Thankfully for those in the upper difficulties, Harmonix has made the hammer-ons and pull-offs easier to execute. The techniques become key in the brutal solos players will encounter in the hardest songs.

While the end of 2006 has seen a humongous surge in the number of music games released in the United States, Guitar Hero II is by far the top rhythm title so far this year. The success of the original Guitar Hero finally turned some heads in the video gaming world and gave U.S. players a voice that said, “Yeah, we like music too.” (Duh).

While we’re starting to see the release of even more music-oriented games (including Konami’s original Guitar Freaks finally being worked on for a U.S. release under the name Guitar Revolution), Guitar Hero will always be at the top of the pack if it continues to update itself just like Guitar Hero II.

Guitar Hero II has been revamped in almost every category and plays a lot smoother than its predecessor. Whether or not the song list is better is based on personal preference but with the increased variety and sheer number of songs found in part two, everyone should be able to find a good number of enjoyable tracks.

The game looks better, plays better and brings over even more of a hard rocker presentation with a new career mode and interface. Despite a few minor hiccups in the game's new features, Guitar Hero II is a worthy sequel in every sense of the word.

With the novelty of the game gone and the aforementioned cons, Guitar Hero II just barely misses the five-star mark. Certainly we can expect a third installment in the series and if Harmonix can push even more content into the game and tweak the features introduced into part two, the series will continue to be a guaranteed hit.

Guitar Hero II is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Lyrics.