Preview of new Guitar Hero II co-op mode

In case you missed it on Friday, IGN posted a pre-E3 hands-on preview of Guitar Hero II's new co-op mode. It's a departure from the first game's multiplayer mode in that the two players have to depend on each other a lot more to pass each song and thereby make beautiful music together.

While the old multiplayer option will still be around in the sequel, the new mode mixes distinct lead guitar and bass or rhythm parts where each player affects the other in various ways, whether by failing if either performance slips (as in DDR), sharing the same Rock Meter (with mistakes from either player resetting the score multiplier), and needing to both go vertical at the same time to activate the shared Star Power. Thankfully, different difficulty levels can be assigned to each player.

The Joystiq team out in L.A. will probably find something to do until they get their sweaty paws on a guitar controller or two on the E3 show floor (maybe one of those wacky press conferences will help pass the time), but we're sure the wait to try the latest build of this rockin' series will be worth it. The seven songs available at E3 are listed below.

[Thanks, murph]

Guitar Hero II songs making an appearance at E3:

1. Reverend Horton Heat's "Psychobilly Freakout"

2. KISS' "Strutter"

3. Butthole Surfers' "Who Was In My Room Last Night"

4. Van Halen's take on "You Really Got Me"

5. Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"

6. Rush's "YYZ"

7. Drist's "Arterial Black"

See also:

• Joystiq Review: Guitar Hero (European release)

• Metareview: Guitar Hero (PS2)

• Guitar Hero II interview, dude

• A whole range of Guitar Heroes to be available

• A postmortem on Accordion Hero (with a little info on Guitar Hero, too)

• Rock out with Guitar Hero, sans game

• Guitar Hero hack - a sequencer is born