This game rocks!!!......................Litterally!!!
When I first got into the game I wasn't great, but had a fun time and slowly got better at it.......I was hooked! and several months since then and I have to say I was surprised by this game!
Lets go over each portion of the attribute scores in a little more detail, shall we?!
Attribute: Gameplay
Score: 9/10
Well I scored this game a 9 in gameplay because it is well done, but there could be some minor improvements.
The premise of the game is exactly as it sounds: you are trying to become a guitar hero. The career mode is where you will unlock all of the songs, extra characters, etc. It sees you starting out playing easy songs with a venue of somebody's basement and progresses you through continually tougher songs with continually grander venues.
The mechanics of the game are well done, expecially for a first time release like this. There are mechanics in place that mimic real guitar playing, such as chords, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. Chords involve you holding two buttons simultaneously while strumming. Hammer-ons are when you play the first note in a sequence and only press the fret buttons for subsequent higher notes. This will eliminate some of the strumming you will have to do and can really save your hand in a long session. Another mechanic included is pull-offs, which work like hammer-ons, only in reverse. These two gameplay mechanics combine well to give the game a lot of depth, and ease of playability. However, the cliche "Simple to learn, difficult to master." is very much true in this game. The only beef I have with hammer-ons and pull-offs is that the timing seems to be a little tight on them for my taste, and being that I consider myself an average player, most people will probably find it the same.
The song list is large and varied, from classic rock like Jimi Hendrix, Queen, and Boston, to more modern punk-rock from Sum 41, and everything in between. If you like rock, especially guitar-heavy rock, chances are you'll find a song you like in the game.
Multiplayer in this game comes in a head to head battle where two players play alternating parts of a song. Sometimes it will seem, however, like you are getting the more difficult parts of the song, but for the most part, it balances the songs as much as possible between you and your opponent. Bragging rights go to whoever scores more points during the song.
Attribute: Graphics
Score: 8/10
The graphics in this game are nothing spectacular, but not horrible either. Them seem just a little less than what you might expect from a PS2 game, but then again, graphics are not the focus of this game at all!
Were the physical graphics are average, the game makes up for it with a great graphical style. The sets that the songs are played on range from somebody's basement all the way to a crowded arena, depending on the difficulty of the song. The characters are equally varied depending on what genre of song you are playing, ranging from a goth-rocker, to a 60's hippy style, and even the grim reaper!! Over the course of the career mode you can unlock different guitars and different paint jobs for those guitars as well.
Attribute: Sound
Score: 9/10
The sound in Guitar Hero is well done, but as with gameplay, it is not perfect.
The sound is Guitar Hero's bread and butter. With clean, clear sounding music and effects. The emphasis in most songs is placed on the guitar lines, as it should be for a game like this, and as such, the guitar is most of what you will hear.
For starters, some people may be disappointed to learn that all of the songs in the game are covers, and as can be the case with covers, not all the songs are accurate, especially in the vocal department. Some songs have great sound-alikes and you may not be able to tell the difference, however some of the song's vocals are atrocious in parody, and may have fans of those songs cringing.
Attribute: Value
Score: 10/10
Over everything else, this game's value is what makes it so worthwhile.
I cannot say enough about the game's replayability. Once you start playing, you will want to continue playing until you become as good as you are going to be, and even then you will want to keep playing, just to beat your scores. When are tired of trying to improve yourself, you can invite a friend over with another guitar controller and see if you're better than them. If it turns out they are better than you, you'll want to get back to practicing so you can beat them...................are you seeing where I'm going with this yet? It can be a viciously addictive game indeed! As far as I'm concerned, any game that can keep me hooked past beating the main single player mode the first time is a great game for sure
Well that about covers it, I think. Not much else to say, so what are you waiting for?!!?! Get shredding! =+)