Reviews for Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80\'s

Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80's

Strengths: New songs to jam along with.

Weakness: same graphics-no new game play-

If it is just new songs you are interested in because you are bored or mastered GH I & II then this is good. I enjoyed the set since I grew up with the tunes. It has a good selection although I would have chosen some others. All in all good as we await GH III. I paid less than $1 a tune so I feel it was worth it.

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Filthy lucre-- cash grab on GH freaks

Strengths: Guitar Hero is fun, SOME decent songs

Weakness: Some weak songs, seems like no effort was spent on the game, poor sound quality on some songs, some cover versions don't sound a lot like the real songs

I was really looking forward to an 80s edition of Guitar Hero, but unfortunately, this game really let me down. I have loved Guitar Hero I and II, and love 80s music, so this should've been a must-buy.

However, it seemed like this game was sort of "phoned in" just before Redoctane was bought out-- and I almost mean that literally. The sound quality of some of the songs is absolutely horrible (sounds like someone dug a cassette out of an 80s mix tape) and the cover band seems to be getting progressively worse with each version of Guitar Hero. I thought GH1 had some great covers, GHII was mostly decent with a few clunkers, but many of the cover-versions on GH80s sound very little like the original songs and very much like a cover band sort of trying to play the original. It makes playing the game much less fun when you're missing notes on the beats because the song has been changed-- the point is to feel like you're rocking out to the original songs, not that you're playing them in some bad band.

That said, it's still Guitar Hero, and it does have its moments. Before you buy it, be sure to check the list of songs and be sure you like a good number of them-- if you don't like the songs there is absolutely nothing here for you. (This game is a stripped-down version of Guitar Hero 2 with slightly different graphics) If you do like the songs, though, it's not that horribly bad. Just be prepared for some of them to sound nothing like you remember. It basically should've been a $20 expansion pack, not a $50 stand-alone game. I think Activision's definitely showing where they stand in terms of cashing in on the franchise-- between this and the ridiculously priced Xbox Live song packs they're trying to grab money anyway they can. Unfortunately, they forget that if they just made an awesome game, money would come rolling in all by itself.

3 stars-- 2 stars feels too low to me, but it's kind of resting on the shoulders of greatness (GH1 and 2).

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Expansion disc, More Songs, not much else

Strengths: More songs for Guitar Hero

Weakness: Strange song selection, nothing new over Guitar Hero II

I've been able to try out every song on this expansion disc for Guitar Hero. Fans of the game will enjoy more songs to play, but this collection almost seems a bit sloppy. Many of the songs have long breaks where you don't play and there is very little (if any) changes in the graphics or stages since Guitar Hero II. I expected a little more, especially for a $40 game.

It still is Guitar Hero, though, so if you aren't tired of the gameplay yet, this disc will keep you rocking until Guitar Hero III.

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Milking the proverbial cash cow

Strengths: Um, it's Guitar Hero? (seriously, a couple songs are at least fun)

Weakness: Too many lame songs that are simply not fun to play, asking full price for a quicky expansion pack?, too few songs

Wow, words simply cannot describe how dissappointed I am in this game. Almost half the tracks feel like your stuck playing rhythm guitar, so it's not as fun as the lead guitar driven tracks of previous GH's. There are only 30 songs, about 10 of which are worth playing more than once. Every aspect except the songs is ripped from GH2, with pallet swaps and a couple added objects to make it "80's themed". What results is a look that much of the time looks like a poorly done mod, instead of a real game. The songs are completely hit or miss here, and the misses FAR outweigh the hits. Iron Maidens Wrathchild is great, yet Holy Driver by Dio pretty much sucks (and I like the song btw, it's just no fun to play). In fact, one of my favorite songs in this game is "What I Like About You" by The Romantics. This saddens me, as I actually cannot stand the song, but it is at least fun to play (that's how unfun the rest of the songs are).

I think the biggest problem is that they pigeonholed themselves into the 80s, which had some great guitar music, but not great POPULAR music. You can't expect to make a game that's nothing but Hair/Power Metal and expect it to sell, so they added songs people would recognize, despite the fact that the guitar work in them is mediocre at best.

Gah, I could go on and on, but if you really want to play this, rent it, or better yet, find a buddy dumb enough to buy it on name alone (like I did) and borrow his. It'll only take a couple hours to play through, and you'll probably never feel like going back.

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An expansion pack that should have sold for $20

Strengths: Quite a few fun songs. Great if you're a fan of 80s music.

Weakness: Very limited song selection, rehashed presentation, absolutely no extras.

I had high hopes for Guitar Hero Encore. The endlessly entertaining game play of the previous GH titles injected with blazingly fast, guitar driven 80s music sounded like a fool-proof formula ... Well, the game certainly had the potential to be something exception, but it falls short of reaching the greatness of the two previous titles.

On the plus side, the songs, for the most part, are terrific. The big hits and the lesser known tunes are a blast to play. The game feels more balanced than GH2, with a more gradual learning curve to the songs.

Unfortunately, the fun is short lived. With less than half the number of tracks found in GH2, Encore feels like little more than an expansion pack. The levels and menus are identical to the previous game's, save for a couple pallet swaps and tacked on graphical flourishes. There are no extras to speak of — that means no "making of" videos, unlockable songs or extra costumes. Death is the only unlockable character. Unsurprisingly, he looks identical to his Guitar Hero 2 counterpart, except this time around he's wearing 3D glasses. As you can see, the boys at Harmonix went all out this time around.

Now I could have overlooked most the flaws in the game if it wasn't for its $50 price tag. The game should have been released for $20 or $30 at most. It's obvious that very little development time went into the product and asking full price for a half-baked expansion pack is, frankly, insulting. I would have given the game game four stars if it wasn't for the price.

I strongly advise those of you interested in purchasing Encore to wait. Considering the poor reviews the title has received, the price will drop to $20 within a few months.

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An encore, no more, no less.

Strengths: It's still the same gameplay and it's got SOME good songs.

Weakness: It's got ALOT of bad songs and very bad note charts for a majority of the songs. It's a full price game. Extremely easy compare to the original two.

First things first, this is NOT a full game. It is suppose to be an expansion (albeit a full price one.) If you're expecting a full price game, you will be sorely disappointed, if you are getting it knowing full well that it's merely Guitar Hero 2...round 2, then you won't.

The songs all come from the 80s, you either love it or you hate it, for those who grew up in that time period, you'll find much to like, otherwise, it's hit or miss.

There's some good stuff on here like Wraithchild, Holy Diver, We've Got the Beat, Heat of the Moment, etc. but the problem is, while the songs are great themselves, the note charts are quite bad. Unlike GH2, triple chords and pretty much the use of three fingers at once is WAY overused. In fact, chords themself are there practically every other note.

Yes, its quite boring, who would have though? Guitar Hero, boring? Madness you'd say, but yet, somehow, this game manages to pull it off.

Another thing that plagues this game is the fact that it is extremely easy. If you even remotely finished expert on GH2, you will plow through this game, save maybe two or three songs.

That being said, there is still a lot of fun to be had with this game, it's the same great formula, and it will last, especially with another guitar and a friend. Just be warned, this is not another full Guitar Hero game, if you want a true addition, wait for Guitar Hero 3.

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By member: zoglog - Jul 25, 2007

Recycled garbage over and over

Strengths: It's guitar hero and works with the previous controller.

Weakness: repetitive milking rehash, 80's songlist is subpar, Crappy art design/direction

What's there to say about this? It's simply a re-milking of the franchise. All the character models/stages are the same except they have different outfits. Nothing has changed at all and you're basically paying full price for less than half a game. a reasonable price for this would have been $19 rather than the $50 retail. Looks like Guitar Hero is working it's way into the genre milking strategy of Konami's guitar freaks.

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Awesome game!

Strengths: New Combination Of Songs!

Weakness: Downloadable content would of been nice.

Cool game. Only big complaint is I rather this not feel like an "add-on". It should be a Guitar Hero 3. The either series was all about innovation but because they limited this version to just the 80s it killed it. I strong think they need to stop just releasing games just because they could. If every company took years to develop a game there would not be so much junk out there. It lasted a good 3-5 days of insane play time but it got old pretty fast.

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Bit of a dissappointment

Strengths: New songs...

Weakness: Really lacks much of anything new...

The game is still fun to play, but I wouldn't recommend purchasing it. They really should have lowered the price for a game lacking in anything new from the other Guitar Hero games, other than the songs and outfits. They could have added more guitars, guitar finishes, and more songs to unlock or purchase. Personally, I think the new song selection could have been better, but that's subjective I guess.

I wouldn't recommend purchasing this yet, until they lower the price.

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Take the fun of Guitar Hero II mix rapidly with...

Strengths: Of course it is Guitar Hero so it is always fun and easy to learn but also challenging at the higher levels. Great fun for a party game.

Weakness: There was no attempt at refreshng this title. The attempts to cover the songs just don't seem as good as GH2.

This game is really fun to play and has a high replay value. Step 1. Unlock all of the songs in single player with no regard for score. Step 2. Get another Guitar and have a blast playing through the songs and "jamming" with friends. Step 3. Go back and aim for your personal best on each track.
The bad part is that this game is really just Guitar Hero II with an 80's theme skin and not very many real staple 80's songs. On top of that half of the characters are taken out and there are no real unlockable items anymore and no bonus songs in the store. This rushed and perhaps unfinished offering would have been great if billed as an "expansion pack" and sold for 30 bucks. But 40 bucks is the price you have to pay to rock different songs until the new games come out for the holidays.

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If you love Guitar Hero.......

Strengths: Its Guitar Hero! Great songs.

Weakness: Nothing innovative, more of the same.

The 80s edition of Guitar Hero is bittersweet. If you're waiting for the release of Guitar Hero 3 and need something to tide you over, then run, don't walk to buy this. The songs are very decent, and fun to play.

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80's fav

Strengths: all my fav 80's songs

Weakness: most of graphics seem to be the same as the previous games

i love guitar hero, hands down!! however, guitar hero encore seems to be almost alike the previous games except for its songs. i find that the songs are easier for me since i was able to play the first four songs in the expert (that's considered a very good achievement for me since i could not even attempt a single song in expert level for guitar hero 2).

so, all in all, if you're looking for more challenging songs, guitar hero encore may not be what you're looking for but if you're a big fan of 80's songs, then i would say, this is a good one to purchase.

i do agree that the price is too much for this game since they only changed the songs and nothing much in the graphics or options.

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Limited appeal, limited content

Strengths: More Guitar Hero; some new art

Weakness: Marginal 80's window dressing; full price with half the songs

Pricing this release at full price is painful considering that it only contains approximately 30 songs and no bonus songs. What hurts even more is that so much potential is lost in the '80s theming. The full line-up of characters is not available, and for those who appear, not all of them get an '80s makeover. Some stages have some alterations. It's nice that they bothered to re-skins some elements, but the execution feels incredibly half-baked.

The line-up of music feels a bit more specialized than the other two iterations, so be sure to look over the track list to see if you can get your money's worth with the smaller selection of songs. This era was somewhat light on substance, and you may potentially get bored with the musical style of the songs.

That said, it's always good to have more to play.

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Guitar Hero II: The Expansion Pack

Strengths: More Guitar Hero you know and love

Weakness: Song Selection is weak

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's seems more like an expansion pack to Guitar Hero II than a full fledged game. The Song Selection is not only much weaker than the previous entry in the franchise, but there are far fewer songs. Difficulty has also been lowered, but this may just have been an unintentional side effect of the poor song selection. Most songs seem to go "easy-easy-easy-hard solo-easy-easy-done". Only the final tier of songs offers any real challenge. I would only recommend this product for those who REALLY love 80's music or for those dying for more Guitar Hero songs and cannot wait for Guitar Hero III or Rock Band.

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Guitar Hero Rocks Again!

Strengths: New Songs 80s Throwback

Weakness: Guitar Hero II with new songs. Where's Prince?

If you love Guitar Hero and the 80s this is the game for you! Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s is basically an expansion pack for Guitar Hero II. It is the same game with different clothing and songs. Since Guitar Hero II was a 5 star game (in my opinion,) that is not necessarily a bad thing. The track list covers a diverse selection of songs, but it is disappointing that Prince was not on the game. I also do not like that song's lyrics were changed to make the game more age appropriate. Other than a few minor complaints, this game does indeed rock the 80s!

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Guitar Hero 2 80's

Strengths: Decent selection of 80s music to jam to

Weakness: -No new gameplay -Recycled Graphics

I picked this game up on release and have to say I was disappointed. They really only changed a few characters , the main logo, and the songs and used everything from the original GuitarHero 2.
It didn't justify the price point, but of course i paid for it anyway.
Song selection wise, I guess im not really a big 80's guy because I really only recognized about 10 of them. I find Guitar Hero to be more fun when you already know a song, so I couldn't really get into it that much.
Thus only recommended for 80's lovers.

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Guitar Hero Rock the 80's

Strengths: a few good songs

Weakness: limited amount of songs, price

Guitar Hero Rocks the 80's is a welcome addition to the Guitar Hero series. It plays pretty much like Guitar Hero 2. There are a couple really good songs included mixed in with not so great songs in my opinion. The $50 price tag is a little steep for nothing new added accept 80's songs. If you are a real fan of the 80's a couple of songs are really fun to play. I'd wait till the price drops and then it might make up for less songs and no added value from GHII

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Rock the 80s

Strengths: another guitar hero game

Weakness: songs, price, not as good as the other 2

This game is like an expansion. There aren't many songs in this game and they charge $50 for it. Hardcore fans will buy it no matter what. But $50 for only 30 songs. Most of them aren't fun to play with. To me it's an okay game. I love Guitar Hero but this one is disappointing. So I recommend you to get it when the price drops. I'm sure it will. I'm waiting for Guitar Hero 3.

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Play along with a bad bar bands

Strengths: Cover

Weakness: Bad re-recordings of songs Poor production

The biggest disappointment was all the bad versions of songs you have to play to. The bands that re-recorded the songs did not record the songs accurately. But most of all the songs and vocals just don’t sound anything like the original. You basically spend $50 bucks to play along to a bad bar bands. Also, the production was sub-par.

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Hair Band Hero

Strengths: More songs.

Weakness: Half aren't that great.

Guitar hero Rock the 80's is basically Guitar Hero II with a different set of songs that aren't as good. It's nice to have a few additional songs that are great. And if you're looking for something to do between II and the release of Guitar Hero III, this might get your fix in. But it's by n means a necessary addition for Gh fans.

with what I've played so far, I found some of the new songs hard. But I know others who thought they were easy.

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there's always room for guitar hero

Strengths: plays like gh2, some really fun songs, more guitar hero for those of us done with the first two games

Weakness: uneven song selection, pricey for only 30 songs, pretty easy, basically gh2 with an 80's coat of paint

ok here it comes; even though i'm a huge GH fan, this one's a bit of a disappointment. this one's pretty much gh2 with half the songs, 2/3s the environments and characters, the same guitars & skins and no unlockable videos or bonus tracks.


so why does it still get 4 stars? pretty much because it's more guitar hero, which even when it's bad is still one of the best games out there. i think we've been a little spoiled by the first two games and this one brings us back down to earth.

not that that is a good thing though. this is really just an expansion pack with a limited song selection and some small changes to the visuals...which would have been fine if not for charging full price for it.


it's a definite pick up for gh fans if you can get it around $25

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Yes, the 80's still rock

Strengths: Satisfied the need for new GH content while waiting for GH3

Weakness: Short, some questionable song picks

At full retail, I wouldn't buy this. For seasoned GH vets, there's just not enough content (and interesting content at that) to make it seem worthwhile. If you can get it for 30 percent (or more) off, than it'll seem like a nice little time-killer until GH3 shows up this fall. It does nothing to advance gameplay, graphics are comparable to GH2, and the song list definitely had some questionable picks, but that's to be expected given the challenges and costs of licensing original material, I suppose.

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Not much new except for the tunes

Strengths: More songs to jam to. Same enjoyable game that you love.

Weakness: Very little differences in this version - I would consider this to be just an add-on pack to GH2.

I can't give Encore a bad of a rating because it is still fun! But, I can knock it a bit for not expanding on what was already there. The song choices are not the best and there are stretches where there are no notes to play for a looooooong time. But, if you hunger for new songs and don't care about extras, then go for it - but get it on sale.

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Better than a bonus pack, not quite a sequel

Strengths: Some fabulous tracks with fun guitar lines, 80's "makeover" is fun to watch

Weakness: No bonus tracks, same interface options from GHII, fewer unlockable items

Guitar Hero Encore - Rocks the 80's has some of my favorite tracks from all of the PS2 Guitar Hero games. "I Ran," "Hold on Loosely," "The Warrior," and a song I had never heard of before this game, "Because it's Midnite" rocked my world with great lines, fun solos, and classic hooks to keep it all going. The tracklist is tilted towards new wave and hair bands, with some straight guitar pop-rock as well. I've really enjoyed playing through these tunes and learning the more difficult lines on hard level (I've never played a real guitar before).

The interface is exactly the same as in Guitar Hero II. You might find this disappointing, or you might not care. I'm not bothered by it. The option to play two player with different tracks (lead, rhythm, bass) was the single biggest improvement of GHII over GHI, and I'm glad it's still present.

I wish there were some bonus tracks. How cool would it have been to track down underground/local acts from the 80's and get them to either hand over their tapes or even re-record songs for GH80's? As it is, the depth factor is much less than in GHII because of this absence (GHI also had over a dozen bonus indie tracks, many of which rivaled the main songs). With that in mind, I would not spend more than $40 on this game, and seeing it listed at $50 seems a bit of a cash grab. In the end, though, if you're a GH junkie who has burned through the first two games or a hardcore 80's fan (or both), by all means dive right in. But if you haven't played GHII yet, hit that first, because you'll get a lot more bang for the buck with the same technology even though it's not "this year's model." Speaking of which - why no Elvis Costello??? =)

Check out the Wikipedia entry on this game for the complete song list:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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Maybe you should have rocked a little harder..

Strengths: It's a guitar hero game.

Weakness: Bad selection of songs, small amount of songs, no bonus songs, high price.

Let me start by saying the Guitar Hero series is one of my favorites. When I heard about 80's edition coming out I bought it the first day. Unfortunately the game only has 30 songs on it and some of them aren't even good choices. It plays the same as Guitar Hero 2 which isn't a bad thing but they could have upgraded a little. The menus are the exact same and everything. When you go to the Unlockable store, you can't even buy any bonus songs. This was one of my favorite things in the original Guitar Hero games because all of these were master tracks (performed by the original artist). Also you'll find that the 1-player mode ends rather quickly since it only features 30 songs. Overall I'd suggest this game only if you absolutely love Guitar Hero and want to play a few new songs. I'd wait until it hits the bargain bin though..

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Rock the 80's: Good for What It Is

Strengths: -New Songs -Increased Difficulty

Weakness: -Recycled characters and locations -Not many extras

The next installment of the Guitar Hero series comes on the PS2. Rock the 80's is essentially Guitar Hero II with 80's themes and songs. There are not many extras at all in the game either. Graphics were never a huge part of the series, but they are still eye-pleasing. The difficulty has definitely been ramped up a couple of notches for this installment. As one can believe, the songs range from awesome to totally corny. Nevertheless, it's still a fun game to play. If you love Guitar Hero, it's a must-buy only to try to increase your skill at the game.

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Guitar Hero 2.5

Strengths: If you grew up in the 80's, you'll enjoy the nostalgia. Multi-player is still a blast.

Weakness: An expansion pack masquerading as a full release.

Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's is really just an expansion pack of new songs with little to nothing in the way of new game play or feature upgrades. The characters, venues, and game modes are lifted straight out of Guitar Hero II, but with some neon and pastel thrown into the mix to remind you what decade you're in.

However, the most disappointing aspect of this hair metal/new wave mix is the dearth of songs. There are only 30 new tracks. A MSRP of $49.99 is a pretty high price tag for what is essentially a recycled game.

If you're a die-hard Guitar Hero fan, and/or a child of the 80's, you'll probably have a good time with this game. Just wait for a nice price drop or pick it up as a weekend rental.

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Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s

Testseek.com has collected 27 expert reviews for Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and the average expert rating is 70 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 2.85 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #3,419 game of all time and #699 PlayStation 2 game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 43 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on the link below.

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Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s

“Always re-tease your hair before the encore. ALWAYS.” Good advice for a good time. The 80s were an era of ridiculous hairstyles, outrageous clothing, and a distinct type of rock music that lives on today in memory and in many CD compilations. Since music games target a modern audience, their content usually centers on current hits, J-pop or Euro-pop. That changes with the release of another...

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Babies of the 80\'s

Certain decades come and go in popularity just like fashion. The 80's have been a popular source of reflection for a couple years now. Music, fashion and art have all been influenced, so it's no wonder that now we see some video games rocking that steez too. If you love Guitar Hero, then you can rock out now with bar favorites, like "Pour Some Sugar On Me." Spandex not included.

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Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80\'s

Guitar Hero II rocked so hard with cult hits like Trogdor and Thunderhorse that fans were BEGGING for more. So Harmonix hopped in their time machine and did some research and lo and behold we have Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's.

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