Guitar Hero II - Six-string Showdown

The Freedom V Wireless
$49.99 at www.theguitarmania.com

If the Shredder is the bargain basement guitar, the Freedom V is what you get when money is no object. Obviously, it's shaped like Gibson's immortal Flying V guitar (great for lefties), and it comes in two beautiful finishes: red or blue. We prefer the red,which has a slightly grainy, almost metal flake look not entirely unlike metallic nail polish - only here it's not girly or emo.

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The Freedom V is also wireless - 2.4 Ghz for those who care - thanks to four AA batteries screwed into its back (driver included) which give the guitar a heavier feel than the standard SG. Performance was rock solid, though early models had one of the strangest glitches we've heard of: on some early units, the foam pad on the back of the battery door somehow interferes with the wireless signal. If you're having trouble, scrape that foam off and you'll probably be good to go.

There's an on/off switch hiding near the back strap nub, which you're almost guaranteed to leave set to on, burning through your batteries, and a blue LED under the flipper that supposedly tells you when you're connected although it's much easier to look at the receiver plugged into the PS2. But whatever - we really don't need a reason for cool blue lights.

The Freedom G's buttons stick up a tiny bit higher than on the SG, which some of us liked and some didn't, and they had a bit more wiggle than we'd like, though this time it was mostly vertical. What we mean by this is, if you press the button down on a standard SG, the entire button goes down no matter where you press it. On the Freedom G, if you press near the lower edge, the button tilts, so the bottom goes in by the top doesn't much, and if you pressed near the top, the top edge would tilt in more than the bottom edge. Don't get us wrong - the buttons still function perfectly well. It's just that some players thought they felt "squishier" than on the standard SG.

The flipper feels slightly heavier, but not sluggish or more stiff, and the whammy bar has been moved just a tad further away - which is good if you find the SG's bar often in the way, and potentially a negative if you think the SG is just right.

Another plus/minus is that Start and Select are moved up above the flipper - which seemed perfect until one of us managed to hit Start with the meat of his hand while playing, even though the button is recessed. Apparently, it's still not quite bump-proof. We also had a problem with the strap on one of the two Freedom V's we tried - it kept slipping off the oddly-angled upper strap button at the guitar's neck.

The final note on the Freedom V is that the motion trigger/tilt sensor is much touchier than on the standard SG - you can set off your star power much more easily. Maybe even too easily, as more animated players might find themselves activating their star power inadvertently.

The Freedom V is far and away the best looking guitar we tested. If you want performance and looks, this is the one for you.