"Kickball, Stickball, Kill the guy with the ball!"

Doooo you wannaaaaaaaa plaaaaaaay with mee? That is, play Guitar Hero, not kill the guy with the ball.

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, is an expansion pack of sorts. It takes the Guitar Hero 2 World into the 80s, for one helluva flashback, to the times where spandex, big hair (if it still moves while your headbanging, you need more hairspray), and makeup made men manly. This was the 1980s.

Gameplay - 10
Its the same exact gameplay from Guitar Hero 2, no differences what so ever. Now, thats not really a bad thing. You have your plastic axe of power, where you press 5 different buttons and strum, using the almighty strum bar, in time with the music. Some of the notes are power chords, the music that makes rock rock. Power chords are just 2 notes that you strum together. There are also 3 button chords, which are only performable by the Ramones in all of us. Some notes contain star power, an almighty energy that unleashes the true rock star. By the way, it does not involve dropping your pants. If you can hit all the notes in a star power phrase, you get star power added to your star power meter. Once you have enough SP to use it, you lift your guitar, with the neck pointing high in the air! Or you can press select, but whats fun with that? Once star power is deployed, you gain double the points from each note, and your rock meter doesn't go down as fast. What is the rock meter, you ask? It ranks you on how much you rock. If your in the green, you probably rock harder than AC/DC. In the yellow, you probably rock as hard as Guns N Roses in their prime (Maybe a little less than them). And if your in the red, then your worse than a My Chemical Romance cover band (is that possible?). Thats the basic gameplay in a guitar string.

Graphics - 8
Kind of pushes the limits of the PS2, just like Guitar Hero 2 did. The 'rockers' animation look good, though, they could of changed the singer/bassists/drummers look, so that they looked like they were from the 80s too. The guitarists new 80s looks are cool, though Axel got killed. The best is easily Izzy (he IS the 80s) and the Grim Ripper, because I can't get enough of those glasses. The guitar players animations are also nice. Im not sure how many of them are new, considering I use Izzy and Izzy only, but it looks like he does some new guitar moves. The bright colors are what I really love about the games graphics. You've got tons of yellow, tons of pink and tons more bright, bright, BRIGHT colors. It really makes the game POP! The venues didn't get a big makeover. The ones I noticed the most were the High School, and the venue that used to be the Warped Tour, now called the Rock For Safety Tour.

Sound - 9
I'll tell you one thing, if this score was below a 7, it wouldn't be worth your $50, but, as you've noticed, its not. The score is a 9. The soundtrack covers the 80s pretty well. You've got your New Wave (A Flock Of Seagulls, Scandal, Oingo Boingo), your Hair Metal (Poison, Twisted Sister, Extreme, Quiet Riot and tons more...), Your plain old metal (Dio!! Judas Priest, Iron Maiden), and your Pop (The Go Go's). Pretty much the whole soundtrack is superb. There is one song I despise, and that really isn't too bad. The problem with the sound is the covers. Most of them suck more than the headband. They ruin some great songs, and its a shame. There are a few covers that are good (Only a Lad, Play With Me, Wrathchild and a few others). And even one master track sucks (I Wanna Rock, but I believe its a later recording, and I guess Dee doesn't scream as well as he used too). The other problem is the missing bands. There is no Van Halen, Rush, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses and Motley Crue. So the soundtrack is not the best representation of the 80s, but is pretty darn good. Also, everybody's favorite car noises are back. Thats right, VRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM SCREEEEEEECH, is back!

Replayability - 5
The replayability in Rocks The 80s is poor. Like, really bad. There are no bonus songs, so the 30 songs are all you have. There are no new unlockables basically. The only one is the Grim Ripper, and thats only because he has those snazzy glasses. The 30 songs won't take veterans long to blast through, even on Expert. And 5 starring them isn't gonna be that tough either. The only real replayability is if you enjoy playing these songs over and over. And theres a good chance of that because of the nice soundtrack.

Buy or Rent?
That totally depends on how 'hardcore' of a Guitar Hero fan you are. If you are a huge fan it is most definitely worth the purchase, as these songs are fun, and your going to want some more songs to play through. If you don't play through every difficulty, trying to 5 star everything, and FC songs, then rent. If you buy it, and you only play medium, there isn't much of a game for you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/07