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Showing posts with label Guitar Hero. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guitar Hero. Show all posts
Friday, November 7, 2008
Guitar Hero Harmonica Picture
About a week ago, I posted my review of Guitar Hero: On Tour, and I mentioned that it came with a Guitar Hero Harmonica, and I think somewhere in the article, I said I'd post a picture, so here it is in all it's glory.
Posted via Pixelpipe.
Posted via Pixelpipe.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Review: Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
The Guitar Hero games on consoles have always been hit, both critically and commercially. Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS was a little different. Some reviewers loved it, some didn't like it very much, but nevertheless it sold over 300,000 units in the first week. In my opinion, it's a decent start for the franchise in it's transition to handhelds.
First, let's talk about the hardware. Guitar Hero: On Tour comes with the Guitar Hero Guitar Grip peripheral which plugs into the DS' GBA slot. It also comes with a cool guitar pick-shaped stylus which fits into a convenient slot on the Grip. I don't know if they still come with this, but when I got my copy of the game (I got it within the first week it was released), it came with a really cool Guitar Hero Collectible Harmonica. Seriously.
I hear a lot of people get cramps in their hands from the Grip, but I never had that problem. My problem was that my wrist started to get stiff after a while, but that's to be expected I guess. Another problem that a lot of people (including me) have is that, especially in the faster songs, everything can get too hectic and the Grip can slide out of the GBA slot, thus ending the game and forcing you to reboot your DS. It doesn't happen too often, but it happens more than it should. The last major control problem is on the faster songs when you have to strum a ton of notes really fast, the touch screen can be quite unresponsive.
The first thing you'll notice about the Grip is that it only has 4 buttons, as opposed to the regular 5 buttons on the console versions. This may sound like a bad thing, but take it from me, 4 buttons is plenty. If there were 5 buttons, not only would you be straining your had to reach all of them (either that or the buttons would have to be smaller, and they're already hard enough to hit as it is), but it would just be chaotic.
Now, for the software. This definitely feels like a Guitar Hero game. It may not always feel responsive and the Grip may be a little different than what most people are used to, but the gameplay is totally Guitar Hero, and it is a mobile version worthy of the Guitar Hero name.
The Set List in On Tour isn't quite as strong as it could be, though. There are only 26 songs total (only one of those is an unlockable song), and several of the songs are a little unorthodox by typical Guitar Hero standards (This Love by Maroon 5 and Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats stand out a little), but there are some decent songs in there. All songs, however are brought down a notch by bad audio quality. Maybe the developers ran out of room on the DS card and had to compress everything, I don't know. I just know that the audio quality could have been a lot better.
As you know if you've played any other Guitar Hero games, to initiate Star Power, you either hit Select on the Guitar, or just tilt the neck up. Since neither the DS nor the Grip has an accelerometer and it would be near impossible to hit Select in the middle of a song, the developers decided to remedy this by forcing you to blow (or you can do what it says to do in the tutorial and yell "ROCK OUT!") into the microphone. This is both awkward and occasionally ineffective.
On Tour also has a few characters returning from previous GH games, and a couple of new characters, too. The game also features Local Mulitplayer, but seeing as I never go anywhere and know no-one, I have yet to test this.
So, Guitar Hero: On Tour is not a perfect game. Far from it. It's not a terrible game, but it definitely could have been better. It is no Guitar Hero III replacement, but it's not a bad mobile version, as long as it's not played for too long at a time (for both your wrist and/or hands, and your sanity), and it get a little repetitive. 3 out of 5.
First, let's talk about the hardware. Guitar Hero: On Tour comes with the Guitar Hero Guitar Grip peripheral which plugs into the DS' GBA slot. It also comes with a cool guitar pick-shaped stylus which fits into a convenient slot on the Grip. I don't know if they still come with this, but when I got my copy of the game (I got it within the first week it was released), it came with a really cool Guitar Hero Collectible Harmonica. Seriously.
I hear a lot of people get cramps in their hands from the Grip, but I never had that problem. My problem was that my wrist started to get stiff after a while, but that's to be expected I guess. Another problem that a lot of people (including me) have is that, especially in the faster songs, everything can get too hectic and the Grip can slide out of the GBA slot, thus ending the game and forcing you to reboot your DS. It doesn't happen too often, but it happens more than it should. The last major control problem is on the faster songs when you have to strum a ton of notes really fast, the touch screen can be quite unresponsive.
The first thing you'll notice about the Grip is that it only has 4 buttons, as opposed to the regular 5 buttons on the console versions. This may sound like a bad thing, but take it from me, 4 buttons is plenty. If there were 5 buttons, not only would you be straining your had to reach all of them (either that or the buttons would have to be smaller, and they're already hard enough to hit as it is), but it would just be chaotic.
Now, for the software. This definitely feels like a Guitar Hero game. It may not always feel responsive and the Grip may be a little different than what most people are used to, but the gameplay is totally Guitar Hero, and it is a mobile version worthy of the Guitar Hero name.
The Set List in On Tour isn't quite as strong as it could be, though. There are only 26 songs total (only one of those is an unlockable song), and several of the songs are a little unorthodox by typical Guitar Hero standards (This Love by Maroon 5 and Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats stand out a little), but there are some decent songs in there. All songs, however are brought down a notch by bad audio quality. Maybe the developers ran out of room on the DS card and had to compress everything, I don't know. I just know that the audio quality could have been a lot better.
As you know if you've played any other Guitar Hero games, to initiate Star Power, you either hit Select on the Guitar, or just tilt the neck up. Since neither the DS nor the Grip has an accelerometer and it would be near impossible to hit Select in the middle of a song, the developers decided to remedy this by forcing you to blow (or you can do what it says to do in the tutorial and yell "ROCK OUT!") into the microphone. This is both awkward and occasionally ineffective.
On Tour also has a few characters returning from previous GH games, and a couple of new characters, too. The game also features Local Mulitplayer, but seeing as I never go anywhere and know no-one, I have yet to test this.
So, Guitar Hero: On Tour is not a perfect game. Far from it. It's not a terrible game, but it definitely could have been better. It is no Guitar Hero III replacement, but it's not a bad mobile version, as long as it's not played for too long at a time (for both your wrist and/or hands, and your sanity), and it get a little repetitive. 3 out of 5.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
My Top 10 Favorite Videogame Series Pt. 2
Okay, so yesterday's post turned out to be pretty long, so I figured I'd break it up into two posts, one, just so it won't be so long, and two, so I don't have to post anything else today. I might anyway, but at least I don't have to. Anyway, here's 5-1.
5. Guitar Hero
I don't have a lot to say about this one, because I don't know a single person who hasn't at least TRIED to play a GH game. Hell, even my grandmother has played it. I don't know how they do it, but they almost always have such a strong track list(except for GH2, not even Trogdor could save it, IMHO). The GH games are also so intuitive, what with a freaking guitar controller. I always have a blast when I play a GH game, even the one on the DS. I don't know why people gave that one so much crap, I liked it quite a bit.
Best in series: Guitar Hero 3
4. Rock Band
OHMYGOD PUSA WILL BE IN RB2! As good as the original Rock Band is, I think RB2 will be about as awesome as it gets, what with a Presidents of the United States of America(my absolute FAVORITE band EVAR) track, and being able to import all of RB1's tracks. I forgot how big the track list will be, over 500 or something. It's unreal. When I found out that PUSA will be in RB2, I was ecstatic the whole day, and that was on an E3 day, so I was even more happy when I found out all of the other cool stuff coming out(Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars(maybe, I'm rather skeptical), Wii Motion Plus(Oh, you mean the thing that the Wii was supposed to come PACKAGED with?) and all that other crap).
Best in series: Rock Band 2 (unless they SEVERELY screw this one up, there's logically no way for this one to be worse)
3. Super Mario Bros.
How could this NOT be in my Top 10? SMB basically IS videogames. There's no way around that. I know people who have never played a videogame in their life, but have played an SMB game at some point. I actually have an NES that my aunt game me a few years ago, and I have the first 3 original SMB's. Arguably one of the best series ever, much less the best platformer ever, this has to be in everybody's Top 10 list by law, if I have anything to do with it.
Best in series: Super Mario Bros. 3
2. Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 4. Very VERY yes. The entire reason I got my PS3 in the first place, and a damn good one at that. While I haven't played them all, MGS4 has to be my favorite out of the ones that I have played, with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP in second.
The series is known for it's deep(albeit lengthy) stories, and even though they're long, it's worth every. Single. Minute. While I don't understand the story fully, it's still so amazing, so deep, much deeper than ANY movie or book I've ever seen or read. I hope they make the MGS movie very, very soon.
Best in series: Metal Gear Solid 4
1. Half-Life (Portal, Gmod, Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike included)
Oh, Half-Life, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. This is, in my opinion, the BEST GAME SERIES EVAR. And I mean that. This series is so revolutionary, so intriguing. From the AMAZING graphics for it's time(hey, HL's graphics were awesome for 1998), to the mysterious story, to the oh-so-FRIKKIN' AWESOME gameplay, Half-Life is, without a doubt, my favorite game series.
God, I can't even begin to count the hundreds-upon-hundreds of hours I've invested in this game and it's sequels/spinoffs/addons(e.g. Gmod, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat), and while HL was awesome, Half-Life 2 was awesomer. WAY awesomer. When I first played HL2, one of the very first things I noticed were the physics, which, in this game, are VERY important. The physics are among the best I've ever seen, and I've played a LOT of games.
HL2 is another of my cantidates for games as an art form, in that it's just so immersive and engaging, it almost never seems like a game. From Half-Life, to Half-Life 2, to Counter-Strike, to Team Fortress 2, to Portal and to Gmod, this franchise has probably eaten the most hours of my life thus far, and I'll gladly give it many more.
Best in series: Half-Life 2
Okay, so that's it. I think I'm going to bed pretty soon, seeing as I've just spent about an hour and a half typing all of this up.
5. Guitar Hero
I don't have a lot to say about this one, because I don't know a single person who hasn't at least TRIED to play a GH game. Hell, even my grandmother has played it. I don't know how they do it, but they almost always have such a strong track list(except for GH2, not even Trogdor could save it, IMHO). The GH games are also so intuitive, what with a freaking guitar controller. I always have a blast when I play a GH game, even the one on the DS. I don't know why people gave that one so much crap, I liked it quite a bit.
Best in series: Guitar Hero 3
4. Rock Band
OHMYGOD PUSA WILL BE IN RB2! As good as the original Rock Band is, I think RB2 will be about as awesome as it gets, what with a Presidents of the United States of America(my absolute FAVORITE band EVAR) track, and being able to import all of RB1's tracks. I forgot how big the track list will be, over 500 or something. It's unreal. When I found out that PUSA will be in RB2, I was ecstatic the whole day, and that was on an E3 day, so I was even more happy when I found out all of the other cool stuff coming out(Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars(maybe, I'm rather skeptical), Wii Motion Plus(Oh, you mean the thing that the Wii was supposed to come PACKAGED with?) and all that other crap).
Best in series: Rock Band 2 (unless they SEVERELY screw this one up, there's logically no way for this one to be worse)
3. Super Mario Bros.
How could this NOT be in my Top 10? SMB basically IS videogames. There's no way around that. I know people who have never played a videogame in their life, but have played an SMB game at some point. I actually have an NES that my aunt game me a few years ago, and I have the first 3 original SMB's. Arguably one of the best series ever, much less the best platformer ever, this has to be in everybody's Top 10 list by law, if I have anything to do with it.
Best in series: Super Mario Bros. 3
2. Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 4. Very VERY yes. The entire reason I got my PS3 in the first place, and a damn good one at that. While I haven't played them all, MGS4 has to be my favorite out of the ones that I have played, with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP in second.
The series is known for it's deep(albeit lengthy) stories, and even though they're long, it's worth every. Single. Minute. While I don't understand the story fully, it's still so amazing, so deep, much deeper than ANY movie or book I've ever seen or read. I hope they make the MGS movie very, very soon.
Best in series: Metal Gear Solid 4
1. Half-Life (Portal, Gmod, Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike included)
Oh, Half-Life, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. This is, in my opinion, the BEST GAME SERIES EVAR. And I mean that. This series is so revolutionary, so intriguing. From the AMAZING graphics for it's time(hey, HL's graphics were awesome for 1998), to the mysterious story, to the oh-so-FRIKKIN' AWESOME gameplay, Half-Life is, without a doubt, my favorite game series.
God, I can't even begin to count the hundreds-upon-hundreds of hours I've invested in this game and it's sequels/spinoffs/addons(e.g. Gmod, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat), and while HL was awesome, Half-Life 2 was awesomer. WAY awesomer. When I first played HL2, one of the very first things I noticed were the physics, which, in this game, are VERY important. The physics are among the best I've ever seen, and I've played a LOT of games.
HL2 is another of my cantidates for games as an art form, in that it's just so immersive and engaging, it almost never seems like a game. From Half-Life, to Half-Life 2, to Counter-Strike, to Team Fortress 2, to Portal and to Gmod, this franchise has probably eaten the most hours of my life thus far, and I'll gladly give it many more.
Best in series: Half-Life 2
Okay, so that's it. I think I'm going to bed pretty soon, seeing as I've just spent about an hour and a half typing all of this up.
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