Bits and Bytes: Xbox game offers simulated air guitar

Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360

What better way to close off the year than to write a review on one of the coolest games to hit the 360? My PS2 has been busted for over a year and a bit now, so I never had the opportunity to play the original Guitar Hero (or the sequel) up until now, and let me tell you, as a musician and a gamer with an addictive personality, this game is an experience.

The Xbox 360 version comes with an X-Plorer guitar that is a little different in design than the guitar available for the PS2. The white guitar is based off a Gibson X-plorer, but works identically the same as the PS2 guitar. The major difference is an input located on the bottom of the guitar that an effect pedal can be plugged in to. There hasn't been much detail on this pedal or how it will work, but you can be sure Guitar Hero 3 and perhaps the upcoming downloadable content will take advantage of it.

The game-play in GH 2 is basically this: coloured notes come towards you on a virtual fretboard, while the song of your choice is playing in the background. As the note is played in the song, you have to do your best to hit one of the five buttons on the guitar fret board to match the colour and position on the screen. It sounds easy enough and for some people like me, playing the game on easy isn't too bad (if you have rhythm and have played a guitar before).

The game gets significantly tougher on the medium setting. You now have to play more notes, do power chord position (using two fingers) and incorporate the fourth button on the fretboard (easy only makes you use the first three buttons). Once you master the medium setting, and a five-star difficulty rating on each, you then face the challenge of the hard mode where even musicians like me start to sweat and curse. I don't even want to tell you the horrors I've seen by taking a peek at some of the songs on the “hardcore” difficulty.

As you play on the medium difficulty and higher, you have access to the store where you can buy new guitars, songs, characters and finishes for your guitars. You make the money to obtain these items by working your way through each song and venue in the game. The great thing about buying all this stuff is that you get some good ol' achievement points for doing so. You also get achievement points by getting 100 per cent in a song, getting over specific scores and by even playing all the songs - 74 in all once everything is unlocked.

The songs are a good mix although I've seen many people complain online that there's more of a hard rock/metal edge. That's ok with me because that's how you should rock out. Singers that almost sound identical to the original performer perform most of the songs and the songs are almost 100 per cent accurate in every way. The real treat comes when you get to play songs that the artist gave the master tapes for. That means you can play “John the Fisherman” by Primus and “Stop!” by Jane's Addiction and hear the original vocal tracks!

I've had so much fun playing the crap out of this game for the past week. With the promise of more songs coming (let's hope the full GH1 track listing is available for download soon) and the addiction of always wanting to do better, there's no reason to stop rocking! I'm giving this one a 10 out of 10 for pure fun and innovation, as well as hearing the Butthole Surfers in a music game.

Well, it's been a great year. Here's to the summer break and playing the Halo 3 beta that begins on May 16 to June 7.