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Not as awesomely righteous as it claimed to be.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Guitar Hero is a land mark for the music/rhythm genre of gaming. A controller that resembles a guitar, a huge list of renown songs, and terrific multiplayer. I own all the games, Guitar Hero 1 and Guitar Hero 2 for the PS2 and 360. As you can easily tell, I have a platonic love for this series. When I heard news of a forth, I of course wanted to buy it. But, let's just say I'm glad one of my friends decided to bring it over one day, because Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s is barely even worth $40.

Being the 4th game in the series, Encore is basically everything one expects a Guitar Hero game to be: Lots of songs, crazy looking characters and venues, smooth controls, and co-op is still king. Plus the redone intro and songs sport so much 80s vibe, you'll half expect cocaine to fly right out of your PS2! But yet there isn't anything in this game that is better than the previous titles.

For one thing, while playing this game, I felt something I never felt when I was playing the other Guitar Hero games. I was bored. There are only 30 songs to play with no bonus tracks. Compare that to GH 1's +30 songs and GH 2 +60/+70 songs.

The number of characters has also been shrunken to 5 playable characters, but when you unlock the Grim Ripper, that number has been increased to 6! Compare that to GH 1's 8 characters and GH 2's 11 characters. All the characters are decked out in 80s outfits, but your band still looks the same from GH 2, which is pretty lame.

The venues are all exact copies from GH 2 just sported with crazy neon colors and other stereotypical things you'd probably find in the 80s, but they still look like the same thing from the previous game. They also took out the beloved "Stonehenge" venue shrinking the number of venues. There are no new guitars and guitar finishes in this game, all are from GH 2 (even the unlockable guitars).

The songs are probably the only good thing about Encore, yet even they make the experience a little bogus. This is rock and metal from the 80s (surprise, surprise), so basically most of it sounds the same. Half of the songs are by one-hit-wonders that you barley know, but that doesnt mean the music sucks. The songs are still as enjoyable as they ever were. But one thing is for sure. The final track 'Play With Me' will kill you on Expert, but it sure is fun to play, and it will make you want to watch that part in 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' where the historical figures are running ramped around the mall. Co-op is still fun to play because, well, it's co-op in a Guitar Hero game, what's not to love?

All in all Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s could have been a lot better, I mean much, much better. This game was obviously made to put some quick cash in Activision's and Red-Octane's pockets, and not to make a rockin' experience that everyone will love. Fans basically waited a year for a game that took that about 2 and-a-half months to make. The only thing that's new in this game is the songs, while everything else is reused and downgraded. If you're a Guitar Hero veteran and have the other games for your PS2 and really want to play this game, rent it hands down. For new comers, just play the first one. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s just isn't that radical and not worth $50.

Guitar Hero forgot the 80's

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The price of the game $40-50 is too high for only 30 songs. But had those 30 songs been real gems of the 80's I could have forgiven the price and reveled in my teen years.

However, despite a couple of good 80's songs, the most loved of all the 80's bands were completely ignored and left out! I understand they have to pay for rights to these songs, but with as many copies as they sell and as high as they are charging, they owe us some decent 80's music. This is not a tribute to the 80's, it's a desperate attempt to throw us some cheap music for high profits.

I was a teen in the 80's and listened to rock for 18 hours per day. I've never heard of many of the songs on the tracks. I've never heard of some of the bands on the list!
Where are Bryan Adams, Pat Benetar, Prince, ZZ-top, Van Halen, Run DMC, Wham, Duran Duran, Springsteen, Def Leppard, Dire Straits, Guns N' Roses, and 90 others I could list that top most of the artists on this edition.

A huge disappointment. I would pay 50 per month for a new version if they had decent music on it.

It doesn't matter what I write you're going to buy it anyway

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you loved the other Guitar Hero games and the song list doesn't make you gag the game is every bit as fun as the predecessors.

The problem is, as a full priced game I expected a bit more. There are only 30 songs, no bonus songs to unlock, fewer characters to chose from, no new outfits to unlock. The venues are only marginally different from those on Guitar Hero II, the same is true for the menus. If it had cost $20 less I would have no complaints, but as it is it's a bit disappointing.

Another disappointment: two of songs, Radar Love and Ballroom Blitz (80's covers of 70's songs...that alone seems like a bit of a cop out) sound nothing like their original (much better, and better known) versions. Just a warning if you were looking forward to rocking out to the versions you hear on the radio.

A new addition to the series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is not a disappointment like most reviewers would have you believe. Honestly, does anyone care what characters you play with or the guitar? Maybe a child would consider these things interesting, but as far as serious guitar hero players are concerned, it doesn't matter. The song selection could have been somewhat better, but it wasn't horrible. The covers, on the other hand, were horrible. If you are a medium/hard player, then this game should be fairly easy for you (except maybe the last set of songs, especially the final encore!). If you play this game on expert, there are certain songs that are a joke, but a definite challenge is presented in some songs. I haven't beat this game on expert yet as I have the other two, but i'm sure it will happen in the near future. Worth 50 bucks? Maybe not. If you are a serious guitar hero fan and don't care about different venues and such, then it is worth it to have new songs to be challenged on. These games are about gameplay and the challenge which this game is perfectly fine on.

more like guitar hero 1.5

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What should have been a welcome expansion pack in the guise of an "encore" package, is instead a thinner version of GH with tighter controls and 30 new songs. The good news is the songs are a decent if somewhat B side representation of what the 80s was musically. When the Dead Kennedys share the same set list as Iron Maiden and Winger you know that an eclectic representation is what they had in mind. The guitar FX are crunchy and varied throughout the tracks and other than the songs sung by the original artists, the background band is weaker than in previous entries. The actual controls themselves feel slighty tweaked and shifting chords feels easier than in the other 2 as well. This should have retailed at a lower price considering the # of songs but as this will be one of the last GHs on PS2 its worth picking for the nostalgia and fun factor, if you can wait for the $ to drop the skimpy trimmings on offer will be easier to swallow. 5 to 10 more songs would have gone a LONG way here.

4 Stars because I love the Big '80's Sound

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love the Guitar Hero franchise, so I was eager to get the newest version. It's been a long time since Christmas, so I could use a new song list.

THE GOOD:
New Songs! Dio! Krokus! Flock of Seagulls! Twisted Sister! Put up some crepe paper banners in my living room, and you'd think I was back at one of my junior high dances.

THE BAD:
Only 30 songs? Only six characters? No option to buy songs in career mode? I can't import characters from GH2? Plus the new guitars you can buy in the game are exactly the same as the ones in GH2. This is the same exact game with new songs. It's an expansion pack, not a new game, and it's priced too high for what it is.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you love the 80's sound, this is worth your time. If not, then you may want to wait for GH3 this fall. (Rumored to have 70 songs!)

Disappointing to say the least !!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Now, I love Guitar Hero. I have 1 and 2 and was really looking forward to the 80's edition because thats the music I grew up with.
That being said, I have to agree with the rest of the reviewers and let you know that they really dropped the ball on this one. I knew going into this that 80's would be based on GH2 and I was expecting only modest improvements and a new track list. I was not expecting LESS features than the original. This cannot even be called an expansion pack when they didnt expand a thing!
There are: LESS Characters, Less guitars, Less venues, Less Songs, No outfits, and the rewards for completing levels are IDENTICAL to GH2.
Its like they fired the developers and hired someone to repaint half the game, and threw out the rest of the game. Guitar Hero Lite

I still like the game but am sorry I spent 50 bucks on it. If you are buying your first Guitar Hero game, get GH2 now and wait for the price of this one to go way down. Sorry

Not worth it.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What could have been an amazing game now just appears to be a filler while they perfect Guitar Hero III.
Despite the poor play list (check it out, even hard core 80's fans don't even recognize half the songs), this game could have been worth the money if it would have had the content of other guitar hero games, but it didn't. It only had a portion of the characters from Guitar Hero II, no unlockable songs, and only one unlockable character. The lack of unlockable songs is a huge dissappointment, as it leaves you paying the same price of Guitar Hero II (game only) but only having half the content. Also, with only one character to unlock and no songs, there is no motivation to strive to get the five stars on every song.

Disappointing at best . . . and I grew up in the 80s

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First off, I have to disagree w/the assessment by some that the negative reviews are a result of people not liking 80s music. I could not disagree more. I grew up in the 80s, and I think the track list is sketchy, at best. There are too many songs that I didn't even recognize (& I graduated HS in '91, so this isn't being written by someone who was born in the 80s, but who truly experienced that decade as a teenager). The worst part, imo, is the boss song, if you will. Extreme? Play With Me? There had to be a better song to pick than this, especially coming on the heels of Freebird as the finale of GHII.

Overall, it seems that the team behind this game simply mailed it in. There is no cohesion in the tracks (from the promising start of "Bang Your Head" right on to the Go Gos!?!?!?!), too many unrecognizable songs from a decade that had much more to chose from [no Dokken (heck, even Dream Warriors)? Dire Straits (Money for Nothing)? Even another Motley Crue track would have worked (Dr. Feelgood? Kickstart My Heart?)]. The point is these are songs from groups they could have gotten in the game (especially since MC was already in one of the previous games). The price point is also the breaking point, as this game costs as much (@ most retail outlets, anyway) as the other versions, yet contains fewer characters, fewer unlockables, and no songs available for purchase in the game.

Very disappointing, and once again, I grew up in this decade, so I know the songs of the era very well. Unfortunately, I don't even recognize some of the songs on the set list. If you can get it used, go for it. But for $50, no way.

Not Worth the Price

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I felt like there should have been more rockin' 80's tunes. The music selection didn't quicken my pulse like the other Guitar Hero games. It just didn't feel like it was worth the wait or the cost.

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