One the most revolutionizing rhythm games of all time!
The game play is what puts Guitar Hero II on top of all of the other rhythm games out there. It combines a combination of both hands including the pinky finger, which isn't a big gaming finger. So you get a great workout and play awesome songs. One thing that surprised me about GH II was the transition from Medium to Hard. Guitar Hero (original) was all about music and time while GH II is all about crazy speed and not a lot of skill. You have to absolutely MASTER the Medium difficulty before moving onto the hard one.
And of course the multiplayer action is amazing. Cooperative, Face-Off, and Pro Face-Off are three great modes to test your skills on. The only drawback is that on Face-Off you trade off playing the chosen song instead of playing the entire song. The graphics aren't bad but what are you going to do? Once again, the 360 version has better graphics than PS2 but when are you looking at people's faces instead of the notes you're playing? When it comes down to graphics GH II isn't really on par with all the next-gen games.
The sound of course is unseasonable. The only thing that bothered me was some of the voice-overs. If you listen the Strutter or Free Bird in real life they sound nothing like the GH II versions. Besides that GH II delivers.
The value isn't thrift store type. You get the guitar controller and the game for about $70-80 in the store. Another guitar controller is going to run you about $40-60. Neither bad nor good.
So all in all GH II is a spectacular rhythm based video game that delivers in all of it's categories. Great game play puts this game on par with all of the DDRs.
Rent or Buy
You can't really rent this game so only option is to buy. Check eBay for good prices.