Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Ron Burke

Guitar Hero came out in November of last year.  Why, you might ask, am I bothering to review a game that is almost 8 months old?  Because Guitar Hero is quite possibly one of the best music simulators I’ve played, ever. 

This isn’t the first smash-hit music title we’ve gotten from music-oriented developer, Harmonix.  They have also released the excellent, and slightly similar, Frequency and Amplitude.  This outing, bundled with a fantastic guitar controller, looks to take the formula from Amplitude, kick it up a notch, and use it to simulate some of the loudest Metal and Rock songs ever made.  With tunes like Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, White Zombie’s Thunderkiss 65, and Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell, how could you possibly go wrong with this title? 

Similar to a Dance Dance Revolution game, you really don’t spend a great deal of time looking at your on-screen character, the background they are in, or anything else but the directions on the screen.  Simply put, you won’t have time on any difficulty level other than Easy to see what is going on.  That said, Guitar Hero doesn’t skimp on the graphic department, animating the cartoonish main character, as well as your fictitious band, in a simple but semi-realistic fashion.  They’ll finger the frets in a realistic fashion, jam the whammy bar, and go absolutely haywire on the screen when you initiate your Star Power.  It is quite obvious that a great deal of effort was put into making the band play their instrument along with the song.  As a percussionist, I was pretty pleased with how well the drummer kept the rhythm.  A friend who helped me with this review remarked at how well the guitarist was able to hit the runs as well.  Given that this area could have easily been overlooked, I have to give credit to Harmonix for putting in the extra time.  Rock on!

There are several venues that you’ll play in the game, ranging from the apropos basement to a massive concert hall.  Each of them is different, some with more props than others, but all of them are fairly basic.  There are cars, barrels of toxic waste, a giant fan, lights, flames, and a wall of speakers in the background, just to name a few.  Once you get to the Medium difficulty or higher though, the notes will be moving by so fast that you’ll have other things to concentrate on than what is going on with the stage area.  

In any music simulator, the sound and music is the heart of the game. Nowhere is that more true than in Guitar Hero. Wavegroup Sound produced the music and vocal recordings for the game, and unlike many other music simulators, these are excellent songs. There are over 45 music tracks, the vast majority being classic axe-grinding metal. These include Cowboys from Hell, Fat Lip, Bark at the Moon, Higher Ground, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming, and the like. Some of the tracks are performed by the original artists, and some are redone by some very talented bands. Granted, it is my personal experience, but I enjoyed roughly 35 out of 45 songs, and that is impressive in a game like this.

While you could technically play Guitar Hero on a standard PS2 controller, it would be a colossal waste of time in comparison to rocking out with the included axe.  You might get through the tracks on easy using the standard controller, but you’ll never be able to go further than that.  To do a brain-check on the latter parts of the game, I had a guy who plays guitar play on Expert.  He states that, while it is indeed different than playing a real guitar, it does bring a close approximation to the table.  His score was a 93/100 and I’m inclined to agree with the expert.

One thing that came to light during play is the lefty option.  While you can flip the guitar over and change a setting to make the game left handed, you cannot flip the guitar strap to make it left handed as well.  It is a minor thing, but something of note if you are a lefty and plan on using the strap.

The setup for Guitar Hero is simple – using the five frets on the guitar, the whammy bar, a built in tilt sensor, and a strumming area, you will rock out to some of the best modern and classic rock guitar tracks of the last few decades.  There are four immediately available difficulty levels that help you work your way up into some finger-flying, whammy bar-wailing fun.   Literally anyone can pick up the game and start playing.  Proving this fact was easy enough – I had a party yesterday and all of guests, ages 6 to 64 took turns on the game, and everyone was able to clear a few of the easiest songs.  Since the easy difficulty only uses the first 3 frets, you can work your way through the first stage of difficulty with a little rhythm and a small bit of practice.  Medium difficulty ramps things up by moving a little faster and adding the fourth fret.  All of the songs get more difficult as you move down the list, regardless of difficulty level, but they never go outside the realm of being reasonable. 

Adding a bit of challenge reward to the game, on Medium you get money for your gigs.  Several thousand dollars will land in your pocket after a successful gig…minus roadie fee, manager fee, and various other fees.  After paying the bills you’ll be lucky to still hold a few hundred dollars in your hand.  The star rating of your performance determines how much of your money you get to keep.  With the money you can unlock new guitars, new songs, and even new characters.  Of special interest, you can also unlock some making-of videos that are well worth watching.

The Hard difficulty ramps the challenge by adding the fifth and final fret.  You’ll have to learn to slide up and down the guitar neck, repositioning your hand to hit the orange key, to get through these tracks.  If you manage to fight your way through the Hard difficulty, you’ll face the extreme challenge of the Expert setting.  While you will probably still suck at playing an actual guitar, you’ll certainly have a good grip on the rhythm portion of the real thing.

For the practical end of play, the screen is laid out in five paths.  Each path is color coded to the fret you’ll use to play the notes.  In a similar vein as almost every Harmonix title, you hit the notes as they hit the target zone.  You do this by holding the appropriate fret key (or multiple for power chords) and strumming the guitar at the right time.  For chords, you have to hold the fret key longer, as you would on the real thing. 

Overall, the game is more rhythm than it is real guitar. Given how popular it has been around the house, especially during parties, you can be certain that it is also more fun than any simulator you’ve played to date.  Once Harmonix decides to bring this to a system that allows you to download new songs, it’ll be perfect.  Well...that, and we need more Rush songs.  We'll get YYZ in Guitar Hero II at least.

There are a total of 47 songs in the game.  You can even play it multiplayer if you shell out the cash for a second guitar.  Normally, games with custom controllers would get the wary eye from me rather than a recommendation, but this is the type of game that you can’t help but enjoy.  There are a few things that need addressing, however.

The difficulty of the game ramps quickly as you move up the ranks.  I am a percussionist, so the rhythm parts were easy enough.  Getting the muscle memory necessary to play through the hard difficulties took practice, but that meant playing some of the songs quite a few times to get it right.  While it isn’t often the chorus of the song that does you in, the face-melting guitar solos are what will get you thrown off the stage.   It would be nice if we could have a practice mode where we could set up an A to B repeat to practice that guitar solo in Bark at the Moon, as an example.   Instead, you have to play the songs in their entirety over and over.  Some of these songs are quite lengthy and that might make you get tired of them a little faster than you normally would. 

I would like to point out that Guitar Hero II is headed our way in November with over 50 new songs on the roster.  If you pick up the game now, you’ll just start getting good in time to pick up the sequel.

This game is cranked to a volume of 11. That is louder than 10 for those keeping score. Go to almost any Best Buy, see if the guitar fits your hand. If it does, make haste and pick this title up. Look for the sequel in November and buy it immediately. It is that good.

Gaming Trend Score

92

1. Graphics: 85
2. Audio: 95
3. Controls: 93
4. Gameplay: 95
5. Value/Replay: 89
6. OVERALL:92