We're Gettin The Band Back Together

corwin's picture
This weekend, I finally had the pleasure of playing multiplayer Guitar Hero 2. I took my highly decorated axe down to Dustin and Jessika's place to finally settle the argument of who is really the Least Rhythmic Man Alive. As it turns out, it is Dustin, by a landslide.My Axe I will admit I'd already had a small amount of experience in head-to-head mode from playing Guitar Hero 1 the night before. I managed to take on people with little to no experience with the game, so I was able to easily destroy them in easy mode. Especially when, against my own warnings, they chose songs I had already beaten on Guitar Hero 2 at home. But I had a lot of fune stroking my ego that way. And fortunately for me, no one with actual talent took my challenge and put me in my place. I had even more fun with the cooperative mode yesterday. One player takes lead guitar and the other either rhythm or bass, depending on the song. Because I have a lot more time to practice the game (Jess claimed having a one-year-old to take care of was some kind of excuse for not playing), I tended to do better than her, and we found for most of the songs the bass section is a lot easier than the lead. We managed to get the cooperative versions of the 8x Streak, 100 Note Streak, and 100K Points achievements together, and I, for one, definitely had a good time doing it. It looked like she did as well. I also got the opportunity to sit and watch them play together. Because I focus exclusively on the notes when I play, I hadn't noticed any of the rest of the screen. I didn't know when you're doing well enough your amp will start sparking and eventually burst into flame. And it was really fun to finally see what the on-screen characters are doing while you play. Their movements tend to match your playing, so Dustin's looked mildly epileptic with all the missed notes. Dustin has some of the most incredible had-eye coordination I've ever seen, so I finally had to ask him why he wasn't able to use that to carry him through the game. I figured it would be a matter of just seeing when the note hit the line, and hitting the appropriate button and strum bar at that moment. As it turns out, that ability was the only way he was actually able to play the game at all. He simply lacks any ability to anticipate the timing of the next note, as he exists in a universe devoid of any form of rhythm. While we didn't spend the entire day playing (we had several movies and episodes of Ninja Warrior to watch), I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to take my controller back down there in a couple of weeks.
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