Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s

THE BAD:
Basically a re-skin of Guitar Hero 2, with the same venues and the same characters, only in a bright neon tint
Rather haphazard song selection
Charging full price for less content(No bonus songs, no videos/unlockables other than guitars and outfits, albeit the guitars are all the same as Guitar Hero 2)

SUMMARY:
Let me say this: I know in my heart that this is a rather below-average game, but since it's Guitar Hero, and since it's still fun to play, I love it for some reason.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, this is how Guitar Hero's gameplay works: you use a guitar-shaped controller with five "fret" buttons(although you only use all five in hard and expert mode). You must hold down the fret button that corresponds to the note on the screen and press the "strum" bar up or down to play the note. You can also gain "Star Power"(A power-up which increases your multiplier), which can be activated tilting the guitar or pressing the "select" button. On the guitar is also a whammy bar, to modify the sound of long notes and to extract star power from long notes.

Obviously, this game a chance to rock to the hits of the 80's, from Quiet Riot's Metal Health to Extreme's Play With Me. The tracks are well laid-out, and fun to play as usual. The only real problem I have with the song list are songs themselves. How many people remember Faster Pussycat, much less the song Bathroom Wall? Where is the Journey? Boston? Aerosmith? It seems to me that if Harmonix wanted to make this a true addition to the Guitar Hero library, they would have added songs that truly embodied what was so great about the 80's: the music. I will say this, there are some decent songs that were wildly popular in the hair spray days, such as Scandal's The Warrior, Twisted Sister's I Wanna Rock, and Fock of Seagull's I Ran(So Far Away). As an added bonus, all the songs I just listed are the master tracks, not covers(However, like Guitar Hero 2, most of the other songs are covers. They are fairly well-done, though, with the only exception being The Dead Kennedy's Police Truck. The master contains a fair amount of swearing, so WaveGroup's cover makes for some odd lyrics, as they substituted new lines for less child-friendly lines).

The song list aside, my second major problem with this game is the fact that it is, plain and simple, a re-skin of Guitar Hero 2. The venues are the same. The characters are the same. The guitars are the same. Even the opening intro is the same. Everything is the same except for the fact that everything is tinted neon to give it an 80's-ish look (A couple things I found amusing are that the Reaper is wearing 3-D glasses and in the intro the Harmonix and Activision logo are pixelated with an 80's look) The fact that everything is the same as the last game takes away from the excitement, because if you've already play Guitar Hero 2 you know what's coming up next. The character's wear 80's based outfits and sport 80's hair(Pandora's hair actually made me laugh), and some outfits can be unlocked in the store to complement the character's default clothes. Even though the graphics are a repeat of Guitar Hero 2, they are still bright and exaggerant and seem to jump off the screen. I just wish that they would fix the drummer. He never moves from his snare and high hat, which really saps what little realism that is in Guitar Hero.

My third gripe is about the difficulty. It is extremely easy, with some of the final tier choices being songs that wouldn't be out of place in the opening set of Guitar Hero 2(Police Truck? Really?). But the thing that really threw me off is, as easy as the game was, the final song(Play With Me by Extreme) is unbelievably difficult, rivalling the difficulty of Free Bird, possibly being harder. It took me a while to beat that song. Lastly, this installment does not come with a guitar controller, so unfortunately if you are a beginner or you don't own any other Guitar Hero titles, you are out of luck.

So, in summary, if you are a hardcore fan of the Guitar Hero series, such as I am, pick this up. If you aren't very committed, leave this one alone. It one won't prove of much replay value to you. And if you are a beginner, this really isn't the place to start. Pick up Guitar Hero 1 or 2. But for the rest of you virtual guitar virtuosos, this is definitely a worthy addition to your Guitar Hero library.