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Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
Guitar Hero II for PlayStation 2
Guitar Hero II for PlayStation 2 plays rock songs with five coloured frets, a strum bar and the whammy bar on a guitar controller. Notes travel down the screen; hold the right fret and strum on time. Sustained notes can be bent, fast sequences use hammer-ons and pull-offs, and a full Star Power meter temporarily doubles the score. Four difficulty levels progress from simple rhythms to dense solos.
Career divides songs among shows and venues. Good performances earn money for new guitars, characters, clothes and bonus songs. Practice slows difficult passages. With two guitar controllers, players compete in Face-Off and Pro Face-Off or cooperate with lead guitar plus bass or rhythm guitar. The PlayStation 2 version contains over sixty songs including bonuses; features and tracks from the later Xbox 360 version are not included.
The game is designed for a compatible PlayStation 2 guitar controller. This product page offers the game disc and promises no separate instrument, receiver or bundle contents unless expressly stated. Local multiplayer needs two suitable controllers. Guitar Hero II saves progress to a PlayStation 2 memory card and this version has no online multiplayer or downloadable songs; all described performances and competitions are local.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 2 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Guitar Hero II for PlayStation 2 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Guitar Hero II
Harmonix developed Guitar Hero II as the sequel to Guitar Hero. RedOctane released the PlayStation 2 version in Europe on 24 November 2006. Five frets and a strum bar remained central, while note patterns, practice and multiplayer expanded. The game appeared both separately and in historical bundles with a red Gibson SG-shaped controller; a second-hand disc alone does not guarantee that hardware.
The soundtrack covers rock across several decades and combines licensed recordings with covers made for the game. Career links sets to increasingly large stages and uses earned money for visual extras and bonus songs. Cooperative gave two players different parts in the same song, with one on lead and the other on bass or rhythm instead of merely comparing the same note chart.
An Xbox 360 version with extra songs and different hardware followed in 2007, but those additions are not part of the PlayStation 2 disc. Guitar Hero II was also the last main entry Harmonix developed before Neversoft made Guitar Hero III. The PS2 version therefore preserves the original style: a carefully built career, covers beside familiar recordings and local guitar contests without an online service.
Similar games for PlayStation 2
The first Guitar Hero introduces five frets, the strum bar, Star Power and the career structure. Guitar Hero II retains that basis but adds Practice, expanded hammer-ons and pull-offs, and cooperative lead, bass or rhythm parts. The sequel has a larger track list and more ways to practise difficult passages directly.
Guitar Hero III uses the same familiar note highway but adds boss battles against Tom Morello and Slash, among others, plus a cooperative career. The PlayStation 2 version has no online play. Guitar Hero II has no attack power-ups and keeps its presentation closer to a regular band career and local score contest.
Rocks the 80s uses Guitar Hero II's technology and structure but limits soundtrack and presentation to the 1980s. Guitar Hero II spans several decades and therefore offers more stylistic variety. Both support the PS2 guitar and local contests; Rocks the 80s feels more like a themed expansion.
World Tour expands the concept with drums, vocals, bass and guitar for a full band. Guitar Hero II focuses only on guitar-like parts and therefore needs fewer kinds of accessory. World Tour offers band arrangements and a music studio; Guitar Hero II has a more compact career built around one or two guitar controllers.
Frequency is an earlier Harmonix rhythm game where a regular controller switches among instrument tracks and activates parts of electronic songs. Guitar Hero II keeps the player on a guitar part and uses an instrument-shaped controller. Both require precise timing, but Frequency revolves around lane changes and Guitar Hero around frets and strumming.
