The face-off competitive mode returns for those of you with a friend and an extra guitar controller. This time out you’ll be able to select different skill levels for each player to even the playing field a bit if need be. There’s also a cool new co-op mode in which one player plays lead guitar and the other either bass or rhythm. This new feature alone is worth the price of admission.

The game comes with 40 licensed rock songs plus 24 bonus tracks by smaller, lesser-known bands. Overall I found the song lineup to be stronger in the first game. The sequel’s song list is heavier than the original’s and does not have as many universally recognized tracks as there are in the original (click here to see the full track list). It also seems that the overall difficulty is higher than in the original game. While this may not faze veteran players, casual players or those new to Guitar Hero will find the going a bit tougher from the start than they did in the first game. Good thing for that new practice mode.

If for some reason you didn’t like the original Guitar Hero, then there’s probably nothing new here that will change your mind about the game. For everyone else, new songs, new animations, and the new practice and co-op modes make Guitar Hero II a no-brainer. Pull out your guitars and hit the road for a second tour!

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 94%. Guitar Hero’s follow-up effort is another smash hit.

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