Like most music fans, we love to indulge our inner geek. HT reporter Kristian Telschow takes you to the frontlines for a better look at how to feed that beast…

It’s a quarter before midnight on an early November Monday as I pull into the 24-hour Wal-Mart in Amherst, New Hampshire. I’m strolling through the aisles toward the electronics department, and I begin to notice a scary sight: the late night Wal-Mart shoppers are out in full force.

I spy a horde of stoned college kids chuckling at some corny T-shirts, a couple who looked like zombies doing some late-night grocery shopping and a strange Indian fellow staring at a can of Pam cooking spray for a solid five minutes. It was a wild scene in the House That Sam Built.

So why, you might ask, am I hanging at the local Wal-Mart shortly before midnight on a Monday amongst the Wal-Mart dregs, instead of on my couch watching the Seahawks beat up on the Raiders? Because Guitar Hero II goes on sale at midnight, and the Veruca Salt inside me says I have to own it now.

For the uninitiated, the original Guitar Hero’s the critically acclaimed PlayStation 2 game — nay, experience — where players can jam out a variety of tunes spanning classic rock anthems to modern-day metal thrashers. As it turns out, with an updated songbook and more fan-friendly features, Guitar Hero II’s a great improvement on what was already the genuine article, and it’s everything I wanted it to be and more. It’ll challenge everyone from the jaded GH vets to the custie n00bz that are just discovering the game now. Allow me to explain…

First, the basics: The game’s played using a guitar-shaped controller modeled after a Gibson SG. The controller itself looks like the Fisher Price My First Guitar that a toddler might have some fun with. Your friends that have never played the game might call you a dork for playing a game that uses a plastic guitar with big multi-colored buttons on the fret board. But looks can be deceiving, and trust me, after those idiots get past that and actually play the game, they’ll be running to the store the next day to get their own copy.

GH2 wisely keeps the core gameplay untouched, but it also boasts a bunch of new features and improved existing features. The Hammer-On/Pull-Off system has been revamped to be more forgiving then first Guitar Hero. Game Stats have been expanded, and a “Training” mode has been added so you can play pieces of a given song to help iron out those tougher sections and solos.

As expected, the songlist has been updated, with 65 new songs in all (40 official tracks, 25 bonus tracks). Some of my personal favorites include Megadeth’s Hangar 18, GnR’s Sweet Child O’ Mine, Dethklok’s ThunderHorse, and of course, the marathon jam session known as Free Bird. So now one of your moron friends can play the part of That Guy and yell “Free Biiiirrrrd!” while you play.

The biggest improvements in Guitar Hero II come in multi-player mode. Multi-player includes classic “Face-Off” mode, in which players exchange licks back and forth (same as the original). But there’s also “Pro Face-off,” which allows each player to perform the whole song separately as opposed to exchanging licks. And the best addition to GH2 is the new “Co-Op” mode. Here, players can choose to play lead and the bass/rhythm sections of each song together — that right there’s basically worth the price of admission alone.

They’ve also made some decent improvements to “Single-Player Career” mode. You can blow the roof off some new venues, the stage lighting got a huge overhaul that would even impress CK5, and the crowd is more ragin’ than ever.

My favorite addition to “Career” mode has to be the encores. Each venue has a normal setlist that includes four songs, and after completing all four (or three if you’re playing easy/medium difficulty), the lead singer says “Good night” and the lights go out. You’re then given the option to play an encore for your rabid fans.

The encore is typically the best song of the setlist for any given venue; for instance, GnR’s Sweet Child O’ Mine is the encore on one level. Each encore has its own hidden surprises to add to the fun. What I love most about the encores is it adds even more to that pseudo-Rockstar feeling you get when you play Guitar Hero. When you’re on the “Do you want to play an Encore? Yes/No” screen with the fans cheering in the background, you get the feeling as if you should be backstage pounding Jack and snorting coke off a groupie’s ass before selecting “Yes” and returning to the stage…and really that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

If my sweet blog review didn’t sell you on the game, head over to your local game shop or Best Buy and play it for yourself — most major retailers should have a demo set-up. Be warned though, it’s highly addictive and may negatively impact your job and personal relationships, but such is life for a fake rock star.

Hey, even a guitar zero can be a guitar hero.

Official Guitar Hero II website: http://www.guitarherogame.com/
Official Guitar Hero II forums: http://forum.guitarherogame.com/
Guitar Hero Tournaments: http://www.beaguitarhero.com/tournaments/
Extras: YouTube GH2 videos, and click here for IGN’s in-depth review…