At first glance, the wireless controller is styled in the familiar shape of a Gibson, with a glossy white finish and a black inlay housing the strum bar. The fret buttons are identical to those on the SG controller, including the center yellow fret's raised surface, something that's lacking in the third-party guitars we've seen from other manufacturers. After playing through a slew of songs, we found there to be no problems at all with the guitar out to a considerable range, and activating star power can be done with even a slight upwards tilt of the guitar. We did find, however, that if you forget to turn off your wireless guitar with the little switch on the back, you'll quickly drain the three AAA batteries that power the controller. You'll need to keep an eye on the blinking red light between play sessions to keep things running, as partially drained batteries result in a delayed signal to the game and botched gameplay.
The wireless guitar will be retailing for $59.99 when it hits stores this November, and will be sold as a stand-alone product. The package will include the guitar, a strap, the wireless receiver and a sticker sheet. Guitar Hero II will sell in a software-only case for $49.99, and as a bundle with a Classic Red SG Guitar for $79.99. That way, new players can choose to pick up the software and two wireless guitars, or the bundle with one wireless, or any combination they can come up with. Players who already own two guitars can just pick up the software, or they can grab a matching pair of new wireless guitars to try the cord-free gameplay.
We tested the controller out with our final preview version of the game, which features all the songs that are in the final version, as well as the unlockable tracks. Some of the most fun we've had with Guitar Hero II so far has been with the unlockables, but we'll get to that soon enough. Day 1 of our experience had me knocking out every song in the single player mode on Medium. I leave the expert play to Sluggo, since my fingers just aren't up to speed after a few months away from the first game. Some pleasant surprises included Danzig's Mother, and Jane's Addiction's Stop. Megadeth's absolutely epic guitar shredder Hangar 18 is a blast to play, with no less than eleven guitar solos. Yes, eleven. But around our offices, the biggest crowd-pleasers were two of the unlockable songs, specifically Thunderhorse by the stars of Adult Swim's Metalocalypse, DETHKLOK, and Trogdor, as made famous by Homestar Runner's Strong Bad. Strong Bad provides his own vocals for the song, and the only thing missing from making the experience complete would be a dragon on-stage with one beefy arm and some consummate V's. We can't put into words what Thunderhorse is like, outside of this one word: METAL.
