Developer: Harmonix | Genre: Rhythm | Platforms: PS2

Rocks the 80's, is the third game in the Guitar Hero franchise. Unlike the previous two games Rocks the 80's seems to exist as an expansion to Guitar Hero II rather serve as a stand alone game with new features, etc. On the disc are a mix of thirty 80's songs running the gamut from mega hits to little-known hairmetal ballads. The characters are an abbreviated list from the GH2 game sporting 80's fashion. Where they have been briefly touched with 80's-esque paint jobs, the venues have not changed. Stonehenge has been cut from the available stages due to the shorter setlist. And, sadly, the "band" behind your lead character have not been changed at all.

There are the details about the game now on to the opinions...

I'd like to start with two pieces of advice. First, unless you're a diehard GH fan, do not buy the game, rent it first. Second, if you usually play the game on medium, skip straight to hard. Beyond that, prepare yourself; the review that follows will not be kind.

Looking at the short set list and the higher pricetag, Rocks the 80's seems on the surface to be little more than a money grab. After you get into the game and see that only marginal changes have been made to the game to give it some 80's "flare", you'll realize that Rocks the 80's is a shallow title intended to make the register ding. (Yeah, I'm old. I know they don't do that anymore.)

Anyway, the songs seem to lack a certain amount of enjoyable gameplay on medium. Add that to the failure of someone at the mixer board and you have a mediocre offering from an otherwise strong franchise. We've come to expect so much from the series that even minor stumbles feel huge. And to be quite honest, this game doesn't just stumble; it damn near falls on its face.

Where we've grown accustomed to the hit or miss nature of the vocal abilities of the cover artists, the quality of the actual music has always been high. With Rocks the 80's, in many of the songs either the music or the vocals sound dull, lifeless. There's no real consistency between one song and the next. The guitars were so tinny in one song it actually hurt my ears. And yet the song still sounded like a muted version of what it was supposed to be.

Of course, if the songs are actually fun to play those other faults kind of fade into the realm of nuisance. And I'd be lying if I said there weren't a few in there that ARE fun on medium. But, to be completely honest, I didn't really get my usual enjoyment until I moved up to the hard versions of the songs. Please note, I prefer to play on medium. But, stepping up to hard adds some much needed complexity and distraction from the muddy production.

Now, I won't discourage the Guitar Hero fans out there from playing this "expansion", I'm sure the perfectionist/overzealous-fan in me is tainting my response. But, I would advise you guys to rent it before you buy it. $50 for 30 songs was bad enough. But there's enough other let downs associated with Rocks the 80's that you might want to stick to the first two iterations.

Hm... unfortunatly finding a guitar by itself has seemed difficult in my area, I've checked FYEs, Gamestops and even Wal-Mart but all they have is the 80's pack and the Guitar Hero + Guitar Hero 2 pack w/o guitar.