Depending on who you ask, Guitar Hero was either every nerd’s opportunity to become a rockstar, or every rockstar’s opportunity to become a nerd. Either way, both had fun and the game did well enough to spawn a sequel in Guitar Hero II, which outdoes the original in every way imaginable.

Music is a sort of a big deal for the series. Guitar Hero II features a wide range of musical selections, ranging from rockabilly ("Psychobilly Freakout") to classic rock ("Carry on Wayward Son") to pure instrumental tracks ("Misirlou"). The game even features "Freebird", ensuring that all of your virtual concerts end in style. Nearly 40 songs are available in the main game with 24 unlockable bonus tracks. The overall selection is good, though some of the songs are puzzling. Is "Last Child" really the best Aerosmith song that they could have found? The lack of Tenacious D is also rather disturbing. Regardless, there’s still lots to like here and even some of the questionable songs are fun to play. And hey, we get to play along to "Trogdor", so that has to count for something, right?

With the exception of "Stop" (Jane’s Addiction) and "John the Fisherman" (Primus), all of the songs in the game are covers. All of the covers are good ones, though some are outright fantastic. You can usually tell that the real artists aren't singing the songs, though some – like "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Carry on Wayward Son") are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.

Guitar Hero II retains the same visual style as the first. The game's outlandish cast of characters touches on nearly every rockstar stereotype. The visuals aren't the most impressive, but at the same time, they work for the game so there isn't much room for complaint. The onstage theatrics have been ratcheted up and feature more elaborate light shows that go on and off in time with parts of songs. It should probably be noted that the game uses lot of rock imagery, including the odd pentagram or demon head. None are used in a malicious way, so they shouldn't present much of a turnoff. Besides, your attention is usually focused on the fret bar.

HDTV owners will be happy to know that Guitar Hero II offers both widescreen and progressive scan options. It should also be noted that there's the possibility of lag between pressing a button and that action showing up in the game when playing in HD. If this does happen, the problem is easily correctable in the Options menu.

The same game types all return in the sequel and are joined by two new modes: Practice and Multiplayer. Career mode puts you on stage as part of an indie band working its way to the top. You begin playing small venues and soon work your way up to superstar status where you’re selling out arenas. Progression is set-up similar to the original. All of the songs are grouped into categories, with each tier corresponding to a different stage in your career. You’re only required to play a handful of songs from each section before moving on to the next and once unlocked, you can replay songs in any of the game’s other modes. A new addition comes in at the end of each set. After playing your last song, the audience will ask for an encore, adding one additional song to the playlist.

Practice mode was one of the most requested modes from the original. Here you can practice any song in the game and not have to worry about losing points on the Rock Meter, which in a normal game ends the song immediately. You can practice the entire song or select individual parts. In addition, you can do so at slower speeds, which is good for getting some of the trickier fingerings down. The only thing missing is the ability to loop parts of the song; instead you’re required to back through the Options menu and reset the portion you want to practice.

Expanded, revamped, retooled – however you want to say it, Multiplayer is Guitar Hero II’s biggest improvement. The head-to-head mode from last year’s game is back, only this time you can choose to play through the entire song together rather than trading off spots. Then there’s Co-op play.

In Co-op, players choose to play as part of a lead and rhythm combo or guitar and bass combo depending on the song. The first combo is the same parts from the single-player mode, only split up. The second adds new bass sections to the original guitar track. Each player can set their own individual difficulty level, making multiplayer accessible to both gamers and non-gamers. This gives multiplayer that one thing that will make even the shyest of players want to jump in and try the game out. Guitar Hero II could easily become just as much of a party staple as bean dip.

Guitar Hero II is noticeably harder than the original, but not so much that it shuts out casual players. Easy is great for getting the basic fingering down, while Medium adds a new button and gets into a little more of the technique of the game. There is a noticeable jump in difficulty when moving to the harder modes. Expert players will survive the hard settings, but probably won’t coast through as quickly as they can in the original because of the addition of three-button chords in some songs.

Just remember that there’s a Practice option now and you shouldn’t have too many problems eventually getting through songs with high ratings.

For those unfamiliar with the game, a quick explanation is in order. The guitar-shaped controller features five colored buttons on the neck and a small flipper used for strumming. As the song plays, a series of colored nodes scroll down which you need to match with the button presses while strumming. Hitting notes scores points and fills your Rock Meter, which measures the crowd’s response to your playing. Miss too many notes and the meter will dip into the red area and boo you offstage.

Every once in a while, some of the nodes will turn into stars. Hitting a series of these correctly gives you the added bonus of filling up your Star Power meter. Once this meter is filled, you can activate it by tilting the controller up (or by hitting select if you are no fun) and receive double points for a limited time.

Guitar Hero II is even more impressive than the original and a must-play for anyone who has ever found themselves playing air guitar to their favorite songs.