Game Review: Guitar Hero

Platform: Playstation 2
Publisher: RedOctane and Harmonix

We've all dreamed of being rock gods at one time or another. Maybe it was when you were 10 years old and saw that guy from Guns 'n Roses with the goofy top hat, tons of hair and no visible face playing that killer solo in November Rain. Maybe it was watching Jimi Hendrix make sounds with his guitar that defy belief and then set it on fire. Heck, maybe it was when you saw Spinal Tap playing as the 18-inch tall Stonehenge monument dropped. These are the sort of things that inspired Guitar Hero. Well, maybe not that last one. To get an idea of the tone and personality of Guitar Hero, think of Jack Black's character in the film School of Rock.

We raise our goblet to the gods of rock.

The other place the game draws its inspiration from is Dance Dance Revolution. It sounds scary I know, but hear me out. Both games are games about rhythm and timing. Both games require the player to perform actions by following onscreen prompts. DDR has you stepping on a dance pad, Guitar Hero has you pressing buttons on a guitar. The game came highly reccomended by a friend as well as by countless reviewers and gaming publications, so I thought I'd try it. Admittedly I was a bit apprehensive when I took it out of the box. The small plastic guitar with the colorful buttons on it looks like a Fischer Price child's toy. There are 5 buttons on the neck of the guitar, each representing a different fret on the guitar (mercifully they put 5 instead of 6) as well as a strum bar to push in place of strumming the strings and a whammy bar.

Gameplay is fairly simple; select a song and follow the onscreen prompts to play the guitar in that song. As the icons come rushing towards the bottom of the screen, you must hit the strum bar and press the fret button that corresponds with the prompt and if you screw up you'll hear it in the song. Sometimes you have to hold the fret or or press multiple fret buttons at once, but that's the basic gist of it. I went through a short tutorial then I was off. After selecting a song (Thunder Kiss '65 by White Zombie), the game loaded up a small basement environment complete with rock band and audience. Initially I was a bit clumsy and the crowd began to boo me, but as I began getting into it and the jeers turned into cheers, any apprehension about playing with the silly little plastic toy guitar went squarely out the window.

You rock, Fort Gratiot! Thank you and goodnight!

The game is good damn fun, and the challenge ramps up at a pretty appropriate pace. On the easy setting, you're only asked to use the first 3 frets and that number increases on higher difficulty settings. Those settings also require the use of chords and techniques like hammer-ons and pull-offs. Finishing a tough song (Jimi Hendrix and Cream have some tough songs) or pulling off a difficult string of notes is especially rewarding. Good performances earn you cash which can be used to unlock new songs, instruments and avatars. All I can say is this game kicks ass. Good music and good fun, Guitar Hero revels in its cheesy, bad-boy rocker image. For those about to rock, we salute you.

Guitar Hero earns 4 wombats out of 4