If you've been shunning the rhythm genre since the birth of DDR, prepare to give in. Guitar Hero makes life worth living
There’s no need to go out and buy more expensive dance pads to enjoy Guitar Hero. The game comes with a controller shaped like a guitar for a grand total of only $80. The controller has 5 different colored buttons on the neck of the guitar (a bit childish looking because of the color choices), a “whammy” bar (the small rod of metal that gives each note a distorted, wavy sound), and a switch-like flap that represents the strumming of each string, or button in this case. Although the controller is small (mainly to accommodate any age), it’s mostly comfortable to hold and only after strenuous use will you ever feel any wrist pain. Whenever anyone sees the guitar, the reaction I’ve most frequently seen is nothing but giddy laughter and excitement. It is this very reaction that draws the attention of just about anyone, gamer or not.
Not to mention the surprisingly long list of songs that Guitar Hero boasts. The tunes range from “Ironman” by Ozzy Osbourne to “Fat Lip” by Sum 41. While one might be turned off by the fact that the main roster of songs is recorded by cover bands, you’d be surprised at how well they pull it off. Aside from the popular rock hits in the main set of songs, there are over a dozen unlockable bonus tracks performed by independent bands, most of which are quite entertaining to play. The sheer amount of quality contained within Guitar Hero’s music is reason enough to forget about the familiar reappearances of songs that haunt recent rhythm games.
The gameplay itself is also very familiar and contains nothing foreign to the genre (aside from the small fact that you’re using a guitar). As one might expect, the colors of the buttons on the guitar replace the arrows on a dance pad. As each falls from the top of the screen, you have to hit the strum flap while holding the right colored button to execute the note. If done correctly, the guitar playing along with the song will be heard. If not, you will hear the discomforting sound of Stephen Hawking playing guitar (a truly indescribable sound). It becomes more difficult as the game adds two buttons at the same time, or the fifth button that requires you to stretch your pinky to hit. Some notes can be held down for longer periods, much like a long arrow in DDR, which allows you to use the “whammy” bar to make the note sound wavy and, to put it plainly, awesome. It may sound simple in text, but when put together in the heat of a song and the rapid falling of the notes, it can become quite complex and intense.
Hence the need for “Star Power”; the juice that runs in every vein of a true guitar hero. Don’t worry if you were born without this magical juice, the game is willing to offer some to those worthy. Some of the notes that will fall will be shaped in the form of a star. If you can execute all of the star notes, you will gain star power. If the gods are with you and your riff execution is at full power, you can turn your guitar vertically and enter the LSD enhanced world of star mode. All of the notes become one color to not only confuse you, but also further enrich your deep state of uncontrollable rock spirit. It’s almost as joyful and passionately energizing as watching Tom Cruise electrocute Oprah with common household lightning (it’s amazing what Al Gore’s Internet gives us now). This power can help you survive grueling solos by using the age-old technique of “button mashing” your way through them. Although it may seem like a cheap trick (no, not the band), the star power adds an extra load of strategy and excitement to the repetitive gameplay that most gamers are used to in the rhythm genre.
Unfortunately, becoming a guitar hero is not an overnight process. With the help of Guitar Hero’s career mode, the game guides you and your band of stereotypical rockers from playing easy tunes like “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” at a basement gig to rocking out to Pantera’s “Cowboys from Hell” on a grand arena stage decked with flaming dragons. As you progress, you can unlock an assortment of bonus features such as different guitar skins or the previously mentioned bonus tracks performed by indy bands. As you finish each difficulty, the game assumes that you would absolutely love to unlock items such as developer diary videos all over again on the next difficulty. Guitar Hero certainly redefines the “low budget games that reuse bonus features” genre. Although the unlockables portion of Guitar Hero will only last one time around, the higher difficulties are challenging enough for you to not even care in the first place.
At first glance, the guitar controller looks far more painless to use than the ancient Power Glove, but when it comes to adding the fifth button, there is no greater challenge in the rhythm genre. Forcing gamers to use their pinky fingers is ridiculous enough, but making players rapidly shift their hands up and down the neck can sometimes seem impossible. The point here is that Guitar Hero can be very tough on the higher difficulties. This could have been its greatest strength for those looking for a rhythm game with high replay value and an intense learning curve. Unfortunately, however, Guitar Hero lacks one simple feature that many rhythm games have already incorporated: the practice mode.
With the addition of the practice mode, the frustration that will turn many gamers away (hardcore or casual) could be eliminated. Most songs require a good 2 to 3 minutes of play before any difficult solo will arrive. When the solo does arrive, the speed of the notes is far too rapid to comprehend, therefore rendering your precious 3 minutes wasted. The expert mode requires the complex mind of an Asian teenager who spends hours at arcades playing DDR. While it may only be one feature (and a rather simple one at that), the addition of a practice mode could quite possibly make Guitar Hero one of the most polished and entertaining rhythm games in both America and Japan.
The diversity of players playing Guitar Hero is almost shocking. If you thought that the most popular of football jocks had no interest in video games, think again. If you thought that the most hardcore of gamers could ever have any rock and roll talent within their bodies, think again. Guitar Hero is the ultimate bridge in gaming and seeing such a diverse crowd coming together to play it is reason enough to give Red Octane a standing ovation. Rock on gamers.