix was bought by MTV. So you can probably see the direction the series will most likely take in the future. But i digress.

So now we have Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80’s. Extra songs for those that already own Guitar Hero 1 or 2. 30 favorites from every bodies favorite decade. A time of excessive guitar solos. Tracks that run for over the radio friendly 3 minutes. Songs that could have forced you to your knees in an air guitar frenzy. So if that’s what you expect, you should probably take a look at the track list before you go and shell out $70. Otherwise be prepared for disappointment.

My first opinion was that of one last grab for cash. Rock the 80’s contains just a few classics, the rest seems to be made up of gap filler. We didn’t even recognise half the tracks! And my wife and her friends are obsessed with the 80’s (much to my horror). But what really caused disappointment was the lack of some of the 80’s greats. It would have been so sweet to rock on to Def Leppard. Maybe some Aerosmith. Even Bon Jovi. Sadly the best that Rock the 80’s can give us is (in my opinion) is Asia with Heat of the moment, Scorpions with No one like you and possibly Poison with Nothing but a good time.

At $70 you are looking at around $2.30 a track. Not that bad really. Especially considering the song packs download price from the Xbox marketplace. But then if they released the tracks of Encore to buy separately, I’d purchase less than half of them.

But that’s just it isn’t it. Encore has a varied track listing. It’s give a broad snapshot of the 80’s. But i feel this is it’s major undoing. Had Harmonix put together a more focused package, no one would have any complaints.

I could probably go on for longer about why Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80’s might not be the game for you. But to be brutally honest, I enjoyed picking up my toy guitar again. Despite the fairly loose and poorly gathered track list it was just good fun. So if you enjoy the guitar mechanics and have cracked the hardest difficulties in previous Guitar Hero games then go get it. But don’t rush.

We don’t want to give game companies the impression that it’s OK to pump out easy add-on packs with little thought. Wait till it hits the bargain bins for around $40. At least that way you won’t feel quite as ripped off.

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