sequel to one of the best games, lives up to its predecessor if not beating it
Gameplay: Few games these days are as fun as this one. Granted this may have to do with my intense love for music. Even if you like music and 'hate' those rhythm games, do not let that deter you, this game ROCKS. Very intuitive, although if you haven't ever played it before it takes a while to get used to it, but once you do.. you'll be jammin in no time. In a way its kinda like a driving game, in that there's a 'roadmap' of notes and it certainly helps if you know that 'roadmap' before hand (ie if you know the song OUTSIDE of the game, it certainly helps with keepin the rhythm and not being 'surprised' by certain melodies. There's a couple of new modes for multiplay, like co-op in which the two players can take different roles, like rhythm guitar or bass, depending on the song. Graphics: Not necessarily one of PS2's 'showcase' games in this aspect, as the game is based on music not pretty visuals. The game has a very stylized 'grunge' cel-animated-type look to it. The guitarists are fun to look at tho, that is, when you can, as its pretty hard to look at them when your notes are streaming at you non-stop and you need all your attention for that. Couple of neat things tho, Guitar Hero 2 has added support for widescreen AND progressive scan for those of us with HDTV's. I haven't played it in 'regular' tho, so I can't compare what it would look like normally.
Sound: Good. As this is a music-centric game, there's nothing to knock here, except.. I find it very surprising that the sound options are either 'stereo' or not. No kind of support for a broader speaker setup or at least Dolby Surround, its just plain stereo. Very surprising considering the game's concept. Value: Well this is a must-have, but overall the value's pretty good. Multiplay is where the replay value is, especially good for parties. They did however jack the price up a bit, the controller & game bundle is now $80-ish, but if you already have the guitar controller (or 2) then you can get the game without it and save yourself about $30 or $40. Whatever the case, the price is well worth it. Oh, and by now means does the release of GH2 'kill' its predecessor, since its a completely new playlist, GH1 still has playability.
Speaking of the songlist, GH1's list was nothin to complain about and it would be pretty hard to match; GH2's list is pretty good. I'm not going to judge it because everyone has their own tastes about what they like in music.
Good: gameplay matches GH1, and with added bass and rhythm play...,
Bad: still no Stairway to Heaven, no support for kick-*** stereo setups.