Guitar Hero II, Rock!

This week there has been a ton of coverage for the Gears of War Release, some Election*, and K-Fed getting dissed by Britney, but not a ton for Guitar Hero 2. This is a great game, and if you played the first or have never played before, YOU NEED THIS GAME.

I mean who doesn't love the idea of being a guitarist in a rock band?
The premise of the game has remained intact. You are a guitar player in a rock band and have to play from virtual obscurity to Jimi Hendrix status. The guitar from the first game will work, or you can choose to purchase the new one in Cherry Red bundled with the game. No new features that I can tell, however it is much more sensitive and star power is activated without really having to elevate it.

Let me get the big items that are already known out of the way. The game has extremely improved multi-player, with 3 modes Face-Off, Cooperative, and Pro Face-Off. Face-Off allows two players to play alternating parts of a song against each other, much like the first Guitar Hero but with each player being able to choose their own difficulty mode. Cooperative lets two players play different parts of the song, Lead, Rhythm, or Bass depending on the song. Both players must play well in order to beat the song. And finally Pro Face-Off where players play the same song, all notes, at the same difficulty level. There is also a practice mode, which allows you to pick a start/stop point in a song (pre-defined) and play it at varying speeds.

There are some new note combinations that definitely stress test the fingers, and some very long and involved solo-ing. The game feels overall much tighter than its predecessor. It also includes a widescreen toggle, and a progressive scan option, which looks awesome on my HD television.

If you have played the game before with any diligence, you will easily beat the Hard (or potentially expert sections) rather quickly. The last 5 songs are definitely tough. Psychobilly Freak Out is just down right maddening.

I don't really have anything negative to say (no I was not paid by Harmonix to write this), except that I think it is extremely crappy that Off Brand wireless controllers were disabled. You can now re-ennable them for a small fee, but c'mon! Battle it out in court with the 3rd party, leave your biggest fans out of this!

* Just kidding Mom, I voted!