So, even though I make lots of video-games, rarely do I play them. In fact, my newest console until recently was a Super Nintendo. Well, I played a game called "Guitar Hero II" at Jon's house and I was hooked. Circle bought me a Playstation 2 and Guitar Hero II for it just because I couldn't stop raving about it.
The premise of the game is that you are the guitar player in a fledgling band and you're trying to make your band the next big thing. You start in a high-school gym and eventually end up playing a concert at Stonehenge (the ultimate band venue I guess?).
The way the game works is that different colored notes come toward you from the distance and when they reach you you're supposed to hold down the right combination of buttons and strum in time with the music (oh, did I mention the controller for the game is a big toy guitar?).
The game has many difficulty levels that are very well designed to help you build up from using just 3 of the "fret" buttons to sliding your hand around to reach all 5. Anyone can pick it up and take "air guitar" to the next level.
The music selection is one of my favorite things. It's full of guitar-heavy classic rock so you find yourself singing and strumming along. Here's the song-list:
1. Opening Licks
"Shout at the Devil" - Mötley Crüe
"Mother" - Danzig †
"Surrender" - Cheap Trick
"Woman" - Wolfmother
"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" - Spýnal Tap † (Encore)
2. Amp-Warmers
"Strutter" - KISS †
"Heart-Shaped Box" - Nirvana
"Message in a Bottle" - The Police
"You Really Got Me" - Van Halen[14]
"Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas (Encore)
3. String-Snappers
"Monkey Wrench" - Foo Fighters
"Them Bones" - Alice in Chains
"Search and Destroy" - Iggy Pop and The Stooges
"Tattooed Love Boys" - The Pretenders
"War Pigs" - Black Sabbath (Encore)
4. Thrash and Burn
"Cherry Pie" - Warrant
"Who Was in My Room Last Night?" - Butthole Surfers †
"Girlfriend" - Matthew Sweet †
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - The Rolling Stones †
"Sweet Child O'Mine" - Guns N' Roses (Encore)
5. Return of the Shred
"Killing in the Name" - Rage Against the Machine
"John the Fisherman" - Primus
"Freya" - The Sword
"Bad Reputation" - Thin Lizzy
"Last Child" - Aerosmith † (Encore)
6. Relentless Riffs
"Crazy on You" - Heart
"Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart" - Stone Temple Pilots
"Rock This Town" - Stray Cats
"Jessica" - The Allman Brothers Band †
"Stop!" - Jane's Addiction (Encore)
7. Furious Fretwork
"Madhouse" - Anthrax
"Carry Me Home" - The Living End
"Laid to Rest" - Lamb of God †
"Psychobilly Freakout" - The Reverend Horton Heat
"YYZ" - Rush (Encore)
8. Face-Melters
"Beast and the Harlot" - Avenged Sevenfold
"Institutionalized" - Suicidal Tendencies †
"Misirlou" - Dick Dale
"Hangar 18" - Megadeth
"Free Bird" - Lynyrd Skynyrd † (Encore)
Yes, Freebird is the ultimate song with around 10 solos...it's really hard to play.
So, after playing it for a while I started thinking about how much my brother Ben would like it...and since he gets bored while he's in the hospital for his treatments it would be the perfect thing to take his mind of the boredom. Plus, he used to play bass guitar and all the songs are from his "glory days."
So Circle and I bought him a PS2 and GHII and a "Game Bridge" so he could hook the PS2 up to his laptop. We dropped it off while we were out visiting California and Ben and I "jammed" together for a bit.
My mom reported that he bought a game pack of other PS2 games before heading into the hospital for his latest treatments, hopefully it'll help counteract the boredom and also distract him from the pain.
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