Guitar Hero & Guitar Hero II Dual Pack is a bundle pack of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II for PlayStation 2, published by Activision on October 31, 2007 in North America and July 3, 2008 in Australia, shortly after Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released in North America. No guitar controller is bundled with this Dual Pack.
This PlayStation 2 bundle was succeeded by the Guitar Hero 3-Disc Set the year after that included Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s for PlayStation 2.
Gameplay comparison[]
Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II have similar basic gameplay elements of being rhythm video games that have an angled highway of 5 lanes with different colors (green, red, yellow, blue, and orange) that are compatible to be played with either the DualShock 2 or a PlayStation 2 guitar controller, but Guitar Hero II has made some improvements in Guitar Hero's gameplay mechanics and new multiplayer game modes.
New game modes[]
Both games had a multiplayer mode called Face-Off, where both players play sections of a guitar track of songs against each other for a high score, which was the only multiplayer game mode in Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero II introduced two additional multiplayer game modes including Cooperative and Pro Face-Off. In Pro Face-Off, both players play the full Guitar track of a song to compete for the highest score.
Guitar Hero II also introduced Practice Mode, which allowed players to play and practice songs or section(s) of a song without a Rock Meter, meaning that players cannot fail songs in this game mode for making too many mistakes. Songs in Practice Mode can also be played at slower speeds to help players get better playing songs until they can play at normal speed.
New instruments and cooperative play[]
Guitar Hero only had one playable instrument, which was Guitar. Guitar Hero II introduced additional playable instruments,
In addition to Guitar, there was Bass, which was supported in most songs, but Bass could only be played in Cooperative multiplayer or Practice Mode. Some songs in cooperative play like "Free Bird", "Laid to Rest", and "Trogdor" as examples had Leas and Rhythm instruments instead of Guitar and Bass; Rhythm could also be played in Practice Mode but Co-op Lead-specific tracks cannot. While mainly playing the backing rhythm guitar, some songs in the Rhythm track would play the backing lead guitar track in a guitar duet (guitar solo of two guitars) like the guitar duets in "Free Bird" and "Trogdor".
Hammer-ons and pull-offs[]
- Main article: Hammer-ons and Pull-offs
In Guitar Hero, the advance fretting technique of hammering on or pulling off frets differs from Guitar Hero II and future instalments of Guitar Hero. At a distance less than eighth notes apart (excluding some songs like "Thunderhorse" in Guitar Hero II), the second gem that is a single note a different lane will have a brighter top on the graphical gem (removing the black circular outline) will be a hammer-on and pull-off note, or "HOPO" for short, which can be tapped without strumming while in a combo.
In the first Guitar Hero, hammering on a HOPO from left to right will require the previous note to be held in order for the HOPO note to be registered. This technique was proving to be difficult in fast-paced guitar solos and riffs, making the technique difficult to play and players would instead strum them to register the notes easier. In Guitar Hero II and onwards, HOPO notes could simply be tapped without holding the previous note(s), making it easier to play HOPO notes. However, the timing window to hit HOPO notes with the HOPO technique is still smaller than the timing window to strum notes as in the first game, but it was still an improvement over Guitar Hero's HOPO system.
Soundtrack[]
- Main article: Setlist in Guitar Hero
- Main article: Setlist in Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero features 47 playable licensed songs including 30 career songs covered by WaveGroup Sound and 17 bonus songs by their original artists unlocked through Career Mode's Unlock Shop. Additionally, there are two songs hidden within the game files including "Trippolette" and "Graveyard Shift" that can only be accessed through cheating or modding devices.
The PlayStation 2 version of Guitar Hero II feature 64 playable licensed songs, 40 songs played during Career Mode (mostly covered by WaveGroup Sound except "John the Fisherman", "Possum Kingdom", "Stop") and 24 unlockable bonus songs by their original artists.
Combined, the Guitar Hero & Guitar Hero II Dual Pack has a total of 111 playable songs (or 113 songs if the player can access the hidden Guitar Hero songs), 70 songs played during Career Mode, 41 unlockable bonus songs, and 2 unused concealed songs from the first game.
See also[]
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- Guitar Hero II & Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Dual Pack for Xbox 360
- Guitar Hero: On Tour & Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades Box Set for Nintendo DS
- Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock & Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Dual Pack for Wii
- Guitar Hero 3-Disc Set for PlayStation 2