The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

A simple concept makes for very addictive fun. Guitar Hero II (I didn't even know there was a part I) involves you picking up a guitar controller that comprises of 5 different coloured buttons on the neck, a horizontal white strumming bar on the face and a whammy bar. Even if you have never picked up a real guitar before, beginners can get right into this game and have lots of fun with it.

The simplicty makes it appealing. You have choice of different songs ranked from Easy to Expert, and once your song is picked, you are taken to your band's venue where you have to win the crowd over with your guitar skills. A screen scrolls towards you and the object is to strum and press the appropriate coloured buttons at the correct time. Sounds easy? It can be. But as the songs progress, more complicated patterns and combinations emerge and it can get tricky. If you screw up too many times, the crowd turns on you and boos you off the stage, and the song is over.

I played two songs: Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil" and a classic from the Police, "Message in a Bottle". The time flies quickly as you play, and it's a great party game as even those who don't care for video games liked to give it a try. When your song is over, you get a ranking out of five stars for your performance and the percentage of times you correctly hit the proper notes.

Apparently a version for the Xbox 360 is coming out and I can only imagine how good it will be. The only drawback was there wasn't as many songs as I thought there would be: just over 50 for this version. Still, it's a ton of fun and for $90 for the game and the guitar controller, a pretty good deal.