Not a fan of rock, not a rhythm gamer. If there's anyone who should ignore this game, it's me. I can't stop playing it.
I can't stop playing Guitar Hero.
I won't stop playing Guitar Hero.
Well worth the extra money and effort needed to tote the knee-high guitar-housing box home, Guitar Hero oozes "fun" out of every digital nook and cranny. Regardless of your feelings towards rock music, I challenge you not to grin as your fret-button presses result in the awesome reproduction of a truly rocking guitar solo. I challenge you to not appreciate getting into the zone where each note flies towards you in slow motion and your fingers command themselves. I challenge you to not feel that sense of satisfaction as you somehow figure out that weird lightning-quick sequence of notes without knowing how, that moment of knowing that there is no damned spoon, where you utter, "...ah, I see."
Sure, sure. You can find this in other rhythm games, I'd gather. But where dancing games give you the feedback of some dopey on-screen avatar aping your dance moves, Guitar Hero blesses your ears with a properly played note, a solid chord. Where controller-based rhythm games have you holding the same old controller you use for Power Geysers and Esper summons, Guitar Hero has you holding a frickin' guitar, man. With a whammy bar.
Undoubtedly, the star of the show here is said guitar peripheral necessary to play this game. I'm down with the weird-input dealie. I support the DS. I support the existence of the Taiko Drum Master drums, the Donkey Konga bongos, the Eyetoy and the upcoming controller for Nintendo's console code-named Revolution. Obviously, I fully support this here gee-tar. Instead of just pushing buttons on a pad to reproduce music, the guitar just gives you that tactile sense of actually replicating the action in the game. Just like you're not pushing a button to pet your Nintendog but actually petting it, or flicking an analog stick to simulate hitting a taiko drum but actually striking one, in Guitar Hero you're playing music with a guitar.
Who doesn't want to play music?
Guitar Hero puts that power in your hands, without the intimidation of six strings and who wants to count how many frets. It starts you off nice and slow in the Easy mode, which I promptly skipped. Medium is where those of you who qualify as fellow game-vets-but-guitar-rookies will find yourself, as you confidently try to apply your already ninja master level hand-eye coordination to the stream of notes cascading towards you. You hit some notes, miss some notes, understand the relationship between your strumming and frets, remember patterns, and enjoy the music. You fail one song, rock out on another, and discover that you're actually pretty good at sneaking some whammy bar action into shorter held notes.
Then you look at the clock, then out your window. It's about time to wake up, the sun is wiping out its eye boogers, and an angry neighbor is heading your way with a pitchfork, demanding that you pay for the sleeping pills and earplugs he's going to buy during his lunch break today.
It's that easy to get into.
Understand that the preceding statement is different from saying that this game is "easy." This game is, as they say, absolutely "pimpin'" - and we all know pimpin' ain't easy. It's definitely fair to you, hence the existence of the Easy mode. But what I meant by "easy to get into" is that once you feel that guitar in your hand, take a look at the five fret buttons and think about what a guitarist does with his or her guitar, you'll already have an inkling of how to command this game.
Let's assume you've never played Frequency or Amplitude either, which were also developed by Guitar Hero developer Harmonix. It's still intuitive right off the bat. You'll see a board divided into five sectors, with button icons at the bottom, scrolling towards you. You'll see note dots placed on the scrolling board, color coded, and you'll see them come into contact with their similarly colored button icons. You've got both the color coding and the position on the board to let you know which fret you need to press, and you know easily when you're supposed to strum. When you successfully play ten notes in a row, the points you get per note multiply once, then again for each subsequent consecutive group.
Then you realize that the blue meter in the corner is full, and that's when you "rock out" by raising your guitar at a 90 degree angle (or be boring and press select, yawn). Your screen is engulfed in blue electricity and everything you play nets you double the points. When you fail, Guitar Hero's addictiveness will keep you from giving up. The game has such an allure that you'll play it until your screen will seem to be rising towards the heavens. There's a scientific explanation for that, of course; you've been staring at a constant stream of images scrolling downwards and towards you, and now your eyes see every static thing in its sight as if it were creeping up the walls, floating upwards. (Bah, screw the science; it's simply a sign that this game is heavenly.)
Though intuitive, the game will still test your hand-eye coordination and rhythm. Those who've played finger-based instruments - strings, brass and wind, to name a few - will obviously have an early advantage here. Your fingers will have been trained to react to complex formations and rhythms. Don't think you're hot stuff right off the bat, though. You'll want to do things that work on a real instrument but either don't need to be done or shouldn't be done in Guitar Hero, especially if you're fully familiar with the song you're playing. You'll want to throw in the extra note you know you hear in the music, even though there's no note for it on the screen. You might just lose it and shift your position way down the fret board - hey, Mick, there're no fret buttons down there. There are only FIVE. If you're a cellist, you might attempt in vein to execute vibrato - and then sheepishly realize that the whammy bar is sitting right there. (Hi, I'm an idiot.) Once you get used to it all, though, you are then challenged - appropriately for the difficulty level you chose - with all manner of complex note formations possible on a five-note game interface. It's not just pushing the button and strumming - it's knowing how to shift, when you can squeeze in your whammy bar (wow, that sounded bad), and keeping good form so that your fret hand doesn't tire or snag when you try to shift.
It's like playing a guitar.
Well duh. That's what makes this game so well done. I reiterate: you're not pushing buttons and analog sticks to simulate playing music with a guitar; you ARE playing music with a guitar. And you get 30 fine pieces of rock hits, plus many, many more unlockable indie tracks, to play along to. You can play the 30 default tracks in all four difficulty levels - easy, medium, hard and expert. You've just got to unlock them first, by successfully playing four out of five songs in a group of songs. When you unlock a new set of songs, it's accessible in Quick Play - at ANY difficulty - so you can practice a song that's way down the line on Hard even before it's available in Career Mode. So, how's the music? Here is where you'll just have to see for yourself, seeing as I have no conception of rock music whatsoever. Many sources say that the music is a good, healthy and high quality mix of tunes. From the sound of it, the cover bands who play the music here do a fantastic job of recreating the actual songs and not just moaning and wailing on the mic while playing a by-the-numbers blurt of sheet music. I apologize for keeping my head outside of the genre this long - you'll have to hear the quality for yourself.
If you think you've mastered everything there is to master about this game, then it's time to play duelin' banjos with a buddy. Working in concert with your cohort, you set out to do the same thing as in single player - keep the song alive and your band on the stage. It's great to stand there with your friend as you trade off song passages between the two of you, coming together at the end for that one last jam before smashing your guitar on the floor with glee.
Wait, actually please don't do that. Use a real guitar instead. Or just be satisfied with the in-game guitar smashings and burnings. Your digital polygonal avatar will do the dirty guitar murdering for you after a successful song. With that necessary catharsis aside, the graphics are sufficient. It's enjoyable to see yourself as a big, mullet wearing caricature of a rocker. Or a punk chick with the short, dyed hair. Or a dude with dyed-green, thich dreadlocks. The characters are all exaggerated and easy on the eyes, and there are several different backdrops for you to play in. Different camera angles show you an excited crowd, which will start to boo when you start to suck, and may eventually boo you off stage (check the "Rock!" meter in the corner and for heaven's sake, PLEASE stay out of the red!). If you rock out, they'll start going wild, as will your character - twirling his or her digital guitar around the waist, neck, either arm, and on the ground. Again, it's fun to watch, but there's nothing overly spectacular about the graphics. They do their job sufficiently; the notes and fretboard are very clean and intuitive to stare at, and that's all I ask.
Guitar Hero is just a joyous Playstation 2 experience. It's one of the best and most refreshing games I've played on this console. Hats off to developer Harmonix and publisher Red Octane for dragging me, who by all rights - given my background - should have nothing to do with any aspect of this rock-music rhythm game, into Guitar Hero's nest. Everyone should give it a shot. I guarantee that by the time you're ready to call it a day, everything will be creeping up the walls.
You knew the pun was coming, but there is no better description for this game.
Guitar Hero rocks.
[This review was originally written for and published on Trigames.NET by MrCHUPON.]