Geek in Review: Guitar Hero II

 

My plan for this week's Geek in Review was a story about comic books that have been turned into movies. During my research I discovered that there's only one Alan Moore book that hasn't been completely destroyed by Hollywood; that can be its own column, so I started working on that instead. Then I realized that I can do an entire column just about Alan Moore, including his influence on other writers, genres, and what an incredibly unique guy he is . . . so I started working on that story, until I realized that there's all this Alan Moore stuff that I haven't even read, like Top Ten and Tomorrow Stories. It would be irresponsible to do a story about the man without reading as much of his work as I can, so I dropped 150 bucks at the comic shop, and realized that it was now Sunday afternoon, and I hadn't yet started my column.
"I'm completely fucked," I said to myself as I walked to my car, "but at least I'll be able to do some really great comic-oriented stuff in January and February."
But what the hell would I do this week? I drove home, put a pile of books on my dining room table, and played Guitar Hero II while I tried to figure it out.
Wait. I . . . played . . . Guitar Hero II . . . Ding!
Guitar Hero II was the most anticipated sequel (and probably the most anticipated game, period) of 2006 for me. I was so excited to play it, I went on a quest to try it out at E3, and turned it into a story for The AV Club that I'm really proud of, and will add to my next dead tree publication, which is a compilation of my writings from the last year or so that I like. It's currently in the works for a Spring release from Monolith Press.
My editors liked my Destroy All Humans! 2 review, and readers seemed to enjoy it, as well. So how about a review of Guitar Hero II? I wrote about this game so much when I was editing the geek wire, it seemed like some good, natural closure, too, so this week I give you, Wil's Review of Guitar Hero II:

Guitar Hero rocked the world of just about everyone who picked up a controller, struck the legs-apart rock pose, and transformed their living room into the stage at the Fillmore. Could Red Octane and Harmonix do it again? Would the setlist be as diverse and satisfying as Guitar Hero's? How could they improve upon a nearly-perfect game? And would it be so goddamn hard to make sure that I don't have to come out of a fucking uptempo record, and do a goddamn death dedication about a fucking dog dying?!

Yes, yes, yes, and no. They didn't just equal the fun of Guitar Hero, they blew it away with a sequel that takes everything we loved about the first game, makes it better, and adds a little Trogdor, because everything is better with burnination.

I hear a rumor that it's coming out for Xbox in 2007, and I also hear that it could include multi-player via Xbox live, and buying new songs via Xbox Arcade. It's all unsubstantiated rumors, of course, but maybe if we all wish hard enough, Hiro will take his sword to Red Octane and Harmonix, and make it happen for us.

The Newswire is again SFW today, and maximizes your star power, too! And if you think it's worthy, my editors would be ever so happy if you'd Digg or 'scape it.

Source: Geek in Review: Guitar Hero II
Originally published on Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:08:59 GMT by Wil