Welcome to my review of the most original, compulsive game you may ever come across, the ps2 version of an air guitar: GUITAR HERO!
This game has already being out for nearly a month, and shops are still getting sold out as soon as they are coming in.
The aim of this game is to play songs as well as you can, and get the best score by getting as many right notes as you can. By getting more notes right in a row, the more points you will earn because of a point multiplier in the corner of your screen.
Without the controller, (more soon), it is just an average benami game, pressing the buttons on you're average dualshock controller in time to the music, but it is when the special guitar hero controller is plugged in when the magic of music really starts.
The controller is a sold plastic SG Gibson, (for you guitar-lovers out there). It is the exact same shape as a normal guitar, apart from the size, it is about 1/3 of the size of a normal average guitar.
The guitar has many features on it. Instead of having five different strings on the neck, it has 5 different coloured buttons, which are green, red, yellow blue and orange. And instead of them going across the neck like a real guitar, they are going down the neck, (for obvious reasons, they wouldn't be able to fit 5 buttons going across the neck). These are pressed down to make notes, (and have to be pressed at the right time, more later)! But this is only half the story of making the music.
Also on the guitar is a strum bar. This is placed exactly where you would strum on a real guitar. This plastic bar has to be strummed up and down, (left and right depending on how you hold your guitar). This feels like you are playing a real guitar, because you are doing the exact same action as you would on a real one. This creates a great pleasure when
you hit all the notes spot on!
During the songs, on your TV screen is a score counter which tells you you're score, and a score multiplier, the more notes you get right in a row, the more your notes get multiplied, meaning getting a higher final score. There is also a rock-meter, this consists of three colours, red, yellow and green. The meter has a little arrow pointing to where about in the meter you are. If you are in the yellow zone, you are performing about average, if it is in the green zone, you are doing very well, and are getting most of your notes right. But if it gets to the red zone, you are not doing very well, you are missing or messing up a lot of notes. When it gets to the very low red, it begins to flash, and this is a warning, if you do a few more wrong notes, you will fail the song!
When you are playing, you are in a sold out stadium, (or in a dirty back-street club, depending on how far through the story mode you are, and how good you are), and this is full of adoring fans, (or maybe not, as in last brackets). There are a few characters you can pick to be as, and there are also the cartoon people who are the rest of your band. These cartoon people will play their instruments (strum, pluck, beat etc) for their part of the song you are playing, and your character will also play his/her guitar, but only when you do it yourself.
Now for the bit of knowing which notes to play, and when to play them. As well as the cartoon band playing their instruments on the stage on your TV screen is a line of 5 circles, these circles are green, red, yellow, blue and orange, (ring any bells?) yes they are the same as the colours on your plastic music maker. When you press the button on your guitar, the circle on your screen sort of illuminates and it will stop illuminating when you let go of the note. When the song is playing filled in circles come straight down a 'transparent coloured board' towards the open circles at the bottom.
These filled in circles are coloured the same colour as the open circle they are heading towards. You need to press the coloured button which is the same colour as the coloured in circle, (this can be done as soon as you see it on the screen), and when it passes through the now illuminated open circle, you need to strum either up or down, and this plays the note, play it too soon or too late, and the note turns into a screeching mess, followed by boos or laughter from the crowd. This sounds very confusing, but it is much easier doing it for real, that is of course until you get onto the harder levels, where the notes come thick and fast, and chords, (2 notes at the same time) are introduced. (Sorry for this description being very complicated and hard to understand, I will look for pictures so maybe they will help you understand what the TV screen looks like with all the circles).
On the easiest level of difficulty for songs, it can be very easy, with only one finger needed to cover the first four fret buttons, but when you get onto the expert level, more or less every note has to be played in a song, and the dreaded 5th orange fret button, and to put it simply how difficult it is, you will be using all 5 fret buttons, but you only have 4 fingers.
On the guitar there is also a whammy bar, and this can be used to bend long notes. Bending star notes can also gain you "star power." Once the star power bar on the screen gets half full or more, you can then 'tilt' the guitar vertical. The guitar has a tilt sensor inside of it, so it will know once you've done this. When you tilt the guitar, the screen gets a blue glow, and your notes will earn you more points.
This game is made even better by the fantastic track list it has, it ranges from heavy rock to J-Pop, here is a full list of the songs available to play:
> Symphony of Destruction > I wanna be sedated > Thunderkiss 65 > Ziggy Stardust > Smoke on the water > More than a feeling > Cowboys from hell > Sharp dressed man > Bark at the moon > You've got another thing comin' > Iron man > Take me out > Crossroads > Ace of spades > Killer Queen > Cochise > Fat lip > Take it off > Infected > I love rock n roll > Unsung > Heart full of black > Frankenstein > Higher Ground > Stellar > Hey You > Godzilla > Texas flood > Spanish castle magic > Fire it up
I found that I did not know hardly any of these songs by just looking at their names, but when I came to playing them, I found I knew quite a lot of them, it is best to play them all, even if they don't sound too appealing, to find out which one's you like the best.
There are also about 18 other unlicensed songs that were made up by the makers of the game that are unlockable through the mini shop on the game, which you can spend your money in which you gain through your career mode.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few low points about the game, although these can be easily overlooked. There is no practice mode, so this can be very punishing when you come to the harder levels, and you don't know what's going to be coming next. Also on the harder levels, you could be doing really well, but then a finger-breaking solo could come up right near the end and you might end up failing the song and having to start from the beginning, very frustrating!
But getting away from bad points and back to the good. There is a fantastic 2 player mode, where you will need 2 guitar controls, this may be quite expensive, but it repays itself with how much fun you have in the 2 player mode.
Guitar Hero can be bought in most gaming shops for around £49.99, (yes, very expensive), but can also be bought off the Internet for a bit cheaper. Separate guitars can also be bought off certain sites such as Ebay.
Despite the high price, Guitar Hero is an absolute classic, and should not be missed by anyone, even if it does look like a Toy from Toys R us.
On the outside, you'll look pretty stupid, but inside, this game will make you feel like a hero. Thanks for reading!!
Pictures of Guitar Hero (PS2)
The guitar hero screen during star power mode
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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Advantages: Excellent soundtrack; awesome gameplay; Guitar Controller is responsive and really immerses you into the experience; lots of value; beautiful graphics engine, though you won't be seeing it much. Disadvantages: Costs a heck of a lot.
Stunt101 10.04.2007 (10.04.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Guitar Hero (PS2)
Advantages: Rocking out to the greatest songs of all time | Great graphics for those watching Disadvantages: Could use some more songs | More unlockable / purchasble content
DBZKing 19.11.2008 (19.11.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Guitar Hero (PS2)
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