It’s been a while since I said anything about Guitar Hero, so maybe right now is a good time. I’ve been working hard at 5-starring all the songs on Hard, and slowly making progress through Expert mode. I’m definitely getting better, even though I stumble through most solos by luck alone. I swear, my fingers are nowhere near coordinated enough to play through some of the rougher spots that I’ve managed to succeed at.
The main driving force behind my effort to master the game is that now the entire song list for Guitar Hero 2 has been released. And if you know any of the songs on there, you’ll agree when I say that GH2 is gong to be monumentally difficult compared to the first. “Freebird”‘s placement as the final song is entirely deserved, as it’s a nine-minute song with a four-and-a-half minute solo. “Bark At The Moon” will look like a cakewalk compared to that. Hell, even “The Breaking Wheel” will seem easy once I’ve had my ass handed to me by “Misirlou.”
On the upside of all this, I procured the demo disc from November’s OPM, which conveniently includes a demo of Guitar Hero 2. And as I sit here, hunt-and-pecking away at the keyboard, eating my ramen and peas dinner (Dinner at 11PM? You bet.), I can’t help but wonder why it is that I’m not working on getting a respectable score on “YYZ.” It is a great demo though. I can’t get enough of “Strutter” and “You Really Got Me” is incredibly fun to play. The only bummer is that you need an SG controller (or perhaps a third-party Flying V) to play, so the demo’s only good for existing GH fans who can’t wait half a month more for the sequel. It’d be nice if they had Dual Shock support so people new to the game could give it a whirl, but really, what is Guitar Hero without a guitar controller?