"HEADLINE: Red Octane disappoints and leaves fans wanting more"

Welcome to the 80's
Guitar Hero has essentially become a new household name thanks to the success of Guitar Hero and both the PS2 and Xbox 360 versions of Guitar Hero II. This wasn't very surprising since Harmonix is no stranger when it comes to music and rhythm games. Before Guitar Hero, there was the early PS2 title Frequency followed by its sequel Amplitude, both critically-acclaimed games. The Harmonix team had mentioned creating an 80's edition of Guitar Hero in numerous interviews, but now it's finally here. However, is Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's worth the wait? Simply put, the answer is "no".

Clean shirt, new shoes...
Rocks the 80's is essentially Guitar Hero II with a new coat of paint. Because of this, Rocks the 80's looks about same, maybe slightly better, than Guitar Hero II in terms of graphics. The menus and even the intro movie are also identical to the ones found in Guitar Hero II but with an 80's touch to them. Johnny Napalm, Judy Nails, Izzy Sparks, Pandora, and Axel Steel return from Guitar Hero II with an 80's makeover, too. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the other members of your band are still living in the modern era. Harmonix didn't bother to give the lead singers, bassist, keyboard player, or drummer an 80's makeover because they look exactly the same as their Guitar Hero II counterparts. Rocks the 80's also promises venues straight from the 80's, but in reality, they're just the same venues from Guitar Hero II with little, if any, changes without Stonehedge. The graphics in Rocks the 80's are fine, but I expected more radical changes.
Graphics: 8.0/10

A Symphony of Destruction
Considering that Rocks the 80's is a music and rhythm game, song selection is a very important part of the game. However, the set list for Rocks the 80's is pretty mediocre. The game only features a meager 30 songs with no bonus tracks whatsoever. In comparison, Guitar Hero features 47 songs; Guitar Hero II (PS2) features 64 songs; Guitar Hero (360) features the same 64 songs as the PS2 version with 10 exclusives as well as several Guitar Hero songs available as downloadable content on Xbox Live Marketplace. Rocks the 80's does feature some recognizable songs like "The Warrior", "Holy Diver", "What I Like About You", "Nothin' But a Good Time" and of course "I Ran (So Far Away)". Thanks to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, "I Ran (So Far Away)" has basically become the definitive theme of the 80's. Considering that I've never heard of most of the songs in the game, I can't fairly judge the quality of the covers. However, the intro of "I Ran (So Far Away) seems a little out of sync. I also noticed that quite a few songs ended with the classic radio fade out, which didn't happen with any songs in Guitar Hero or Guitar Hero II. Aside from "I Ran (So Far Away)", "Play with Me", "Because, It's Midnite", "Turning Japanese", and "18 and Life", I didn't find myself going to back to any songs. I didn't even bother to 5* most songs, and I'm the person who is obsessed with getting 5* on all songs and setting high scores in the previous Guitar Hero games. I just finished them and left it at that. Some of the song choices were puzzling, too. Harmonix had Iron Maiden's huge repertoire of 80's hits before them, and they picked "Wrathchild"? Had Harmonix actually tried when developing this game, Rocks the 80's definitely could've had a soundtrack of the same caliber of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II. It seems that Harmonix just threw together a bunch of 80's songs that probably had extremely cheap licenses.
Music: 6.0/10

Less Talk More Rokk
Since Rocks the 80's is basically a repackaged version of Guitar Hero II, it's not surprising that the gameplay hasn't changed. But in this case, that's a good thing since Guitar Hero II vastly improved gameplay from Guitar Hero. All of the options found in Guitar Hero II are present in Rocks the 80's. Career is still the bulk of the game where you'll earn cash on Medium or higher to buy things at The Store. Co-op and Face-Off are also here, too, for those of you who want to team up with a friend or battle for shredding supremacy. However, Rocks the 80's is noticeably easier than Guitar Hero II. I got a 4* or 5* on practically every song on my first try, but I attest part of the easiness to having owned Guitar Hero II for six months. For those of you new to the series, Guitar Hero is one of those games that's easy to learn yet hard to master...like chess but with more guitars and guitar solos. Notes scroll from the top of the screen towards you, and you have to hold the right buttons and strum simultaneously as they reach the bottom of the screen. You'll earn a 2x, 3x, or 4x multiplier depending on how long you go without missing a note. By successfully hitting notes in a Star Power Phrase, you'll earn a small amount of Star Power. When your Star Power Meter is at least 50% filled, you can activate Star Power by tilting the guitar controller vertically or by hitting Select. This will double the points you receive for hitting notes and will also make your Rock Meter decrease at a slower rate if you miss notes for a brief period of time. The Whammy Bar is used to alter the pitch of long notes, but it's primarily used for extracting large amounts of Star Power from long notes in Star Power Phrases. The gameplay in Rocks the 80's is identical to Guitar Hero II and is exactly what you would expect from it.
Gameplay: 9.0/10

The Fall of Pangea
Aside from song selection, the lack of new content in Rocks the 80's is what stops it from being great. As mentioned before, Rocks the 80's only features 30 songs with no bonus tracks available for purchase at The Store. Another thing that you'll notice upon playing the game is that there are five Guitar Heroes to choose from with the Grim Reaper being the only unlockable character, giving us a grand total of six characters. That's less that the amount of characters in Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II. Unfortunately, Eddie Knox, Casey Lynch, Lars Umlaut, Clive Winston, and Xavier Stone weren't asked to make an encore in Rocks the 80's. It seems that Harmonix was too lazy to give those character an 80's makeover, and just opted to just not feature them in the game at all. In Guitar Hero II, The Store had a ton of stuff to unlock - guitars, guitar finishes, new characters, alternate outfits, bonus songs, and two bonus videos. In Rocks the 80's, the only things available for purchase are the Grim Reaper and the same guitars and guitar finishes that we saw in Guitar Hero II with very few new ones. You know there's something wrong when a new game actually has less content than its predecessor.
Content: 4.0/10

**** the Kells
Overall, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's is a extremely disappointing game. The game is just a cheap repackaging of Guitar Hero II with a poorly-executed attempt at an 80's theme, a mediocre selection of 30 songs from the 80's, and less content than Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II. And the worst part about this is that I'm pretty sure that Harmonix is aware of all of what they've done with the game. All of this for a price tag of $50. Sounds very appealing, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. Even as a huge Guitar Hero fan, I would advise you to just rent the game. If you're a decent Guitar Hero player, you could probably complete Career on all difficulties within the one-week rental period, maybe with some time to run through Co-op, too. At a $50, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's asks for too much and offers very little. Considering that this game is essentially a cheap expansion, $30 would have been a fair price for it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/07