Review by Alfredo

Developer: Harmonix
Publisher: RedOctane

Gameplay:
This game is a rhythm game, much like Dance Dance Revolution and Donkey Konga, but this time the instrument is a guitar. It even comes with a neat guitar controller.

You play the game by holding down the colored fret buttons while tapping the strum bar. Colored "notes" appear on-screen, and when a note comes up, you hold down the fret button of the matching color and hit the strum bar to play the note. The controller also features a whammy bar, which you can push into the controller to distort your long notes and extract star power from special notes.

You have to play well (like hit a certain amount of notes with a certain success rate) to finish a song. It's very difficult to play a song perfectly, so a gameplay mechanic known as "star power" is introduced. If you nail certain parts of a song (indicated by star-shaped notes), you're star power meter fills up. After you fill up a certain amount, you can raise the neck of the guitar (or alternatively hit the select button) to activate your star power. When star power is activated, your score multiplier is doubled, so that you get double points for every note you hit. This is not only useful to get more points, but if you get stuck on a really hard solo, you can activate the star power and miss more notes, as you get more points for the notes that you do successfully play.

The game features 3 game modes: Career Mode, Quick Play, and Multiplayer.

Career Mode is where you'll probably start out, as this is the mode in which you unlock songs and other material. Career Mode allows you to pick a difficulty level, and you start out with a few songs to play on the first level (a basement). Once you pass enough songs in a certain section (usually containing 4-5 songs that you have to complete to move on), you move on to the next level and get a new set of songs to play. On every difficulty but easy, you are awarded money based on how well you play the song (which is rated out of 5 stars). The more stars you get, the more money you receive. You can spend this money in the unlock shop to unlock new songs, characters, guitars, and other bonus material. You're really just gonna want to use your money on the songs and bonus material first, as the different guitars and characters do not affect your performance. However, if you unlock something on one difficulty mode, you have to unlock it again if you want access to it on another difficulty.

Quick Play is where you'll be after you unlock your desired songs. In this mode, you select any song that you've unlocked, select a difficulty level, and play to get a high score.

I have not been able to try out the multiplayer mode, as I do not know anyone else with another Guitar Hero controller. However, it's worth mentioning that the game is playable with a Dual Shock controller, but I haven't tested it out to see how well that actually works.

The game also features a tutorial mode to teach you some basic and advance techniques...but it sucks. By "teaching you" I mean "telling you how to do something, but not actually letting you practice it." It gives you a chance to try a technique, but these chances are timed, and if you can't do it within that time limit, the lesson moves on, and you won't have learned anything!

Packaging: 8/10
This game comes with a guitar controller, so the packaging is certainly unique. It comes with this huge box. You're guaranteed to get some looks from people as you walk out of the store after purchasing this game.

The case that actually contains the game disc is okay. It features a render of a character from the game on the cover. However, I was hoping for more. The manual contains some stylized character sketches, and the in-game menus have this "school notebook sketch" and "rock concert flyer" feel to them. It's a shame the boxart doesn't reflect this same style. It's alright, though. It's not hideous by any means.

Graphics: 8/10
As this is a rhythm game, the only graphics that really matter are the notes that you have to time and play. The notes are displayed pretty uniquely. The notes appear on a guitar fretboard. Each character has a unique design on the fretboard, too.

When notes are played correctly, a satisfying burst of fire comes from the notes, and when special notes are nailed, there's a neat little lighting bolt that strikes the board. While these aren't super-impressive graphical effects, it makes the experience more satisfying when you're given these indications.

Outside the fretboard interface are the characters that represent the player, bandmates, and the audience. The character models are cartoony, with exaggerated body shapes and such. They fit the style of the game pretty well, but it doesn't really matter to the player, as you'll spend most of your time staring at the notes than the distractions in the background. The backgrounds themselves are also pretty lively, with furnaces burning or cardboard vikings and dragons moving around. The audience jumps around, too, and occasionally throws objects within the crowd.

Your character seems to react to how you play, but I haven't really payed attention to it, as, again, I'm usually staring at the notes on the fretboard. Something neat to take notice to is that the vocalist character actually acts as if he/she is singing the lyrics.

Sound: 9/10
The game features a great soundtrack, complete with plenty of popular real songs and a few original songs made especially for the game.

Something else that's special about the game is that if you miss a note, the game doesn't actually play that note. This kinda gives you an illusion that makes you feel like you're really playing the song! Very cool.

Fun Factor: 9/10
Like most rhythm games, the game is addictive! Even if you're not a big fan of the music, you can still have fun by pretending to play the songs. The game has actually gotten me into the kinda music featured in it.

The game slowly eases you into playing, so it's not that hard for new players. On Easy mode, you only use three fret buttons. On Medium, you use a fourth button, and on Hard and Expert, a fifth notes comes into play, forcing you to move your hand around.

Also, on the higher difficulties, you're basically playing all the notes in the song. Getting good at these songs require practices, and it's not exactly easy to practice in this game. You're not allowed to practice certain parts of a song. You either play the song the whole way through, or you fail or reset the song after you finish the part you want to practice, if you even get that far. Learning the more advanced techniques is also difficult because of the crappy tutorial mode.

The game can also can kind of tiring, as you're moving your fingers. You're also giving your pinky a work-out, as that's not real a finger you use normally when it comes to playing games. The game suggests you rest every once in a while, and I recommend that as well.

Despite the difficulty, you'll probably find yourself determined to get better, as the game is loads of fun, even on the harder difficulties (and in some cases, it's more fun!).

Determination to get good at the game also increases replay value. It's gonna take you a while to 5-star all those songs on Expert! :D

The Bottom Line:
I wasn't really a fan of rhythm games. The unique guitar controller was intriguing to me, so I gave it a try. Since the game comes with the controller, the game costs around 70 dollars, but, in my opinion, it's worth every penny of that. The game is a lot fun, and it's great way to show off at parties. If you want fun, a rhythm game, and don't mind the higher price tag, then this game is a winner.


Overall:
- Packaging: 8/10
- Graphics: 8/10
- Sound: 9/10
- Fun Factor: 9/10
- Overall (not an average): 9/10

Pros:
- Unique controller
- Very fun
- Good soundtrack

Cons:
- Difficult to master
- Crappy tutorial mode
- Tiring
- High, but justified pricetag

- by Alfredo

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