The roar of the crowd welcomes you to the stage, your hands are sweaty, your fingers cramping from the gut busting solo you just annihilated.  The drummer counts you in, the adrenaline takes hold and you let loose.  Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the stage …Guitar Hero II. 

In a time of sometimes overly complicated game play, a focus on next-gen graphics and let’s face it a market flooded with copy cat games it isn’t often that a truly great game comes along.  If you have played Guitar Hero on the PS2 you know what you are in for.  If, like me, you have met the series for the first time when Red Octane unleashed the once PS2 exclusive onto the Xbox 360 it has been worth the wait.  From the first time you pick up the Gibson X-Plorer control and have a bash through Nirvana’s Heart Shaped Box you’ll know what all the hype is about.

The concept behind the game is simple.  The guitar shaped controller has five coloured ‘fret’ buttons on the neck, a strum bar and a whammy stick.  As the coloured notes flow down the screen you press the corresponding coloured fret buttons and strum in time with the notes.  For long notes you keep the fret button held down and can use the whammy bar to alter the notes.  Occasionally you will encounter a string of star shaped notes, hit all these in a row and you receive a boost to your ‘star power’ which, when full, you can unleash by lifting the guitar vertically Hendrix style. This incidentally not only provides some of the most rocking moments in the game but also doubles your points.  Throughout each song your progress is measured by a rock meter, showing how much the crowd is digging your guitar shredding style.  Keeping this meter in the green ensures you continue on your rocking way but if it slips into the red you’re in danger of being booed off stage.

The guitar controller feels great and is sized well so that everyone from your little brother to your 7 foot tall uncle can play it comfortably (and trust me once they have a go you’ll struggle to get it out of their hands).  The biggest disappointment is the whammy bar with one model of the guitar being shipped with a very unresponsive whammy bar leading to intermittent times when it just doesn’t work.  Luckily if you get stung with one of these you can take it back to the point of purchase and they should happily exchange it for you.

As I said before to someone who hasn’t played a Guitar Hero game this sounds like an awfully simple concept, match the colours as they come down the screen, but believe me the joy of the game comes from the songs.  Rock lover or not you are bound to find a couple of songs you know and some you didn’t know but after a while you’ll love to rock to. There are a wide range of styles too with acts such as Foo Fighters, Black Sabbath, The Police, Van Halen, Rage Against the Machine, the Allman Brothers Band and loads more.  There are a number of air guitar favourites such as Guns ‘n’ Roses ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ , ‘Free Bird’ and even Wolfmother’s ‘Woman’.   The majority of songs are covers but most are done reasonably well, with a couple that are genuinely hard to pick.  You’ll find some though, such as Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name’ which if you’re a fan may find you wincing slightly but it doesn’t detract too much from the fun.  With 74 songs, around half of these licensed from major bands there is enough content to keep you going for a long, long time.  Plus with song packs up for downloaded from Xbox Live you’ll be able to grab a few more.

So with a game that appeals to everyone, packed full of content and overall just an absolute joy to play Guitar Hero II is well on its way to being a classic.  The best thing of all, it really does make you feel like a rock star.  Hang on I think the crowd is calling for an encore.  Ok Ok…We’ve got one more for you….