WD_Fourty
2005
It gets a 3 1/2, but not for the reason you think! Unless you have a CRT TV, you won't get pinpoint accuracy on the notes. Apart from that, this was also the first game of the series. The Grandfather of Rhythm Games in North America (or the largest pop culture boom of its respective genre). The main gripes of this game are as follows... the hit detection is wonky, all the songs are covers, and its "old". For me, these aren't really an issue! I was able to beat the game in the loosest sense: I beat it. I didn't get 100% on every song but that can be redone some other time when I want to torture myself. I would say this is backlogged until then.
Its pop culture relevance and its charm have me return every year or so. That being said, if you've never played this game, its decently cheap at secondhand video game stores. In fact, the brunt of my collection comes from those.
If you want a similar experience with all the master-tracks, find GH: Smash Hits and give it a try. It may be one of the lowest rated games in the series (most people's opinions say) but it does clean up a lot of the GH1 charts into more coherent charts. It also includes games from before GH4 (World Tour) so you'll see GH 1, 2, and 3 as well as Rocks the 80's and Aerosmith.
Its pop culture relevance and its charm have me return every year or so. That being said, if you've never played this game, its decently cheap at secondhand video game stores. In fact, the brunt of my collection comes from those.
If you want a similar experience with all the master-tracks, find GH: Smash Hits and give it a try. It may be one of the lowest rated games in the series (most people's opinions say) but it does clean up a lot of the GH1 charts into more coherent charts. It also includes games from before GH4 (World Tour) so you'll see GH 1, 2, and 3 as well as Rocks the 80's and Aerosmith.
This title, out of the Guitar Hero series is a must play for anyone who is a fan of Metallica. I suggest the expert mode for SEASONED PLAYERS OF THE PS2 GH GAMES. The one strength of this title is... its much cheaper secondhand in a game store than eBay. I got a copy a couple years back, and it has served me well.
The main gripe with this version is that (at least for me) it lacks the ability to boot properly. I have had several instances where the game refuses to boot and takes me to the consoles "menu". My method to fix that involves getting the console heated up... its as if it was a car stalling almost, in winter no less because its... cold (d'oh). However, if you own a PS2 slim and a copy of Half-Life, you'll heat that puppy up in no time at all.
The game does suffer drastically from being on a PS2, however. After Guitar Hero 3 was released on the PS2, that ended the era of rendered 3D Guitar Hero games on the system (while XBOX 360 and PS3 continued to be the best graphical consoles, making these games gorgeous). Thus, anything past GH3 (started with GH4 a.k.a. Guitar Hero World Tour) was pre-rendered with video backgrounds. This in turn makes it work for the PS2, and keeps the UI and all the other fun stuff functioning smoothly. Your base gameplay experience will be great! Another gripe is the load times. The load times can at most, take over a minute. This has never really been an issue for me, as its stayed relatively short with loading times.
There was not much cut from this version. The DLC songs added on 360 and PS3 consoles were added to the PS2 version as "end game songs" that unlock when the main campaign is finished. The unlock system in this game is pretty okay. All in all, progression is good and Guitar Hero players will enjoy this title, especially if they like fast tempo songs.
The main gripe with this version is that (at least for me) it lacks the ability to boot properly. I have had several instances where the game refuses to boot and takes me to the consoles "menu". My method to fix that involves getting the console heated up... its as if it was a car stalling almost, in winter no less because its... cold (d'oh). However, if you own a PS2 slim and a copy of Half-Life, you'll heat that puppy up in no time at all.
The game does suffer drastically from being on a PS2, however. After Guitar Hero 3 was released on the PS2, that ended the era of rendered 3D Guitar Hero games on the system (while XBOX 360 and PS3 continued to be the best graphical consoles, making these games gorgeous). Thus, anything past GH3 (started with GH4 a.k.a. Guitar Hero World Tour) was pre-rendered with video backgrounds. This in turn makes it work for the PS2, and keeps the UI and all the other fun stuff functioning smoothly. Your base gameplay experience will be great! Another gripe is the load times. The load times can at most, take over a minute. This has never really been an issue for me, as its stayed relatively short with loading times.
There was not much cut from this version. The DLC songs added on 360 and PS3 consoles were added to the PS2 version as "end game songs" that unlock when the main campaign is finished. The unlock system in this game is pretty okay. All in all, progression is good and Guitar Hero players will enjoy this title, especially if they like fast tempo songs.