What If... Guitar Hero II

The Event
In October of 2006, my sister's then-boyfriend bought Guitar Hero II as a present for her, and I hesitantly tried the game to see what the fad was about.

The Fallout
I am re-introduced to video games in a way that I desperately needed.

What Happened
My troubles with school, work, and girls all fell away as I dove deep into Guitar Hero II. My first month with the game was an endlessly clunky experience, but after a few months I was rocking through a ton of my favorite songs on Hard and Expert. I had not loved a game so much since 1998's Ocarina of Time.

What If...
Guitar Hero II never came into my life? In 2006 I had only vaguely heard about the Guitar Hero series and I did not pay much attention to it. In the short-term, without GH2, I would have very likely continued my incessant whining and bitching to Lacey about how miserable I always felt because of our breakup. Work was boring and miserable; depressing to go to and depressing to leave since I rarely had anything to look forward to do at home. School was the same. I was simply not very into video games at the time, so my life was all about school, work, and being miserable. I do not want to even consider how much longer this would have continued.

I would have never experienced the excellent game design that Harmonix perfected in Guitar Hero II. I would not have gotten Guitar Hero III, or World Tour. I would likely have not so eagerly purchased Rock Band 2 as I did in 2008. I would not have four plastic guitars all about my apartment and a fake drumset to have to store. I would not have a second LCD TV in my living room dedicated to just music-rhythm games.

I do believe, however, that I would have eventually gotten onto the Guitar Hero or Rock Band bandwagon, but the experience might have been much different. In 2007 I bought a Wii, so it would have been likely that I passed Guitar Hero II altogether, skipping to the decent-but-lackluster Guitar Hero III. If I never had a chance to play the second game, how would I have known that GH3 and GH4 were such sketchy products compared to the excellent RB2?

My gaming life would certainly have been a lot different without Guitar Hero II in my life, so in many ways I greatly thank my sister and her then-boyfriend for bringing such an incredible game into my life. Like many other life-changing events, this was one that I will never forget and will definitely look back upon for reflection and perhaps even inspiration one day.

B3 out.