neurological dryer lint

guitar hero 2 isn't simply a second soundtrack added onto the first one... there are plenty of feature improvements that i didn't expect. they've replaced the standard five-song sets with four, and after you play through your third one in a set, the audience cheers you back to the stage to play through the 'surprise' extra song. they've also made hammer-ons quite a bit easier (i.e. i can actually pull them off now). the most significant upgrade is co-op mode, where you can choose lead or rhythm on some songs, and guitar or bass on others. i'm not sure if there's a bass-only mode in the single player career - it'd add an interesting spin.

i find myself a lot more polarized on the track list than i was with the first one... i was only crazy about two or three songs there, but the sequel has about a dozen that i love - killing in the name, them bones, sweet child o' mine, carry on wayward son, strutter; and some that i wouldn't have expected to love - like war pigs or cherry pie. appropriately enough, there are also a lot more that i can't stand - psychobilly freakout, tattooed love boys, and crazy on you, to name a few.

they really need to do something about the dude that sings on the tracks, though. i almost chucked during their rendition of heart shaped box - were i at that show i would have started throwing bottles.

the one minor gripe aside, if you own a PS2 and even remotely enjoy rock music, you owe it to yourself to pick this up and enjoy quite possibly the most purely entertaining video game released in the last ten years. one romp through sweet child and you'll be hooked.