It fills me with disappointment that I cannot really call this article a review. To review “Samba de Amigo” would require me to have played it extensively, and sadly, “Samba de Amigo” for the Wii is too broken for me to tolerate it for very long at all.

I want to be upfront about the amount of time I spent playing the Wii version of “Samba” – probably only about 30 minutes. I will also be candid on the amount of time I spent on the Dreamcast original and its Japanese sequel – it could probably be counted in days.

For the uninitiated, “Samba de Amigo” was and is a rhythm game about shaking maracas at various positions to the beat of saucy Latin tunage. The Dreamcast version used an accurate but flimsy set of maraca controllers. (I went through three sets!) Unfortunately, what the Wii version gains in durability, it loses tenfold in accuracy. It’s simply difficult to make the Wii version recognize where you are shaking your Wiimotes.

The reason for this is that though the input is superficially the same – moving objects in your hand to various heights – it is actually very different. Whereas the Dreamcast original was asking you to position the maracas at various heights along two columns, the Wii version is asking for you to position the Wiimote in different directions.

Example time! In order to hit the notes in the top right circle, the Dreamcast version would have you raise one of your maracas to the top right and shake. On the Wii, you have to angle one of your Wiimotes at a 45º angle pointing upward. This only kinda works because your hand sort of naturally does these angles when you raise or lower them to the appropriate levels. However, the other half the this game’s entire design – shaking to the beat a la maraca – breaks that entire idea apart.

The system only works on the level of “okay” when you are trying to learn it, and might work fine for new players on lower difficulty levels, but if you try to get into it and really let loose while enjoying the ridiculousness of shaking around what are now fake fake maracas, you are not going to hit notes consistently, and if you try to play on harder difficulties, you are really not going to hit notes consistently.

It is not hyperbolic for me to say that, personally, this is probably the most disappointing thing ever related to the Wii. Official Sega-brand Dreamcast maracas go forabout $100 on eBay, and on top of that, often ship from Japan, so a good version of Samba de Amigo on a modern console with a durable controller was something of a holy grail for me. And it even supports downloadable content! On the Wii! Holy shit! Too bad it’s intrinsically broken at its core.

This failed experiment does provide an interesting perspective on “Samba” the game, though. It does feel very simple in this post-Harmonix world, but this is not a bad thing at all. Through the layer of shit that is the controls, I was still able to catch a glimpse at the gameplay that had entranced me years ago, and hot damn, does it still seem like fun! …which makes this all the more tragic.

It is hypothetically possible the upcoming Wii MotionPlus add-on might solve the problems that led to “Samba’s” gimped, broken control scheme, and just maybe, a poorly-reviewed rhythm game about shaking maracas to Latin music might sell enough in this Rock Band-dominated world to warrant a follow-up that would require rewriting large amounts of the game code to use an add-on device, but I’m not holding my breath.

For myself, and people I usually play Rock Band alongside, score is a secondary concern. In fact, we don’t really care at all. We just want to have fun pretending to play music we love with fake instruments. This is also the attitude of anyone playing Rock Band at a party casually. They just want to have fun.

Unfortunately, failing a song absolutely kills the mood at a party. If players couldn’t completely fail a song, then the game would be much more friendly for social situations. Just letting the song limp along with some sort of “assisted help” mode once a player screws up bad enough would be a lot better than the usual “well, let’s do something else!” result of people failing at a party.

But would lacking a fail condition make higher-level play worse, assuming that failure-free play wasn’t relegated to being an option or just one mode? I know the feeling of just barely scraping by on a song but succeeding is great, but the awesome feeling of totally nailing a song would still remain.

Perhaps the star system could replace failure to some degree? In single player and band world tour mode, you might have to earn a certain number of stars in a set or on a song to pass, but the game never tells you that you suck so explicitly, just that you need to do better. The feeling of just barely scraping by could still be preserved, since you might’ve just barely gotten three stars, instead of just barely finishing the song.

Hopefully, for the inevitable follow-up to Rock Band, Harmonix addresses these concerns in some capacity. This is one of many design and interface changes that could be made to Rock Band without damaging the core band gameplay, and I feel that the gameplay can indeed rise to new heights if video game-centric design choices like failing a song are revised to fit in with the game’s core, augmenting rather than hampering the enjoyment of the full band experience.

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.