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Guitar Hero: On Tour

Published By: Mayur Gandhi On: 11/07/2008 14:41
Rating: PG Difficulty: Easy Learning Curve: 5 Min

THE SCOREBOARD

8.5
Excellent

Gameplay	8.5	"On Tour is an ambitious success."
Graphics	8.0
Sound	8.0
Value	8.0

By Mayur Gandhi

My experience with Guitar Hero has been rather minimal. I did try to encourage myself to give it a go once but found I’d rather spend that money on a real video game. You know, one with characters and story, and all that? Even so, at one of our wild NZGamer Christmas parties I gave it a shot. I got owned. Majorly. Epically, even. But with my bruised ego and lowered self-esteem I also came away realising what the fuss is all about. Guitar Hero is 110% fun; it is a real video game.

Then I saw the Guitar Hero attachment for the Nintendo DS version and thought, “Good on you for creating a third-party peripheral” and then “what the hell?”. Truth is that it works, so park your reservations at the door. Just like the console versions you press the correct buttons in sequence and in time while you strum, only here there’s no guitar and strumming is done with the pick-stylus. You may need to fiddle around with adjusting the strap to get the right feel but there’s no denying that the setup works. A warning, though: you will get RSI if you keep at it for too long. If you find that justification for breaks too hard to swallow then just pretend you’re a pretentious rocker storming off the stage because you hate your jerk drummer (remember, you’re mad at his stupid face… or something). Then come back after fifteen minutes because you love your fans too damn much.

On Tour plays just as the console versions do but adds a few new features exclusive to the DS, thanks to the machine's unique functionality. You’ll be able to break strings and re-tie them, set your opponent's guitars on fire and sign autographs while rocking. On Tour really plays upon the rock star stereotype and is a winner because of it. Perhaps in the sequel we’ll be able to do what Ziggy did to Mick Ronson’s guitar? OK, maybe not.

The track list is fairly weak mind you; even though I obviously didn’t pay for On Tour, I still feel kind of bad knowing that I own something with Blink 182, No Doubt and Smash Mouth on it. Catering for the core DS audience is understandable, but it would’ve been nice to see a stronger consideration for the Guitar Hero fans. That said, you do get 25 tracks, and there are some gems in there so the complaint is merely a quibble. I hate Smash Mouth, you see, especially the drummer (what a dumb face he has!).

On Tour isn’t a game you’ll be playing on the train, oh no - people will think you’re mad! But playing at home, or against a friend? You’re in for good times. Guitar Hero on the DS is an ambitious idea which could’ve easily failed but here we are with those ambitions fulfilled. Rock on, Vicarious Visions; let’s hear an encore soon.

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COMMENTS (4)

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Posted by Wozza on 11 July 2008, 07:56PM

Sounds interesting, was keen to see if this version worked. I just didn't want to shell out for it myself to see. Would be pretty rocking with a good set of headphones I guess.