Guitar Hero makes cranks up the volume and rocks out on the Xbox 360.
The game plays great, and you really get into it once you get the basic mechanics down. The game does a really good job of making you feel like you're nailing some sweet licks, even if you're playing on easy. In fact, it's probably a good idea to mention, since I tried doing this, just because you can play "Sweet Child of Mine" on the medium difficulty setting doesn't mean that you can pick up a real guitar and start picking like you're Slash.
On that note, (i promise, i realized the pun when I was proof-reading) the difficulty settings are very well done. When going from the easy to the medium difficulty, there is a noticeable increase in ability that is required, since it adds an extra fret into the mix that is most easily used by the pinky finger. While it is a little more difficult than you'd think at first, you get the hang of it after a while, and the increase in notes ins't overbearing. The jump to hard adds the final fret on the guitar and a little bit more involved picking of the strum bar, and expert is like taking hard two steps further, and then adding 4 more notes too it. Meaning, it's where expert should be, plus just a tiny bit extra. If you can muster up the skills to play at the expert level, it is something to be proud of.
The track list on Guitar Hero II is truly something to behold. There are a total of 70 tracks from different artists and more on the way via xbox live. Basically all of the songs are unlocked through career mode by completing "gigs" or buy using money you earn to unlock them. Some of the artists are Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Nirvana, My Chemical Romance, The Toadies, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Avenged Sevenfold, The Rolling Stones, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, just to name a few. Also, there is a wide selection of characters and guitars to choose from. You can act out your rock star fantasy with 11 different characters, from Punk Rock Princess "Judy Nails", all the way to the Scythe-wielding "Grim Ripper". There is also a pretty extensive list of guitars to choose from with multiple different looks to pick out. the makers of Guitar Hero did a great job recreating the major Rock personalities to make sure you can really get into the game.
While the game is pretty solid overall, there are a few minor drawbacks that probably couldn't have been dealt with any better than they have, but still leave the game lacking something. The "career" mode is severely lacking, but like I said, it was dealt with the best that it could be. This play option is basically meant to give you practice, and make you earn new songs instead of them just being thrown at you. I believe that this game is more of a party game, meant to be played with a group of people, rather than by yourself. Don't get me wrong, you'll find yourself two hours deep in guitar hero before you know it, but there's just something missing if you're not with a group of friends cracking jokes and trying to prove who can melt the most faces.
All in all, Guitar Hero set an impressive precedent for the future of gaming, and Guitar Hero II took it to another level. Even if you think this game is not for you, find a friend who has it and check it out. Once you get the hang of it and nail your first song, you'll feel like a real guitar player and become obsessed with becoming the ultimate Guitar Hero!