ROCK ON!!!!!!!!!!
Developed by Harmonix, the folks behind Amplitude and Konami's own Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero has but one premise-- rock. You strap the custom-designed guitar controller on, plug it in to the console, and thus begin your journey to heavy metal superstardom. The controller features five color-coded keys on the neck and a bi-directional strum bar on the body. These ape the handling of an actual guitar, with fret buttons closer to the body acting as higher notes than ones further out. The game sends cascades of notes down a stylized guitar neck on-screen. As each note crosses a line at the bottom of the screen, players must both hit the corresponding note button and 'strum' the guitar, thus producing the notes (or rather keysound fragment-- on lower levels, a single note could represent an entire tremolo section). As with most music games, missing a note causes the music to sound bad and missing too many causes the session to end. Also, completing a set amount of notes allows you to execute a Star Power, which doubles your point multiplier and gives your life meter a temporary boost.
The premise is very basic, if by now a little cliched. However, what makes the game such a joy to play isn't the fact that you're making music-- it's that, as opposed to an abstracted game such as Pop'n Music or Frequency, you actually feel like you are playing an instrument. This is, of course, disregarding the fact that the plastic guitar controller works in no way to an actual six-string. Like Harmonix's past attempts, this is a perfect 'non-gamer' game. People will have no trouble at all picking up the controller and rocking out heavily and steadily.
The game gives you plenty of reason to rock around the clock, as well. Four well-balanced difficulty levels exist, with close to forty classic and new songs to play (the easiest difficulty level limits you to only the first twenty-five, however). As you complete songs you advance to new venues such as a club, a theater, and a Lollapalooza-style outdoor show. Also, you'll earn money towards unlocking additional songs, Fender guitars (or skins for your existing axes), or characters. The avatar and guitar you pick has little bearing on the gameplay-- much like the rest of the game's graphics, they're actually pretty incidental when they haven't been lifted straight from Amplitude. The songs are cheap enough that they can be purchased relatively easily.
The music is always one of the key issues for a game of this sort. With Karaoke Revolution, using contemporary song sound-alikes made sense because the one element which usually sounds worst in a sound-alike-- the vocals-- would be provided by the players. Guitar Hero does have very well-played versions of classic songs such as Smoke On The Water, Symphony of Destruction, and Thunder Kiss '65. The vocals are a very hit-or-miss thing. Some singers sound extremely close to the original artists-- for example, the young lady singing I Love Rock & Roll should be commended for sounding so much like Joan Jett. The guy trying to sing Killer Queen should really have a doctor look at his groin, because I'd venture a guess it's been kicked repeatedly. For some of the tracks, the vocalist was a key element as to whether or not I liked it enough to continue playing. Of course, the songs written specifically for the game are very well done. Even the obligatory Freezepop track. Yeah, you read that right.
That actually raises an interesting point. Everything about this game exudes the sort of 80's hair-band philosophy of rock uber alles. Some folks might not really want to remember that time, and some folks might be seriously turned off by the fact that there's more squealing feedback than acoustic strummin'. Put short, go electric or go home. While there are a couple of tracks that feature a softer sound, like More Than A Feeling and Crossroads, the majority of the set list caters to headbangers and classic rockers. With the wild success of the game, however, Harmonix might want to consider sequels with other musical genres in mind. To venture forth a hypothesis based on the sales figures for "Deer Hunter", a country-themed version might just top the charts. And for myself, how about a blues edition?
The folks at Harmonix have taken an idea, refined it, churned it, ground it, and forged it into a force of pure rock that few men could stand against. Maybe Dio, and quite possibly Yngwie or Clapton. But few men indeed. The fact that the guitar controller is compatible with Konami's Japan-only Guitar Freaks series makes this a one-hundred-percent sure purchase for music gamers. The fact that the controller is sturdy enough to withstand even the most hardcore licks you can dish out makes it a worthy choice for the casual gamer as well. This is one of the few games I would unequivocally say is a must-own-- not just for Beatmania fans, but for all owners of a PS2. With a few tweaks to the set list and a bit of de-emphasis on rigidly following the pre-set patterns, this game certainly will go to 11.