Frequency and Amplitude were ‘underground’ hits. These rhythm action games had their own cult followings but didn’t amount to huge success. Developer Harmonix proved to the few who bought their games that they could create enjoyable experiences – but they needed to reach out to the masses with something truly amazing. A rhythm game that could dethrone Konami’s DDR and pave way for a new age of music gaming. In 2005 they released Guitar Hero for the Ps2, and this road began. In 2006, they followed it up with a sequel for the Ps2, and now Harmonix releases its final iteration in the Guitar Hero franchise – Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360. However, is it worth a whopping $90?

5 glowing notes scroll vertically down the screen while a frenzy of lights and whopping guitar tricks set a crowd on fire in the background. Guitar Hero II is a visual explosion, creating an urge to salivate to the amazing performances that your digital avatar puts on based upon your skill, which is in turn effected by your rhythmic abilities and the game’s audio. Maybe it’s from playing DDR – where the visuals are nothing special – that really causes Guitar Hero II for the 360 to blow me away. While I’m used to static pictures and simple dancing models in the background I’m now being immersed into a virtual slam fest. If there are any visual complaints it would be the quality of some of the character models. The biggest gripe is the black rocker Xavier, who is supposed to be homage to guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. However, he looks more like Lenny Kravitz. That’s a bit of a problem.

The notes flow down the screen, I hold down the fret buttons and strum in accordance – building up my multiplier. I hit some notes to build up star power then it’s a simple tilt of my guitar and I’m truly rocking. That’s what GHII is all about. Racking up points requires a good sense of rhythm to hold down the fret and strum at the same time to emulate grinding with an axe to then use this precision and rock the crowd to oblivion. Now this emulation of the guitar experience is brought to a new level thanks to seemingly simple additions – hammer on’s and pull off’s.

The concept is simple. As previously mentioned, players have to hold down one of five different colored buttons, representing the frets of the guitar, and press down on the guitar’s strummer when the corresponding colored notes cross a certain point on the screen to produce the guitar track to any given song. But as was also mentioned earlier this is given a whole new dimension with the game’s star-power functionality and hammer on’s and pull off’s. Hit detection is spot on and everything is reasonable in the game. So what the quality of it all really comes down to is the track selection. And Harmonix delivers.

It all comes down to this last song at Stonehenge. But before it even loads I’m given a grave reminder. “REMEMBER! No stairway!” Harmonix has tried very hard to get the Led Zeppelin classic in the franchise but copyright laws make it very hard to do. But even if we can’t have that rock anthem we can have another. Their not joking this time. All your hard work in the game leads up to (assuming you’re playing on medium or higher) one last song – “Freebird” by Lynrd Skynrd. Along the way you’re given different songs from different schools of rock. Some work. Some don’t. Getting to jam to songs like “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine is awesome – but the cover could left something to be desired (but when the actual song ends with so many f bombs, and a game is opting for a ‘T for Teen’ there’s only so much you can do). Of course, at least the song is enjoyable to play unlike other tracks such as “Life Wasted” by Pearl Jam (don’t get me wrong, I love the song but it’s just not fun to play). Some songs may kill your ears but are a blast for the fingers. Case in point – “Dead!” a master track from My Chemical Romance.

Many of the songs in the game can be mastered with some dedication and practice (more plausible thanks to a practice mode that allows you to choose sections to play, and alter the speed) but there are some that simply require you to be a god. Songs such as “Psychobilly Freakout” by Reverend Horton Head or “Jordan” from Buckethead will grind your fingers into tiny little pieces on expert as they require complete mastery of the game. Flawless hammering on and pulling off is required as well as lightning fast finger movement. It’s a true test of skill.

With about 70 songs to choose from the variety is naturally wide, and it really adds to the longevity of the game. But so does cosmetic un-lockables such as costumes, characters, and new guitars. You’re going to need to play extremely well to get the money to buy everything in the game, so skill once again becomes the core of the game. And with features like co-op there are bass guitars to unlock by mastering songs. Speaking of which, while multiplayer is still an extremely fun aspect of the game it feels a bit lacking. Co-Op isn’t really fleshed out but is still a fun diversion. Versus is another fun mode but it doesn’t really have that epic guitar dueling feel to it – it’s just like playing DDR multiplayer. Of course it can still be tense. Also, there’s no online. While the synching is an understandable reason it’s still a key mode that could make the game even better. But, all in all Guitar Hero II for the 360 is not just the best music game out there, but one of the best 360 games as well.