How Did THAT Happen?

Last night–which would technically be this morning for most people–we had one hell of a time actually falling asleep due to something which I thought I would never have to worry about here in Canada. It was too damn hot. The temperature outside during the day stayed at a steady 30 degrees Celsius, and then dropped to 26 degrees and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the night. While it was nowhere near as humid as what you get in the tropics, it was still enough to make for a fitful sleep. On the other hand, at least geek-wise, this may have been a blessing in disguise. The sleep deprivation, however light it was, may have contributed to shutting my brain down enough that my fingers could actually take over without any of that annoying concentration a conscious mind insists on, and when I took on Guitar Hero II today, it was a day of surprises. First up:

Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendencies.

Since this was my first time on the final tier of Expert, I did what I did for the previous Guitar Hero game, I went after my least favorite song first so I wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. Much to my surprise, I actually managed to finish this off on my first try. I’m strongly beginning to suspect that Psychobilly Freakout is kind of the “Pre-Requisite Mini-boss” song of Guitar Hero II, in that it acts as an artificial barrier that forces the player to hit a minimum level of proficiency that will make it possible to complete the rest to of the game. RPGs tend to do this a lot, but it seems like the same tactic has been employed here.

The Beast & The Harlot by Avenged Sevenfold

Having completely surprised myself by actually finishing the previous song and happy about the fact that it would not trouble me again (except in that nagging, “you really should 5-star this song” sort of way) I took on a song which initially pissed me off to no end, but, somehow, actually grew on me as I played it more and more. It was an easy 5-star on the Hard level for me, so I was expecting it be challenging but manageable. It turned out I was right. A couple of expectedly tricky bits shut me out on my first two attempts, but third time’s a charm, and the song was finished. Which now brings me to…

Misirlou as covered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones.

This song really surprised me when I found out it actually has Greek folk music roots, rather than the Hispanic/Mariachi style roots I’d originally thought were its influences. What didn’t surprise me was the fact that it shut me out within 30 seconds of me starting the song. However, after getting lucky with the previous two songs, and feeling that burning pain in my left wrist that tells me I’ve been holding onto the guitar too hard, I decided it was time to give it Yet Another Shot and got lucky with getting just enough star power to cruise me through one Insanely Repetitive Passage, and after that, the rest of the song was actually just barely manageable. Now there’s only one song left on the main list.

Hanger 18 by Megadeth.

I’ve already tried it a few times on Expert, and each time, I inched a little bit closer to finishing it. It’s one of those songs that’s actually pretty doable for the most part, until Mustaine and Friedman kick into those ELEVEN FREAKIN’ GUITAR SOLOS right at the very end, which, of course, is where there’s just not enough star power to carry you through and you just have to be good enough to survive it. I suspect a few more dedicated attempts will get me through this and then there will be the ultimate challenge, Freebird. And man… am I ever not looking forward to that…

And, just to keep the news going, the Guitar Hero Encore Rocks The 80′s website is now live. It has a few surprises too. As with previous Guitar Hero websites, it features some of the songs that are on the game, and there were a few tunes there that haven’t made it onto any “official” release lists. The new ones I noticed were:

The Warrior by Scandal, 1984.
Only A Lad, by Oingo Boingo, 1981
Balls To The Wal
l, by Accept, 1983.