bit-tech Shopping: Activision Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's (PS2)

Rating: 6

Time with product: 4

Strengths: all my fav 80's songs

Weaknesses: most of graphics seem to be the same as the previous games

Summary: i love guitar hero, hands down!! however, guitar hero encore seems to be almost alike the previous games except for its songs. i find that the songs are easier for me since i was able to play the first four songs in the expert (that's considered a very good achievement for me since i could not even attempt a single song in expert level for guitar hero 2).so, all in all, if you're looking for more challenging songs, guitar hero encore may not be what you're looking for but if you're a big fan of 80's songs, then i would say, this is a good one to purchase.i do agree that the price is too much for this game since they only changed the songs and nothing much in the graphics or options.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 3

Strengths: More Guitar Hero; some new art

Weaknesses: Marginal 80's window dressing; full price with half the songs

Summary: Pricing this release at full price is painful considering that it only contains approximately 30 songs and no bonus songs. What hurts even more is that so much potential is lost in the '80s theming. The full line-up of characters is not available, and for those who appear, not all of them get an '80s makeover. Some stages have some alterations. It's nice that they bothered to re-skins some elements, but the execution feels incredibly half-baked. The line-up of music feels a bit more specialized than the other two iterations, so be sure to look over the track list to see if you can get your money's worth with the smaller selection of songs. This era was somewhat light on substance, and you may potentially get bored with the musical style of the songs. That said, it's always good to have more to play.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 30 Days

Strengths: More Guitar Hero you know and love

Weaknesses: Song Selection is weak

Summary: Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's seems more like an expansion pack to Guitar Hero II than a full fledged game. The Song Selection is not only much weaker than the previous entry in the franchise, but there are far fewer songs. Difficulty has also been lowered, but this may just have been an unintentional side effect of the poor song selection. Most songs seem to go "easy-easy-easy-hard solo-easy-easy-done". Only the final tier of songs offers any real challenge. I would only recommend this product for those who REALLY love 80's music or for those dying for more Guitar Hero songs and cannot wait for Guitar Hero III or Rock Band.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2

Strengths: New Songs80s Throwback

Weaknesses: Guitar Hero II with new songs. Where's Prince?

Summary: If you love Guitar Hero and the 80s this is the game for you! Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s is basically an expansion pack for Guitar Hero II. It is the same game with different clothing and songs. Since Guitar Hero II was a 5 star game (in my opinion,) that is not necessarily a bad thing. The track list covers a diverse selection of songs, but it is disappointing that Prince was not on the game. I also do not like that song's lyrics were changed to make the game more age appropriate. Other than a few minor complaints, this game does indeed rock the 80s!

Rating: 6

Time with product: 1

Strengths: Decent selection of 80s music to jam to

Weaknesses: -No new gameplay-Recycled Graphics

Summary: I picked this game up on release and have to say I was disappointed. They really only changed a few characters , the main logo, and the songs and used everything from the original GuitarHero 2. It didn't justify the price point, but of course i paid for it anyway. Song selection wise, I guess im not really a big 80's guy because I really only recognized about 10 of them. I find Guitar Hero to be more fun when you already know a song, so I couldn't really get into it that much.Thus only recommended for 80's lovers.