PS2 GAME RECOMMENDATIONS |

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Games are recommended on a four-point scale like those "strongly agree/disagree" questions you get on surveys. This scale goes "Strongly", "If you like this kinda game", "Watch it online", and "Avoid at all costs" from best to worst. It's one part how likely I am to replay the game and one part how likely I am to recommend it to fans of that game's genre. I'm not in the business of objectivity, just what's fun to me. No reason to play a game if you're not having fun, yeah?

[#] Guitar Hero II (Activision, PlayStation 2, 2006)

Yeah, this is the good stuff. Guitar Hero II cemented itself as one of the finest rhythm games ever made, taking the already solid base of the first game, fixing all the annoyances with it and adding more songs, more things to unlock, and bass and rhythm guitar parts into the mix. Like the first game, you're the guitarist in a cover band, going from the dingiest bars to Stonehenge itself on your quest to become rock royalty. Press the fret buttons, flick the strum bar, and get good at that, because this game gets hard! Absolutely habit-forming, any trait of it, the graphics, the music, the gameplay, I could rave about all day. And I will.

Fixing the many quirks and relaxing the timing window from GH1 results in a near-perfect feeling game engine that never feels unfair to play, even if it's still a lot stricter than later games. Practice Mode lets you slow down songs to as much as half speed so you can learn the ins and outs of each song, section by section, and if you're going for perfection, it's the best addition to the whole game. Each song has a second player part, either of the bass part or a second guitar, so if you happen to have a buddy along, you can smash through GH2's 64 songs (!) together as more of a band than you ever could before.

For songs, GH2 leans a lot harder on the metal end of things, (Megadeth, Lamb of God, Suicidal Tendencies, All That Remains, Spinal Tap, even), though there's still tons of classic rockers (The Police, Rolling Stones, Heart) and 90s and 2000s rock favorites (Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Butthole Surfers), so everyone's got something they'll love here. The sense of musical exploration is what I adore the most, where bands I know nothing about like The Living End or Harmonix's own bands leave the biggest impression. Seriously, this game has given me so many hours of playing, modding it, meeting people, arguing with people, and listening to its songs on buses wistfully that it's basically a part of my DNA now. This is the Guitar Hero you want. Not 3.

Reviewed	Supports special controllers?	My favorite part	Recommended?
June 20, 2025	Yes (guitar)	Hard to pick!	Strongly

NOFI | LOFI | HIFI