Guitar Hero is not a free-form musical jam fest – it actually is a game. You
score points by hitting notes, with the points continuously racked up while you
hold the long notes. Hit enough notes in a row and you’ll start to earn score
multipliers that will double, triple, and eventually quadruple the points that
you earn. You’ll lose the multiplier as soon as you miss a note, and you’ll have
to work your way up again. Some notes will be star-shaped and if you hit them
you’ll enable Star Power mode. In this mode you can tilt the guitar upright to
double the points scored by each note that you hit.
The game also tracks the audience’s reaction to your playing. Hit your notes
and you’ll pump up the crowd to the point where they won’t even care if you miss
an occasional note. Miss too many, though, and the crowd will grow restless and
eventually will boo you off of the stage. You’d be pissed too if you just paid a
cover charge, bought a beer for the price of a six pack, and then were forced to
listen to some poser who can’t even hit his notes. I think the onscreen avatar,
band, and audience is a pretty cool touch, but it is more for the amusement of
those watching you play as your eyes will be focused on the notes coming your
way.
The songs are grouped into five song sets, and you’ll need to successfully
play through four of the songs in a set to unlock the next level. Each level
will take your onscreen avatar to a bigger venue and give you a bigger audience
to entertain. Of course the songs will also get harder to play as fans are more
demanding of superstars. Unlocking a new set of songs will also make them
available for play at any time in the game’s quick play mode.
Another one of the game’s strong points is the excellent song list. You get
thirty guitar rich rock songs that span the rock timeline from Smoke on the
Water to Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out. I only need to mention bands such as
Black Sabbath, Bad Religion, and Queen and you can see that metal, alternative,
glam, and other rock styles are well-represented. Suffice it to say that if you
can appreciate good music with a range of styles you’ll love the song list.
There are also bonus songs that can be unlocked, but these are, shall we say,
lesser known tracks, but I don’t mean to imply that they’re bad by that. I
really hope that there will be a Guitar Hero 2, 3, and more as I’d love to jam
with more great rock bands past and present like AC/DC, Rush, Van Halen,
Smashing Pumpkins, The Offspring, …
I had a lot of fun playing the game and even in writing its review, but I can
sum it all up in one sentence: If you’re a gamer and a fan of rock music, then
you owe it to yourself to play this game.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
94%. That one guitar, slung way down low, is a one way ticket, only one way
to go. Be a Guitar Hero and get stars in your eyes.
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