PS2 impressions: Guitar Hero II

Red Octane's Guitar Hero II is on show and we tried out the co-op mode. It's an improvement on Guitar Hero's multiplayer modes, as it assigns different parts to both players; we took the bass part to another player's lead, and made some beautiful music.

Inevitably the bass line has less sparkle than the lead, so this allows less skilled players to accompany those more proficient. The single-player mode caters to the harder end of the spectrum with three-finger chords -- a Red Octane employee hinted at four finger chords too. Before you run away in terror, remember it takes just as many fingers to play a real guitar.