Longtime readers, assuming I have any, will remember me hurling excessive praise at the original “Guitar Hero” late last year. I stand by it, it really is that good. I’ve played it on and off constantly since the game’s release, and firing it up and rocking out to some Boston has not gotten any worse over time. I was nearly reduced to a quivering mass of bulbous goo in waiting for the sequel, but it’s finally here, and it rocks.

“Guitar Hero II,” out now for the PlayStation 2 and coming early next year for the Xbox 360, is a rhythm game from the fine folks at Harmonix, who also brought us the fantastic “Karaoke Revolution” series of titles. The studio was originally founded in 1995 with the goal “to create new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music,” according to their Web site, HarmonixMusic.com. They made high-end music-based interactives for places like Disney’s EPCOT Center before shifting their focus and making their first home console game, the truly unique “Frequency,” which was released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. They followed with a sequel, “Amplitude,” in 2003, hooked up with Konami for the “Karaoke” games, made “Guitar Hero” a huge hit, and now have the financial backing of giants like Activision and MTV.

I actually have developed tremendous respect for them, as just about every game they have released has been both innovative and exceptionally fun, as well as showing extraordinary craftsmanship from an artistic standpoint. The only exception “EyeToy: Antigrav,” whose experimental camera-based control scheme doesn’t exactly work wonderfully. The game was outside of their usual music-based comfort zone, but was still quite hilarious to play in a party atmosphere, and it had the usual artistic dexterity applied to a sort of retro sci-fi motif. But enough about all this – this review is about rocking.

“Guitar Hero II” takes everything about the original game and turns it up to 11. The venues, characters and guitars still bear a wonderful and consistent style. Little changes, like a unified high score board between career and quick play mode, come alongside large feature additions and revisions.

In general, this is a much harder game, but a more forgiving hammer-on and pull-off system offsets this, making long solos more manageable. A new practice mode also allows you to select sections of a song and slow it down to really learn to nail those difficult solos you previously had to play through the rest of the song to get to.

The largest change is a revamped multiplayer feature set, now including cooperative play and a pro face off mode. Cooperative play has one player playing lead guitar and the other playing bass or rhythm depending on the song. The game makes sure to crank up the bass track so you can get aural feedback on your gameplay. Though playing bass might sound like a drag, most of the songs have it being comparably difficult to the lead guitar outside of solos, and in at least one song, Rush’s “YYZ,” the bass line is quite a bit harder than the guitar. Of course, some of the songs – “Rock This Town” comes to mind – are very boring exercises in keeping the beat. Rhythm guitar is different, generally challenging as well, though it can get repetitive on some songs. Thankfully, these problem songs can easily be avoided.

Of course, the content many faux-rockers are most enthusiastic about are the new songs – 64 including the bonus tracks. Forty of these are licensed tracks, spanning ‘50s classics like Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” (widely known as the opening music for “Pulp Fiction”) to modern tracks like Avenged Sevenfold’s “The Beast and the Harlot.” Almost every genre of rock gets representation here, from the aforementioned rockabilly to‘70s hippie fare like the Allman Brothers Band’s “Jessica” or Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son,” ‘80s hair bands, like Mötley Crüe’s “Shout at the Devil” or Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and more modern fast-paced rock like Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name Of” and Foo Fighters’ “Monkey Wrench.” (long sentence) And then there are the downright weird choices that are less than famous, like the Reverend Horton Heat’s “Psychobilly Freakout” (a song I have taken a shining to, see title) or Primus’ “John the Fisherman.” The game also chooses obscure tracks from well-known bands, like the Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’,” or Aerosmith’s “Last Child,” since they work well in the game. These all add up to an excellent soundtrack that everyone can find a few songs they recognize and love, as well as discovering a few new favorites.

The bonus tracks are generally much better than last time, “All of This” nonwithstanding. KFC-adorned guitar aficionado Buckethead brings the game’s hardest track, “Jordan,” a song that will make you weep at its difficulty. Several Harmonix bands from “Guitar Hero” return, including the fantastically named “Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives.” Fans of HomestarRunner.com and the Adult Swim show “Metalocalypse” will be elated to see that a metaled-out “Trogdor” and “Thunderhorse” appear here. The rest are generally great fun to play, with several instrumental tracks filling the gap “Frankenstein” filled in the first game.

There are, of course, disappointments with the song list. Many of the covers are, shall we say, less than perfect recreations of their originals. Even the Ozzy impersonator from “GH1” seems to be less dead-on here. On a brighter side, a few of the tracks are actually their original recordings. Unfortunately, there’s no Beatles, no Who, no Zeppelin, no Metallica, and no AC/DC, and the best Van Halen they could get was “You Really Got Me.” (The new MTV backing may help in this department.) Another nitpick (one word?): Many bands featured in the first title do not make a return despite having tracks that scream for inclusion. (Look up “Brighton Rock” by Queen.) In the grand scheme of things, these complaints are no big deal. The track list is in general fantastic.

Of note is the game’s new encore system: at the end of each tier in career mode, your cover band does an encore song to unlock the next set of songs. This is generally a fantastic rock anthem, and it’s awesome to be thrown into songs like these coming off a performance. If you plan to get the game, do yourself a favor and try not to learn the identity of the final track; not knowing it will make experiencing it that much sweeter.

The game’s greatest strength remains: You really feel like you’re playing a guitar. The game is designed so that it is at the same time challenging and accessible, and you really feel a sense of accomplishment after nailing a tough solo. If you have a PlayStation 2, and a remote appreciation for rock music, buy this game. If you have played another music game, like “Dance Dance Revolution,” and thought that it was a fun concept but was hampered by the techno J-pop soundtrack, consider buying a system to play this game. The PlayStation 2 is obviously much cheaper, but you might consider buying a more future-proof Xbox 360 and waiting for that version to come out early next year. It will feature downloadable content (more songs!) added on a regular basis. Additionally, if you’re planning on picking up the game/guitar bundle to add another guitar your arsenal, you might be aware that RedOctane is planning to release a wireless PS2 guitar soon.

Whatever you do, I cannot impress this enough: Play the game. The “Guitar Hero” series is a triumph. It’s a game that lives and dies on the quality of its gameplay, not graphics, and has found amazing success based solely on word of mouth. It’s video game escapism at its finest, in both concept and execution. It’s exactly the sort of game the industry should be striving to produce.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 10:01 am and is filed under games, reviews.