The music genre was once a monster in Japan. Thousands of people threw their dignity to the wind as they mounted various Konami BeMaNi machines like BeatMania, DrumMania, and the known-for-making-its-players-look-foolish Dance Dance Revolution. When Konami decided to bring some of these games stateside, the genre gained a small foothold in the North American market, as well. But while it chugged along for a couple years, it wasn’t until Guitar Hero that the whole thing blew wide open.

Hero of the Revolution

What did Guitar Hero do right? Well, part of it was the tried-and-true concept of an easy-to-use guitar controller (lifted almost directly from Konami’s own Guitar Freaks), but the main draw to the game was the inclusion of music American gamers could actually relate to. Rather than a house mix of Kylie Minogue’s latest release, Guitar Hero featured an awesome compilation of classic and contemporary rock from artists everyone knows.

And now Guitar Hero II has gone one better by including a whopping 55 new songs to master, most of which are bonafide hits by major recording artists. Guns ‘N Roses, Spinal Tap, Motley Crue, Nirvana, The Police – the list just goes on and on. Plus there’s a nice collection of unlockable songs from more indie groups, mostly out of developer Harmonix’ home state of Massachusetts.

We Who Are About To Rock…

Game play remains pretty similar to the last title, with the inclusion of three-fret chords being the biggest tweak to the basic controls. If you thought Bark at the Moon was tough, wait till you try the highest difficulty levels on some of the songs in Guitar Hero II. Your god of rock status is in danger of expiring.

But this isn’t just a quickie sequel. GHII includes some very nice new features that really extend the life of the game, as well as cut down on the frustration factor a bit. Case in point: the practice mode. Here you can choose specific sections of any song and practice the fingering over and over again until you get it right. As an added bonus, you can actually slow down said riffs to really familiarize yourself with them. After all, they won’t be shouting “encore” if you screw up your solo in “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight.”

Dueling Banj…erm, Guitars

The multiplayer aspect is another area the developers really focused on this year. Rather than just switching off every few bars, GHII actually assigns specific parts of the song to each player. So while one might play the lead guitar, the second player may find themselves playing the bass line or rhythm guitar. So now there’s actually a reason to get two guitars tuned up, as you won’t constantly be waiting around for your opponent to finish his or her turn during each song.

Now all you need are some roadies, some hot groupies, and a stint in rehab and you’ll be set to start your own band.

Gods of Rock

It would have been so easy for RedOctane to shuffle out nothing but a track list update with Guitar Hero II and be done with it. The Dance Dance Revolution series has been doing it for a while now. But the truly useful game play additions show that this publisher actually listens to its fan base – the superb new music lineup is just icing.

Article by: Greg Sewart
Video produced by: Mark Fahey