Guitar Hero II(Xbox 360)

If you're an Xbox 360 owner, a lover of rock music, and someone with close to $100 burning a hole in your pocket, your day has finally come. RedOctane's once PlayStation 2-exclusive Guitar Hero series has come to the 360 in Guitar Hero II. As you would expect, this is primarily a port of the PS2 version released last year, with all the same hard-rocking tracks and play modes. But the 360 version adds a significant chunk of content, with additional songs, online leaderboards, and the promise of downloadable content. Longtime Guitar Hero fans might be a bit wary of spending another big chunk of change for a new guitar and an updated version of a game they probably already own, and that's fully understandable. But for 360 owners that haven't already invested heavily in this series and have the unquenchable desire to get their rock on, Guitar Hero II is absolutely a must-own.
Xbox 360 owners get their first shot at guitar heroism in Guitar Hero II.
For those who aren't intimately familiar with the Guitar Hero series, here's a quick primer on how it plays. The guitar controller features a strumming button, as well as five color-coded fret buttons on the neck of the guitar. Onscreen, notes color coded the same way as the fret buttons travel down the screen, and you need get your fingers on the correct fret buttons while strumming in time with the notes. Each hit note scores you points, and creating lengthy combos ups a score multiplier. Your progress is tracked by a "rock meter," and if you miss too many notes, you'll eventually hit the red and fail the song. Furthermore, every now and again you'll gain "star power" by perfectly hitting a section of notes. This star power feeds into a meter, and by tilting the guitar at an opportune time, star power will deploy, giving you twice as many points per note as you'd normally get. Oh, and there's a whammy bar.
That's a fairly technical explanation of what basically boils down to hitting the notes and making with the rock. In the case of the Xbox 360 version, you'll be doing this using a different tool than the PS2 version. The guitar controller is fashioned after the Gibson X-Plorer brand of guitar, which features a more striking body design than the standard SG model the PS2 game used. Longtime Guitar Hero fans might not love the change to the way the guitar strap sits. It hooks into the back of the neck, as opposed to the body of the guitar, which occasionally leads to the strap getting twisted, making it uncomfortable to play. This one quibble aside, the X-Plorer is a much more solid-feeling controller than the SG model. The buttons are raised slightly higher off the neck, and they, as well as the strummer, don't clack as much or as loudly as the PS2-model controller. You might also run into some awkwardness if you like to hit the select button to deploy star power. But frankly, you should be tilting the guitar anyway. It's all about showmanship, after all.
As mechanically excellent as the Guitar Hero series has been up to this point, the truth is that much of its appeal comes from the song selection. The first Guitar Hero nailed the song list almost perfectly, primarily focusing on memorable rock riffs that any armchair shredder would be stoked to play. Guitar Hero II went a bit more obscure with its soundtrack, changing the focus from classic riffs to insane solos and reckless acts of guitar wankery. Not a bad choice, mind you--just a different one. Of course, there are plenty of major artists to be found in this game. Just to name a few, songs by Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, the Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Guns 'N Roses, Rage Against the Machine, The Police, Megadeth, and Lynyrd Skynyrd all make an appearance. But wait, there's more! The 360 version adds 10 new songs to the mix, including tracks like Iron Maiden's "The Trooper," Rancid's "Salvation," Pearl Jam's "Life Wasted," and, in the most inspired of selections, Rick Derringer's "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo." This brings the overall song total to 74, with 48 of those being licensed tracks from major artists and the remainder coming from smaller independent bands.