(no subject)
I'm sure there will be a locked election-post at some point in time, but for now, how about a fluffy review post...
Guitar Hero 2:
I had harassed my local game shop mercilessly until they stocked the first one, and this time, I snagged the second-last copy they had of this one; it's a hot seller for sure. GH1 was great, evidenced by the fact I still play it (one of the few reasons I turn on my ps2, actually); somewhat to my shame, I played it more than I do my real guitar, something I'm working on rectifying if my hands let me. Guitar hero 2 has more songs to play, better multiplayer by far, and a much better-tweaked playing system for hammer-ons and pull-offs, meaning I can hit passages in GH2 the first time I played them better than my repeated attempts on GH1. They're nice enough that you actually use them for convenience in slower passages, although I was annoyed when one riff from "Sweet Child of Mine" (that I can play on the real guitar) which in reality uses hammer-ons didn't in the game version - that kinda screwed me up. So, aside from a few so-so covers of songs I like, it's a solid title...
...except...
...well, I don't find the songs as fun to play, at least in career mode. Maybe it's because I'm blazing though Hard mode to unlock the songs for incoming people wanting to quick play anything (30 songs in so far, failed once - maybe the new mechanics are a bit too forgiving, but I've been told expert is absolute evil) but so far there's been few if any moments where I've said "man, I want to play that one again" that I got from GH1. I think it's the song designs - GH1 had some songs that kept mixing it up in terms of what you were playing (you were on counter-melody duty or "wailing over top of verse" duty) whereas GH2 you're mostly just playing the same verse riff with the obligatory solo bit in the middle. Maybe expert of multiplayer will get rid of some of that, but right now it just doesn't have the fun factor for me yet. Maybe GH1 took time to build up that love and I'm forgetting, or maybe my "must unlock all songs" mission is draining some of the fun out, but I hope this feeling changes. That, and I could have overplayed 1, but i still found it fun as of saturday, so I'm doubtful of that.
Oh, and the Trogdor song is fun, less for the playing, more for the screaming along. It's a good game so far, I'm just hoping for the hook that makes it a great game.
At the drive-in - Relationship of Command
Being a fan of ...and You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead I figured to snag another album of the loud & emo movement. I couldn't care less about the scene, but some good guitar rock comes forth from emo once in a while, even if I have no clue how this band got that label. ATDI's album Relationship of Command is just that - good and intense guitar-driven rock. Maybe more listenings will elevate it further, but from 4-5 times through I like the album and the intensity that goes with it - the track Arcarsenal, for instance, is three minutes of fury that gives Minor Threat a run for its money in the ferocity department. Some tracks tend to wander a bit, but not so much that you're bored, just enough to get the feeling that it could have been trimmed a bit, but maybe that's the three-minutes-and-out ethos speaking. Angry music, weird lyrics, good rock - reminds me that maybe rock isn't dead after all, even if this album is six years old now. Well recommended.
Anyway, back to almost totally friends-locked; apologies, but I'm not comfortable talking people or jobs in the open world, so I keep things nice and fluffy when public.
Guitar Hero 2:
I had harassed my local game shop mercilessly until they stocked the first one, and this time, I snagged the second-last copy they had of this one; it's a hot seller for sure. GH1 was great, evidenced by the fact I still play it (one of the few reasons I turn on my ps2, actually); somewhat to my shame, I played it more than I do my real guitar, something I'm working on rectifying if my hands let me. Guitar hero 2 has more songs to play, better multiplayer by far, and a much better-tweaked playing system for hammer-ons and pull-offs, meaning I can hit passages in GH2 the first time I played them better than my repeated attempts on GH1. They're nice enough that you actually use them for convenience in slower passages, although I was annoyed when one riff from "Sweet Child of Mine" (that I can play on the real guitar) which in reality uses hammer-ons didn't in the game version - that kinda screwed me up. So, aside from a few so-so covers of songs I like, it's a solid title...
...except...
...well, I don't find the songs as fun to play, at least in career mode. Maybe it's because I'm blazing though Hard mode to unlock the songs for incoming people wanting to quick play anything (30 songs in so far, failed once - maybe the new mechanics are a bit too forgiving, but I've been told expert is absolute evil) but so far there's been few if any moments where I've said "man, I want to play that one again" that I got from GH1. I think it's the song designs - GH1 had some songs that kept mixing it up in terms of what you were playing (you were on counter-melody duty or "wailing over top of verse" duty) whereas GH2 you're mostly just playing the same verse riff with the obligatory solo bit in the middle. Maybe expert of multiplayer will get rid of some of that, but right now it just doesn't have the fun factor for me yet. Maybe GH1 took time to build up that love and I'm forgetting, or maybe my "must unlock all songs" mission is draining some of the fun out, but I hope this feeling changes. That, and I could have overplayed 1, but i still found it fun as of saturday, so I'm doubtful of that.
Oh, and the Trogdor song is fun, less for the playing, more for the screaming along. It's a good game so far, I'm just hoping for the hook that makes it a great game.
At the drive-in - Relationship of Command
Being a fan of ...and You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead I figured to snag another album of the loud & emo movement. I couldn't care less about the scene, but some good guitar rock comes forth from emo once in a while, even if I have no clue how this band got that label. ATDI's album Relationship of Command is just that - good and intense guitar-driven rock. Maybe more listenings will elevate it further, but from 4-5 times through I like the album and the intensity that goes with it - the track Arcarsenal, for instance, is three minutes of fury that gives Minor Threat a run for its money in the ferocity department. Some tracks tend to wander a bit, but not so much that you're bored, just enough to get the feeling that it could have been trimmed a bit, but maybe that's the three-minutes-and-out ethos speaking. Angry music, weird lyrics, good rock - reminds me that maybe rock isn't dead after all, even if this album is six years old now. Well recommended.
Anyway, back to almost totally friends-locked; apologies, but I'm not comfortable talking people or jobs in the open world, so I keep things nice and fluffy when public.