It pains me to say anything bad about the Guitar Hero franchise.

BUT...

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's is a colassal let down. And that opinion is not a factor of comparison to the previous titles. My opinion drops further when I compare the game to previous titles.

My primary issue with the game is poor consistancy in sound quality. As I said in my previous review of the game, in most of the songs, either the vocals or the band recordings sound muted, flat, and lifeless. So, despite the 80's being a poppy explosion of audio and visual vibrance, the game doesn't carry that feeling through. I actually found myself bored while playing, longing for the setlist to come to an end. But, I wanted to unlock all of the songs so Taks and I could play any of the songs on multiplayer when she got home. When she did get home, she sat down on the couch and for the first time since we started playing Guitar Hero when I asked if she'd like to take a turn... she declined. That says a lot to me.

Now, I would like to qualify my statements by saying this... I was playing on medium. When I moved up to hard, I was distracted by trying to hit all the chords and shifting my hand position on the fret board. So, the failure of the music to excite me wasn't as much of an issue. I'd also like to say though, the songs were so easy on medium that I dread actually sitting through any of the songs on easy.

You'll notice I haven't mentioned the price yet. Well. **shrugs** It's a business writeoff for me so complaining about the ramped up pricetag slapped on a shorter setlist is something I can live with. At least that's what I'm telling myself to try to make it better in my head.

All of that being said the following comment should relay exactly how unimpressed I was. Unless something major happens, there will be NO other Rocks the 80's comics on GU. You'll have to live with the ones that have already been posted.

--- UPDATE ---

I would just like to add that I am enjoying the game much more on Hard as I'm too busy trying to hit the notes to notice any issues with sound and vocals. (Please Note: this was advice I gave in the review.)

I convince myself that I'm not an audiophile because I don't have the money, but I can "hear" muted television tubes from one floor down and 30 feet off of the "television clip plane".

Bad sound quality annoys me, but you kinda had a point there when you mentioned that it's only a problem when one is really paying attention with one's elephant bits.

I had a difficult enough time combating my urge to "play a real instrument" instead of just "timing and pressing the colored bits" the only time I've played guitar hero.

I honestly don't know if I'd notice the sound quality unless I was spectating, though. The game, while being incredibly enjoyable, is completely counter-intuitive to me. Add to that the fact that my expectation of 80's music sound quality is based on the cassette tapes I still own (and play in the cassette deck that came with my 2002 buick regal) and I almost think it might be a good idea to keep the sound quality semi-subpar.

Crank the speakers higher than usual, grab a cord-intermediary-equalizer from radio shack, and pop out the soldering iron?