Guitar Hero 2 Review

Well after a solid week and a half of living the simulated rock star life, I have one thing to say about Guitar Hero 2, actually thats a lie I have a couple of things to say. So here is a quick run down of what I liked and disliked about Guitar Hero 2:

What I liked:

• This game gets addictive, which means its a lot of fun to play
• Tons of songs leaves you a lot of songs to master
• Fun to play in groups
• You can purchase additional songs on XBOX Live
  
• You get a sweet guitar controller with the game (defects not with standing)
  
• Career mode is good for casual playing, you can pretty much pick it up any time
• Multiplayer looks really cool, but I didn't have an extra guitar to try it out with my friends (I know you can play it with the regular controller but what would be the fun in that)
  

What I disliked:

• The additional songs on Live are expensive
• No multiplayer over Live, yet
  
• Difficulty levels are significantly harder as you progress, there really should be more difficulty levels in between the easy, medium, hard, and expert levels. I think it would help in the natural progression.
• Training mode doesn't give you stats on each section like Career Mode or Quick Play
• The only way to make in game money is playing Career mode, I would have really like a system that rewarded you for having solid quick play performances as well. I think this system would be better since most of the additional items don't really do much else in gameplay except look pretty.
  

This was my first experience with the Guitar Hero franchise and I have to say I'm now a fan. There are many times that feel like you are really are playing along with the band. However, I was really hoping that Red Octane would step up the 360 version and start integrating the Xbox Live component into the game but it looks like we'll just have to wait and see if they get around to integrating it. My overall experience was really positive, this game has been added to my LAN party list and seems to be a hit so far.

Must Buy/Buy/Wait for the bargain bin/Rent/Avoid like the plague?

Personally I would recommend buying this game if you don't always play alone, trust me your hands will thank me later for that. However, with it retailing at 90 dollars US, I'd see if you can play it at a friends or rent it, before dropping the coin. This was close to being a must buy for 360 owners but its a port that brings very little to the table that the original PS2 version didn't already bring.