Guitar Hero comes to the DS but is this installment left crying on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Now before I get into the negatives let me say that I enjoyed Guitar Hero, I thought that the guitar grip was a clever way of incorporating the Guitar Hero feel into the game, that the track selection although certainly more mainstream was more than acceptable and that the multiplayer mode was well thought out and a great improvement over the guitar duels of Guitar Hero 3.
That been said there are a lot of problems with Guitar Hero on Tour the main one been that the guitar grip itself is really uncomfortable to hold over prolonged gaming sessions and eventually your hand will start to cramp up into some sort of freakish claw. The best solution therefore would be to rest your hand on something soft to ease the pain but that only causes a pain in your neck as you stretch to see the top screen making you resemble the Hunchback of Notre Dam. You will however eventually find a position that suits you mine was laying down on my back, propping my head against something soft and resting my hand on my stomach. Unfortunately if I was to do this on the bus or a public place people would look at me funny and then my self confidence would take a beating so it's a lose-lose situation really.
Now onto the music, since you are reading this review I assume you know the track list and some of you more die hard Guitar Hero fans probably saw 'All Star' and 'This Love' and ran off crying "Activison doesn't love me anymore" whilst clutching your Iron Maiden T-Shirt muttering as you went. Well as with most Guitar Hero songs it doesn't matter what the song is as they always are still fun to play and you more hardened rockers will be glad to here that Ozzy Osbourne, Nirvana and others have been included so there is a good mix.
Another one of the worries from fans was that the loss of the orange button would make it too easy and while I'll admit the difficulty has been toned down a little bit but unless your one of those freaks who can complete 'Through the Fire and the Flames' on expert than a challenge will still be posed here. One of the things that made the game difficult for all the wrong reasons was that the touch screen sometimes doesn't pick up your strokes (and they HAVE to be strokes as apparently tapping the screen was beneath the developers) and when this occurs in a tricky solo it can have you screaming with frustration, which then activates star power which just adds to your misery.
The multiplayer mode consists of guitar battles and considering how bad these were in Guitar Hero 3 I approached them with some apprehension. Thankfully they have been greatly improved to the point were it's actually fun to play. The main reason for this is because you don't have to fail your opponent anymore you just have to outscore them. The power-ups make use of the DS' features for example blowing out the fires on your guitar, signing an autograph on a fish and attaching a broken string again. They are all clever power-ups and make the battles more intense. My biggest gripe with them is that they are activated by tapping a marker which causes you to lose your combo and sometimes your rhythm. I don't know why I couldn't just scream into the microphone like you do activate star power, just imagine it you could shout 'Take That!' to use your item, but then your opponent could counter with 'Hold It!' to fire his but then you could retaliate with 'Objection!' Ah maybe next time eh?
Additional points of note should be that the plectrum stylus is awesome and a great idea, the game comes with some nifty stickers so if your under 7 or have the mental age of one you might enjoy that and there is one unlockable song although I won't spoil that for you but it rhymes with 'I am not your Gameboy' by Freezepop.
So that's Guitar Hero on Tour a game that despite many flaws I actually enjoyed so if you are a fan of the series, don't mind only having 26 songs to play and have a high tolerance for pain I would advise picking it up.