Excellent
This Guitar Hero was definitely a nice surprise for me. Expecting a new, family-friendly easy rockbandesque approach for this game, the difficulty in songs like Hot For Teacher and Satch Boogie just blew my mind. This game is surely an excellent experience for both single and multiplayer, casual and hardcore gamers alike.
First, let me just start off with Activision's "caring" for Europe unlike what we have seen with RB... at least in Portugal, Rock Band 1 is still not for sale, let alone Rock Band II. The enourmous campaign done in the country's most imporant stores concerning this game is great and had a heavy influence on this rating.
The game is just pure brilliance for Guitar Hero fans. The classic arcadey career is present once again, with slight changes. The set list is brilliant and challenging for the most part. The new character creator including the instrument creator is very nice for people like me, and the music studio is a good addition to the game, although some lag issues have to be fixed. Its instruments are so much better than Rock Band's, for the guitar is playable and the drums are minimally realistic. The game has some minor issues, like the aformentioned lag in the music studio, but its fun factor compensates for it.
If you are a hardcore guitar hero fan that wants to be presented with a real challenge, unlike Rock Band, go and buy this game. The drums are also challenging, and therefore much more entertaining than Rock Band's simplified drum set. If you live in Europe, this is already a no-brainer due to the scarce Rock Band copies, but even if you're not from Europe, I suggest you give this game a try.