Guitar Hero: Rocks The '80s Review

By Luke Albiges Published 2 August, 2007

Run to the hills.

Version tested: PlayStation 2

As you've probably established by now, we - like most other right-minded gamers - are rather fond of Guitar Hero. Time and time again, we'll go back to the old favourites from the first two games, particularly with the addition of co-op play and the bewildering sense of accomplishment that accompanies every successful phrase still awes us to this day. Even most of the best games out there aren't getting played for nearly two years solidly after release, testament, if it was needed, to the outstanding quality of Harmonix's titles. And although this time-travelling song pack might be enjoyable in as much as it's still Guitar Hero, you can't shake the feeling that something just isn't right here.

Menu screens and so forth come straight from GH2 for the most part, this time with a slightly more garish palette in a bid to convince you that it comes from a time when Timmy Mallett was still a household name. New character models offer slightly more hope as to the quality of this release but with fewer stars than we're used to and some lacklustre efforts (Axel barely changes while the Grim Ripper gets 3D glasses and a Flava Flav inspired clock medallion), even this early on it's clear that we're not off to a flying start. Arenas and instruments go untouched save for the odd colour change or slight alteration but there's little here to convince you that this is a proper new game.

'Guitar Hero: Rocks The '80s' Screenshot 1

With all those fiddly hair-metal solos, expect your hammer-on skill to be severely tested.

But it's song selection that really lets this package down, presumably pieced together to appeal to the older end of the series' demographic yet alienating almost everyone else. Harmonix appears to have rounded up some rather niche tunes from an already niche genre with the end result being that we've yet to find anyone who knows even half of the tracks out of the thirty on offer. That's not to say that they're all bad, though. Oh no. Dio's Holy Diver gets the comedy value vote every time, Turning Japanese and Ballroom Blitz (a song from the, er, 1970s) are always crowd pleasers and Extreme's Play With Me is a suitably insane finale to test the skills of any would-be guitar hero.

One thing we did notice about Rocks The 80s is that while Neversoft is reportedly set to make GH3 'more accessible' (read: easier), this stopgap title doesn't pull so much as a single punch. Even the first few sets feature a couple of noodling solos that wouldn't be out of place in the latter half of GH2, making for quite a shock for those people who have recently moved up to Hard or Expert modes. While good for seasoned players, progression through the six sets isn't anywhere near as well structured as in the two 'proper' games - tricky songs crop up early while some later tunes could easily be bumped down a couple of sets. Further evidence for the 'rush job' case, then. Elsewhere, all the multiplayer modes and practice room from the second game are ported straight over here with nothing gained or lost. Head to heads are still wonderfully strutting affairs (particularly with some of the songs that have been dredged up) and being able to slow segments down and learn them is not something we ever want to be without again.

'Guitar Hero: Rocks The '80s' Screenshot 3

Rocks The 80s has loads more chord-heavy songs than the previous games. Better work on those stretches...

While we'll always welcome more tunes for Guitar Hero, Rocks The 80s doesn't manage to feel like anything more than the cheap cash-in it so clearly is. The cheap front end, bizarre choice of tunes and total lack of extras make the fact that this is a full price title somewhat jarring - at GBP 15, a lot of these shortcomings could be forgiven as is so often the case with expansion packs but putting it out at full whack is cheeky indeed. At its best, Rocks The 80s is as good as Guitar Hero ever was, which is just phenomenal. Nailing tough passages is no less rewarding than it was the first time we aced Bark At The Moon and if nothing else, it's a fair appetiser for the double main course of Rock Band and GH3 which will be with us before the year is out.

At its worst, though, this is a meandering cock rock 'anthem' you've never heard and worse still, one that hints of the Guitar Hero franchise being sullied by constant SingStar-style stopgaps. Most disappointingly, the specialisation makes this rather an obscure little thing for anyone not already familiar with the series, which normally boasts enough diversity and flavour in its track list that everyone can find something they like and rock out. For enthusiasts, it's thirty new tracks to master at a rather inflated price and will certainly entertain for a while and add extra variety to your Guitar Hero collection. For those of you who haven't yet been bitten by the Guitar Hero bug, though, the second game is still your best bet until GH3 and Rock Band arrive to shake things up at the end of the year. One for 80s obsessives (you know who you are...) and die-hard GH fanatics only.

6 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Luke.

About Luke Albiges

Read more articles from Luke by visiting the Luke Albiges archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (45) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DDevil #1 5 years ago

    £15? It seems to be £25 in all the shops I've been in.

    edit: ah, thanks krudster, I see. Sorry - it's early :-)
    Edited by 1 at 02/08/07 @ 08:52

  • krudster #2 5 years ago

    No, what he's saying is if it *was* £15 you could forgive it, but it's being released at full price.

  • JayeM #3 5 years ago

    That is the ugliest picture ever to feature on the front page.

  • BadBoyBonner #4 5 years ago

    "comes from a time when [Wacaday with] Timmy Mallett was still a household name"....the Transformers were seen as a striking, arcing film length story, shown in tantalisingly short 5 minute segments of animation heaven all through the 6 week holidays, and Mike Myers was only Mallett's underling.

  • evild_edd #5 5 years ago

    "That is the ugliest picture ever to feature on the front page."
    Did you not see the pic of Alex Ferguson earlier in the week? He's an ugly cunning runt if ever I've seen one!!!!

    The photo was quite amusing though... reminds me how the 80's was simultaneously both the best and worst era for fashion, music, film... perhaps not videogames though....or was it?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #6 5 years ago

    the Transformers were seen as a striking, arcing film length story, shown in tantalisingly short 5 minute segments of animation heaven all through the 6 week holidays

    I think you'll find that was the cartoon of Gobots, Bandai's miniature pocket-money-priced bandwagon-jumping rival toy line. Altogether now, Wacaday viewers,

    "Gobots Go Botty!"

    http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_o...

  • Darren #7 5 years ago

    If this was Keyboard Hero, I'd probably buy it but I simply cannot abide most heavy metal/rock music, it makes my ears bleed. Looks interesting I'll admit but sadly the music puts me off...

  • afray #8 5 years ago

    The panel on the left says the developer was Harmonix, but didn't Neversoft make this one?

  • BadBoyBonner #9 5 years ago

    Mentalist(Air)

    I'll see your Go-Bots

    And I'll raise you

    The actual Wacaday footage when The Transformers replaced [stomped all over?] the Go-Bots as the 6 week reward.

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=PZGPOPV2tjY

  • AhrimaaN #10 5 years ago

    This Guitar hero is gash. My housmate got it and we've unlucked most of the songs and I don't like a single one of them.

    Less characters to play, no extras... the difficulty is all over the place.

    Really this is a pretty poor effort that will no doubt sell fantastically anyway.

    GH2 had some bad songs too but at least it had some good ones in there to mix it up to similar levels as GH1, but 80's is just a poor poor effort

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #11 5 years ago

    Sousaphone Hero FTW!

    [link url=http://www.theonion.com/content/news/activ ision_reports_sluggish_sales
    ]http://ww w.theonion.com/content/news/act...[/link]

  • siro #12 5 years ago

    I'm 28 and know more than half of the songs, even though I can't be seen as an 80's music whore at any angle. Also, if compared to the 360 DLC song packs, the pricing doesn't seem bad at all.

    I agree on it feeling underwhelming in the light of GH/GH2, but still I don't see this being just a 6, because every GH fan should be enjoying it.
    Edited by 1 at 02/08/07 @ 09:02

  • Fab4 #13 5 years ago

    Advertising on EG and then getting reviewed by them seems to be the kiss of death.

  • Wayne #14 5 years ago

    Is this coming to 360?

  • bigbadbeasty #15 5 years ago

    Guitar Hero 2 was a big disappointment for me, now this too.

    Roll on Rock Band!!

  • Bumhug360 #16 5 years ago

    "But its song selection that really lets this package down, presumably pieced together to appeal to the older end of the series' demographic "

    Presumably it was pieced together with music from the 80's, so would be expected that the younger guitar hero player isnt going to be familier with them, clue is in the title

  • PlugMonkey #17 5 years ago

    Neversoft appears to have rounded up some rather niche tunes from an already niche genre

    Isn't this one still Harmonix?

    Personally, I have to agree with the score. The problem isn't that I don't know the songs (I generally only know about 1/4 of the songs on GH anyway), it's that they're all just a bit dull. Normally there's at least one song per tier I haven't heard before that I really like. So far, there's been Holy Diver from the whole first 3 tiers.

    Playing it, you just can't escape the feeling that this is a collection of 30 songs that neither developer wanted to save for their own game...

  • mingster #18 5 years ago

    Why hasnt sousaphone hero been reviewed?
    It sounds a bit boring anyway...

    So how about a song list then for GH rocks the 80s?

  • Darren #19 5 years ago

    I love 80s music, it was MY era, but I don't care for most of the songs in this game, they were the stuff I used to actively try and avoid listening to in my youth, while all the head-bangers raved over them!

    I Ran by Flock of Seagulls is by far the best of a terrible, terrible bunch of songs in my opinion, I bought the picture disc when I was 12 and still have it in fact somewhere in the attic - I wonder how much it's worth? Anyway, Flock of Seagulls were more synth pop/new romance than rock though.

  • nickthegun #20 5 years ago

    I think it a more appropriate title would be Guitar Hero: Shitty Hair Metal.

    I like to think I know a lot about music, but I dont know half of the crap on here. And, lets face it, even if they were only going american theres still Faith no More, GnFnR, RHCP and a whole load of other great rock bands doing their thing in the 80's.

    The song selection reads like a who's who of cheap licences.

  • SBfistfun #21 5 years ago

    Interesting fact:

    Did you know the daughter of one of the members of flock of seagulls worked at Sony QA for a bit?

    /end of uninteresting fact

  • FooAtari #22 5 years ago

    It was good while it lasted...

  • HairyArse #23 5 years ago

    Plugmonkey - you're right, Neversoft as far as I'm aware have nothing to do with this, it's Harmonix and Activision.

  • DUFFKING #24 5 years ago

    BIM as far as I'm concerned is easy - sure the solo is stupidly hard but it's so short that if you simply deliberately play only half the notes and use star power you'll do it easily.

    I played round a friends house, got 77% and still 5 starred it.

    Oh, and the last few songs are very hard.
    Edited by 1 at 02/08/07 @ 10:49

  • captain_cupcake #25 5 years ago

    Vondur - I was thinking the same thing. Holy Diver OMFG ;)

  • Nithron #26 5 years ago

    Yeah, i felt seriously ripped off having paid £25 for this.
    I recognize maybe... Two of the songs? and while i quite like some of them, there's several which are *so bad* i actually can't be arsed to endure them more than the once required to get to the next song...
    The most annoying thing is that i don't have any particular hatred for 80s music, there were some damn cool songs that came out back then which are just made for guitar hero - Bad to the Bone, anyone? Back in Black? Like.. most AC/DC songs? You know, serious air guitar stuff, but none of it's in there, instead we get some random tosh that i've never heard before, let alone heard of.

    Oh, and no bonus tracks. That really got on my nerves - some of the best songs in the last two games were Bonus Tracks. Sure, don't include them, including bonus tracks from the past wouldn't make any sense but seriously, drop the price? I only paid £20 for the last two games without controllers, and they had tons more content.
    Edited by 3 at 02/08/07 @ 11:35

  • smoothpete #27 5 years ago

    It's all about Sousaphone Hero

    http://ww w.theonion.com/content/news/act...

  • DUFFKING #28 5 years ago

    I assume all the great tracks are being saved for GHIII :)

    Smoothpete, you were beaten to it :)

  • mingster #29 5 years ago

    I can safely say even tho i was definately alive in the 80s being aged 37 now i have never heard of 95% of those songs. Infact i only memorably know two of those tunes.
    That is the sadest list of songs i've ever seen.

  • DUFFKING #30 5 years ago

    A couple of the bands you mention are in GHIII, so I presume that they would have liked to get the better stuff in that to sell more as it's a multiplatform release.

  • afghan_jones #31 5 years ago

    They should go the other way entirely.

    Do a Guitar Hero: Unplugged

    Jack Johnson, Bob Dylan etc.

  • Azazel #32 5 years ago

    No Stan Bush = No Sale.

    Hey!

    There's an idea: Guitar Hero 2: Transformers Soundtrack

  • Dermoth #33 5 years ago

    The 80s were the most appalling thing to happen since the Nazis. Anyone who looks back on the 80s with fondness either wasn't alive at the time, or is an idiot.

    "Haha! Look at that funny man with the funny hair singing that ABSOLUTELY BLOODY APPALLING song about how much fun it is to snort coke and shag twelve year olds!"

    No. NO. NO NO NO.

  • Azazel #34 5 years ago

    Well, c86 indie was good...

  • Frumper #35 5 years ago

    Definitely, Wacaday + Transformers. I don't remember Go-Bots.

  • Dermoth #36 5 years ago

    I'm being called a nonce by someone who spent the Eighties wearing denim and a mullet? Oh no!

    Zerolight - the words "technical" and "fun" don't belong in the same sentence. In fact, you've just helped me realise exactly why I don't care about Guitar Hero - it celebrates awful, tuneless trash which can only be appreciated if you're prepared to accept that something is impressive because it's difficult to play. Hair metal is jazz for people who don't wash, basically.

    I'm sure it's a cracking rhythm action game, though, so oh well. All you metallers have fun with your solos. Give me a call when they do Dinosaur Jr.

  • Bidermaier #37 5 years ago

    waiting for a TR-909 hero game

  • mattman #38 5 years ago

    Will this work with a PS3 and PS2-to-USB adapters?

  • wired009 #39 5 years ago

    I actually enjoyed Rocks the 80's slightly more than GH2. The early stage songs are on the easy side but they all have a great 80's vibe. The main difference is a huge improvement in the vocals over GH2. Best bought at a discounted price.

  • domoslaf #40 5 years ago

    Dermoth: Hair metal tuneless?

    Orly?

  • miiiguel #41 5 years ago

    I don't dig karaoke.

  • StarchildHypocrethes #42 5 years ago

    Picked this up tonight. It is fun, pure and simple.

    Compared to GH2, this is exactly the sort of music GH was created for. Wailing guitars, cheesy lyrics and masses of hair. Much more fun to drag out with some mates and a few beers than GH2 (bar Freebird).

  • BBIAJ #43 5 years ago

    This is worth it for the Oingo Boingo track alone!

  • silver-jon #44 5 years ago

    Hmmm. Seems to have split the commentators down the middle. Frankly I was disappointed. Felt that it is targeted squarely at the American market with only the slightest hint that there's a wider world. I lived through the 80s and have only heard of 3 of the tracks. Still bought it, but in hindsight feel that there's something lacking; decent licences.
    When you uncover an encore, there's no "Oh Yuss ! Sweet Child o Mine !!!" moment. It's merely "Oh . . . hmmm . . . well, maybe *this* will be a good un".

    There's a song on the third set which I failed about seven times before just about squeeking through. Then the next song I failed was "Play with Me" - the very last one. That's some difficulty spike. And don't ask me which song - they're so unmemorable that I can't remember now which song to avoid when I go back to try and figure out which songs I might grow to like. GH3 had better up theante - this does feel like it's a budget production and they couldn't get the decent licences.
    Said it before - wher'e's Aerosmith ? Satriani ? Rush ? Vai ? van Halen ?

  • IzzyToxic #45 5 years ago

    I'm a big fan of the GH series. I also did manage to have myself some pretty good times back in the 80's, so I do enjoy playing "Encore". Even so, it is more than obvious that "Encore" is the red-haired stepchild of the GH franchise. I can easily picture that all of the focus of the Harmonix staff is entirely on "Rock Band". It kind of looks like some entry level artist was given the assignment to eightie-orize the visuals for "Encore", which probably was completed during this persons lunch break.