"Good fun, but worth the cost?"

Being a rythm game, it was highly likely that spin offs like Rocks the 80s were going to happen with Guitar Hero. Well, it's finally happened. Rocks the 80s adds 30 new licensed tracks, all from the 80s. The gameplay is the same as GHII, with nothing else new.

For those not up to date with Guitar Hero, I shall explain how the game works. The game is played with Red Octanes Gibson SG Guitar Controller. There are 5 coloured fret buttons at the top of the neck, at the base is a strummer, a wammy bar and START and SELECT buttons. Playing is pretty simple, on screen, there is a fret board moving down the screen, when a fret comes up, you hold down the coloured button. For example, a green is coming down the screen, so you hold down the green fret button, and when the fret on screen reaches the bottom of the screen (there are little rings) you must strum the strummer either up or down, to hit the note. Thats the basics, of course, there are 5 different buttons. You can also get notes you have to hold, and there are chords too, which are 2 notes together. 3 Button cords last seen in GHII also make a return, and as a whole, are used much more often in Expert than in GHII. Hammer ons and pull offs are pretty much the same as they were in GHII. Basically, you can just press the coloured button to hit the note instead of strumming, although it's only for certain notes.

The game plays pretty much the same though, you make a band (just the name, mind you), go through career, do encores at the end of different sets, and well, buy stuff from the shop earned by your money. It's all very simple and hasn't changed a bit, but it's still fun as it ever was. There isn't as much to buy in the unlock shop, outfits are gone, there is only one character to buy, and there are no bonus songs. Some characters have been taken out too, which is slightly disappointing. All the menus are the same too, albeit with a different colour scheme, which is slightly lazy. The characters have different costumes though, to look more 80s, however, not much change has visually happened to the venues.

Multiplayer stays the same, you get Face Off, where you take it in turns to play different parts of the song. Pro Face Off is back too, where you choose the same difficulty and play every single note, instead of taking it in turns. Cooperative is back too. I found the Coop to be slightly better in some ways, due to the fact the songs seem to have better bass parts, resulting in the coop being more exciting, where as with most of the songs in GHII, it could get slightly boring.

The graphics are the same. No changes, they aren't better, nor are they any different. The style is changed slightly in the venues for a more 80s look, just with the costumes, but if you have played previous GH games, you know the deal. The song list was OK. Whilst the songs certainly aren't great (most I have never heard of), there are some good songs. The songs are pretty easy, I managed to 5* all the songs on Expert the same day I got it, and whilst I am pretty good at GH games, I still can't 5* every song on expert on GH and GHII. The note charts for the game are pretty fun though.

PROS:

Good fun
Still great multiplayer

CONS:

Lack of content
A hefty price tag

THE RATINGS:
Graphics: 8.5/10
Audio: 7.5/10
Game Play: 8.5/10
Life Span: 6.5/10
Difficulty: 8.6/10
Multiplayer: 8.0/10
Overall: 7.0/10

My Two Pence:

Overall, the lack of content of Rocks the 80s lets it down a lot. The game is being sold with a FULL price tag, £40 for a PS2 game here in the UK is a lot, considering they're usually sold at £30 now, with the PS3 being out here. If you can get it for a cheaper price (mine was £25 from online), and love GH, then by all means get it. But if not, it might not be the best way to spend your money.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/07