Prepare to have sore arms.
This sequel is as dominant as the first one.
Gameplay is not that easy. Red Octane offered us with a great fix: a controller that looks like a Gibson SG. They did that in the first game, so why not here? The easy and the medium difficulty makes you think this review is unreliable. Try hard. Back to square one. And try it on the PS2 controller. WAY hard. But I won't play with that if I were you. It's like playing NASCAR Racing 2003 Season with a keyboard. The SG controller come packed in (but prepare to pay an extra $30 if you want the combo), so you don't have to worry about buying one. Course, you have to fork over another $30 if you want to get another one for multiplayer gaming. But worth it.
Focusing on the gameplay aspect, the guitar has five color-coded buttons, known as frets. Easy mode uses only three: green, red, and yellow. Medium throws in the blue to make it four, and hard utilizes all five buttons (throw in the orange). Focusing on the hard and expert(!!!) difficulty, I had to bump the learning curve up to half-an-hour to an hour because you only got four fingers (minus the thumb), and five fret buttons. Working with the game's hardest and fastest songs, uhh.......your fingers will be in pain. Fortunately, the game has a practice mode, so once you hit Free Bird (yes, it's in the game, but I won't tell you where), if you use this mode and get your practice in, you'll be prepared for the song with one of the most famous solos in rock history.
Graphically, stunning. It looks so beautiful, even without a "fancy-pants" TV. It's amazing (it's the mirrors, hehe). I cannot describe how well it looks. Excuse me while I drool all over the keyboard looking at the graphics.
The soundtrack, well, rocks! This contains music you are well aware of and heard, and some you don't even listen to. Course, you're listening to rock music (sorry pop fans, but I don't work for Red Octane or Harmonix), and if you don't like rock, do me a favor and return this game. It has Free Bird (along with Sweet Child O' Mine), and it either sounds good or it sucks. It depends on how you play. Hey, this isn't a rhythm game if you just listen to the music. You be stupid to wonder why you don't hear the guitar solo and you aren't doing anything with the guitar controller.
Overall, this could be one of the greatest games of 2006 (or 2007, rather). I only have a few complaints about the physical effects after playing the game, so I warn everyone who is playing this game with the guitar controller to prepare for arthritic fingers and thumbs and a sore arm. It's one of the pick-up-and-play games that will rock the gaming industry.