Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s Review ... (5.5 out of 10)
September 4, 2007 ... Review by Mike
Let me start out by saying that I was extremely hyped for this game from the moment I heard about it … I love Guitar Hero and I love 80s music so I thought this was going to be a perfect storm of awesomeness. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s falls short of that … well short.
Don’t get me wrong, as the track list from this game was released … I got even more hyped … but let me be the 5th person to say that the track list looks better on paper than in practice. While I’d listen to 80% of these songs in my car at top volume … for some reason it just isn’t that fun to play. I think that there are two factors that went into this:
1st … there aren’t enough balls to the walls guitar songs like “No One Like You” … there is way too much pop and rock songs without a defining guitar riff. Where is the Bon Jovi? Where is the sleaze rock of Def Leppard and Van Halen?
2nd … About a month before this game came out … I discovered a little game called Rock Band that is going to blow Guitar Hero away … so I’ll have to try and not hold that against this game. By the way … Rock band is going to have Jovi …
Game play: Solid as ever for Guitar Hero … in fact Harmonix has pretty much nailed it by now … too bad they’ve moved on right? The note progressions make complete since from Medium on up … and the hammer-ons and offs are easier than ever. The multi-player is still extremely fun … and it can kill 30 minutes better than most anything.
Graphics: Not bad … but nothing special … but then again … does it matter? It’s easy to tell notes from each other and they are bright and clear … GH80s does its job fine.
Sound: This game is meant to be played while cranked up … unfortunately I live in a thin walled apartment so rarely get to blow out my surround sound with ripping 80s tunes. Some of the covers are really bad … but that mostly has to do with the singer than the band … and I can live with that. The sound effects can be annoying and during a few songs the guitar is too loud or too soft.
Value: Lower than you’d hope … I usually get tired of playing after 10 to 20 minutes and then won’t pick it up again for a week or two for 20 more minutes. This is just due to a lack of great songs that are fun to play … there is no reason Synchronicity II should be the best song on the game … no reason at all. This game lacks those three or four amazing songs like “Sweet Child of Mine” or “More Than A Feeling.”
Overall: It pains me to say it … but I regret my purchase a little bit here. All the fundamentals are there … but the game just doesn’t live up to the great game it should have been. I wonder if GH3 will pick it back up … but I’ll never know since I’m making the leap to Rock Band this Winter. Rent it if you must … but don’t buy it and thank me later.
Guitar Hero 80s At A Glance |
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5.5 |
The Goods |
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The Flaws |
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Average |
The Verdict |
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