Guitar Hero Question

[mrsimperless]

So I'm going to be in town next week and I have plans to get together with my "video game buddy". He got Madden for the 360 so we can play it next week, but with watching the NFL and college and also solo careers in TCY, NCAA07 and FOF currently going on I think I may be at my football threshhold. (I never knew there was such a thing!)

I mentioned to him that we should go out and pick up Guitar Hero with an extra "controller" as I've heard quite a bit of talk on here about it. But I want to make sure that this is something we're going to enjoy and that I buy the right stuff as we'll be spending around $130 or so it looks like. So here are the questions:

1. Is it worth it to spend the money on Guitar Hero for multiplayer?
2. Should we buy two of the guitar controllers or just one and take turns?
3. Should we start with Guitar Hero 1 and then buy the sequel for possibly my next trip home (assuming we don't have to repurchase controllers and the ones from the first one will work with the second), or is the MP in GH2 that much better?
4. Should we just buy both GH1 and GH2 that come with controllers and then we'll end up with both games and two controllers?

[Kodos]

GH2 isn't out yet. I think you'd be better off just getting one guitar and trading off.

[mrsimperless]

One more question: Also please explain WHY you enjoy this game. If it is just because of the songs I dont think we're going to like it all that well. Also, he didn't want to try it because the controller looks "fake" and isn't a real guitar. I think he has this idea that it was going to be a true simulation of playing the guitar, but I have a feeling that it likely has more of a "gamey" feel to it rather than a true test of guitar playing skeelz.

[BrianD]

One more question: Also please explain WHY you enjoy this game. If it is just because of the songs I dont think we're going to like it all that well. Also, he didn't want to try it because the controller looks "fake" and isn't a real guitar. I think he has this idea that it was going to be a true simulation of playing the guitar, but I have a feeling that it likely has more of a "gamey" feel to it rather than a true test of guitar playing skeelz.

I have always enjoyed these types of games, and was a big fan of Amplitude. I think the concept of the game is pretty simple having to just push a few buttons at the right time, but you get the cool feedback of music getting better or worse depending on how you do. I didn't really enjoy that many songs on the first game, but I loved the game. It was simple yet addicting.

[Kodos]

It gives you a chance to act out rockstar fantasies when in reality you can't even play a kazoo.

[MJ4H]

One more question: Also please explain WHY you enjoy this game. If it is just because of the songs I dont think we're going to like it all that well. Also, he didn't want to try it because the controller looks "fake" and isn't a real guitar. I think he has this idea that it was going to be a true simulation of playing the guitar, but I have a feeling that it likely has more of a "gamey" feel to it rather than a true test of guitar playing skeelz.

It really has little to do with actually playing guitar. You are basically just timing finger patterns on the controller to the lights on the screen to simulate actually playing the guitar.

[Ksyrup]

It's basically Dance Dance Revolution for guitar. Or so it seems (since I've never actually played it).

[Mustang]

It's basically Dance Dance Revolution for guitar.

It is but, you aren't going to get a 35 year old guy to buy Dance Dance Revolution to play so.. Guitar Hero comes along.

It isn't a guitar simulation other than the 'feel' (Think air guitar but, with a purpose and something real in your hand). I find it addictive because of this and because of the songs. If you can't get past the guitar looking 'fake' well, probably better just to buy something else.

[Vince]

I absolutely love the game, and I can actually (somewhat) play the guitar. It's not at all a simulation, but it is at least a little similar to playing the guitar. You have to hold down fret buttons on the neck of the guitar, and then you have to strum on the strum bar at the correct time for the notes to register.

One note on multiplayer is that you are tied to the same difficulty level. So if one of you starts picking the game up quicker than the other, there is no way to scale the difficulty level between the two of you on one song. So whoever learns quicker is probably going to win, every time. It makes playing multiplayer with my friends a very non-rewarding experience, because I managed to become very good at the game very quickly, and now no one wants to play with me, because they either a) can't handle the hard or expert difficulty level, or b) get their asses kicked because I don't miss any notes on the medium or easy levels. That's probably my biggest complaint with the game in general.

However, if neither of you have played it ever, it's a lot of fun to play multiplayer because of the back and forth nature. With only one guitar, one of you is going to be sitting on the sidelines watching the other for a few minutes at a time, but it's still fun to trade off and work your way through the set lists.

[BrianD]

I absolutely love the game, and I can actually (somewhat) play the guitar. It's not at all a simulation, but it is at least a little similar to playing the guitar. You have to hold down fret buttons on the neck of the guitar, and then you have to strum on the strum bar at the correct time for the notes to register.

One note on multiplayer is that you are tied to the same difficulty level. So if one of you starts picking the game up quicker than the other, there is no way to scale the difficulty level between the two of you on one song. So whoever learns quicker is probably going to win, every time. It makes playing multiplayer with my friends a very non-rewarding experience, because I managed to become very good at the game very quickly, and now no one wants to play with me, because they either a) can't handle the hard or expert difficulty level, or b) get their asses kicked because I don't miss any notes on the medium or easy levels. That's probably my biggest complaint with the game in general.

However, if neither of you have played it ever, it's a lot of fun to play multiplayer because of the back and forth nature. With only one guitar, one of you is going to be sitting on the sidelines watching the other for a few minutes at a time, but it's still fun to trade off and work your way through the set lists.

Do people really pay attention to the scores in games like this and Dance Dance Revolution? It seems like the fun of these games lies in the playing, not in the attempts to score well. I'd be happy if the dropped the points and just kept stats for the percentage of notes in different categories (good, fair, poor, etc).

[Vince]

My friends and I are rather competitive. And one of them is a 4'11" Thai girl. She's actually better than anyone I know at the game aside from me. Pissing her off (by beating her) is not advised.

[Mustang]

Do people really pay attention to the scores in games like this and Dance Dance Revolution?

Only to gauge if I'm doing better or not.

% of notes hit would be nice though as a permanent display. I Just recently managed to clear the medium difficulty. Given that I was only 70% on Bark at the Moon.. I have a long way to go before clearing Hard..

[mrsimperless]

So what about the extra controller for multiplayer? It's sounding like its not really worth it to buy it. Can you play the multiplayer games with just one controller, or when you were talking about trading off were you referring to single player?

And how does the multiplayer work if you're both playing at the same time?

[Vince]

Multiplayer is simultaneous. You both play the same song, usually playing the chorus together, and trading off for parts of the solos. For instance, player one will play the first half of the intro, player two will play the second half of the intro, then both will come together, playing the same notes, for the chorus.

If you really want to, one of you can use a regular Playstation controller to play, but that pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the game.

Speaking of trading off is only in the single-player mode.