Review: Guitar Hero II (PS2)

There aren't many novelty game peripherals can stand the test of time, but Gamestyle has been hammering away at Guitar Hero for months - undeterred by the controller's 'Fisher Price' looks - and feeling rather good about it. A new collection of songs would have been enough to satisfy demand, but Harmonix have gone all out to create a more thorough sequel, and the end result is rather impressive.

Guitar Hero II is unashamedly aimed at fans of the first game, so if this whole 'dance-mat-for-your-fingers' fad is lost on you, check out Gamestyle's previous review to see what all the fuss is about. There's nothing majorly different here, just a few small (but effective) tweaks and adjustments that make playing the game that much more satisfying. Once again, the career mode sees you and your band advancing through the rock ranks, from dingy basements to enormous outdoor venues, as you play along to progressively harder songs. At the end of each setlist, there is a surprise encore track standing between you and the next venue. It's still very tongue-in-cheek; Gamestyle smirked when Spinal Tap's 'Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight' came on; and of course, all the sound settings in the options menu go up to '11'.

Guitar Hero had an amazing learning curve, but it did suffer when it came to introducing you to the more advanced techniques (such as 'hammer-ons', 'pull-offs' and strumming up and down). Whilst Guitar Hero II continues to ease newcomers in with its easy mode, the advanced stuff comes much more smoothly, giving it one of the best learning curves ever. The timing of the hammer-ons and pull-offs has been tweaked to be more forgiving, so even when there's a barrage of multi-coloured notes flying at you, it's now actually humanly possible to hit them all by sliding up and down the fret board. This is especially important considering how punishing the Expert mode is, but it makes it feel totally fair and well-balanced. Crippling your hands further are new three-button chords, which - even for the expert in Gamestyle - come as a whole new challenge.

The main criticism of the first game was its lack of practice mode; with many tracks ending with a flourish or mini-solo, it was possible to screw up right at the end of a song and then have to redo the whole thing just to practice the hard part. Guitar Hero II's songs feature yet more 'end wankery' like this, but now you can choose specific parts of the song to practice, and even slow them right down to a crawl until you get good enough at them. This is frankly a life-safer, given the length of the epics here.

The other criticism leveled at the first game was the limited multiplayer options. While the 'face-off' was a nice touch (both players alternating between bits of the song), unless you were both equally skilled at the game, it was hard to play together on the same difficulty level. In Guitar Hero II, each player can choose their own difficulty, essentially setting a handicap for the better player, which proves very effective at leveling the field. Then there's the 'pro face-off', once unlocked, which gives both players the exact same notes to play.

The biggest addition here, though, is the co-operative mode: this is set up similarly to the career mode, except two players work together. Solo and co-op progress is recorded separately, however, so if you're stuck on a song in the career mode, you can't just grab a friend to help you through it. How it works is to separate the guitar tracks into rhythm, lead and bass, depending on the song. The bass tends to have an easier time, which can be slightly boring, and playing split-screen can be off-putting when you can hear the other player's cues too. Despite this, there is something genuinely cool about having to activate your star power gauge together, simultaneously lifting your guitars into an upright position. Worth buying a second guitar controller for? Absolutely.

But what of the music? Building a suitable playlist is no easy task; popularity of songs is often in discordance with how well they work in the game, but Harmonix have succeeded in finding a balance between appropriate and well-known material, leaving plenty of room for some classic rock anthems as well. The track list is more metal and hard rock oriented, but still mellows out on occasion with some softer numbers. There isn't quite the same variation here as there was in the original, and thus it lessens its appeal as a 'party' game; but the songs (mostly) cast aside gimmicks for long-lasting appeal, and the quantity is hefty indeed (64 songs, in total). A few of the bonus tracks have been added just for laughs (Strong Bad's Trogdor, anyone?), but even these work surprisingly well in the game. From Motley Crue to Iggy Pop, Guns 'n' Roses and Foo Fighters, there's a great range of quick-finger twiddlers and claw-hand chord busters to make you feel like a rock legend. Once again, they're cover versions and the quality varies, but they're mostly up to standard. Killing in the Name has been heavily edited, though (boo!).

There's lots of longevity here, as there was in the original. Having to unlock songs (even for use in multiplayer) is disappointing, but gives you something to work towards. Anything unlocked in the lower difficulty career is carried across to the higher levels, and vice versa, so if you grew attached to the Grim Reaper (yes, he's back) while playing through the Medium career, you can keep him on Hard and Expert. Any score from the career mode is also carried across to the Quick Play hi-score tables too, recorded under your band's name. This convergence is an excellent touch, and there are more thoughtful additions in the display settings, including widescreen, progressive scan and lag offset for HDTVs.

Guitar Hero II will probably split people. Casual players will notice very little difference and probably resent the soundtrack, favouring the more varied original. Experts will savour the focus of the new tracks and find the tweaked mechanics to be an absolute godsend, placing this high above the original. For Gamestyle, it's very hard to go back; the tweaks really are that good, and make it all the more enjoyable to play. Getting 'into the zone' and pulling off ridiculously complex feats of finger gymnastics is a rare thing indeed; there aren't many games that can lay claim to possessing such purity of design and instigating such focus in the player. The ones that do should be saluted.

Rating: 9 / 10

Words by Daniel James