Video Games Today

As we all know, music games have taken very large leaps the last few years. Where games like Rez, and Parappa the Rapper were the first games you though of; now days you think of Guitar Hero. World Tour is just the next big step for the series.

The game is principally the same as it has been in past iterations of the series. You have the choice to play a career mode, quickplay, or multiplayer online. Though this time you are able to create your own ‘rocker’. I’ll discuss that further down.

If you happen to be one of those people who live under rocks, you may be wondering what these games are, and how to play them. Basically games like Guitar Hero, and Rock Band are games that allow you to ‘rock out’ even when you have no true musical skills. The guitars work by pressing and holding down the colored ‘fret’ buttons, and strumming at the correct time. The drums work by pounding on the correct color coded pad at the correct time, and the mic works by screeching into it.

Career Mode

Believe it or not, there is some kind of story. Though it’s practically goes “You were a kid”, you play all the songs in the career mode, “…now you’re an adult rockstar, game over! “ Yep, there are 2 cut scenes for each career: Guitar, Bass, Drum, and Vocal. Each career mode has five different difficulties.

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This guy thinks he's cool...

*Beginner: The easiest mode ever created. All you have to do is play your instrument the same time the multicolored line passes the strike line. On the guitar and bass you strum, you don’t even have to use the fret buttons. On drum you hit any of the pads, or the foot pedal. Recommended for anyone not able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

*Easy: This mode is easy, hence the name, but still requires a basic sense of rhythm, and hand-eye coordination. When playing either of the guitars, requires you to use the first three fret buttons. On drum it uses the pads, and every so often it may have a single foot-pedal for you to press. Recommended for those who consider themselves ‘casual gamers’.

*Medium: The best stage to start on if you already have the ability to follow things on a screen, and understand how the game works. The most balanced difficulty in the game not too easy, and not to hard. Just, right. Introduces the blue button on guitars, and adds the kick petal and more notes on drums. Recommended for normal gamers.

*Hard: Hard is well…hard. It introduces the orange fret button for the guitars, and just makes the drums a lot harder. Recommended for those who are tired of Medium.

*Expert: This is the hardest difficulty, and adds in the ‘Open Note’ for the Bass. Open Notes are notes you don’t have to hold down a fret button for, you just strum. The drums are 1:1 to real drummers, and the guitar is just harder to play. Recommended for those who have gotten the hang of Hard.

You Also meet famous rockstars.

Instruments

* Guitar: The guitar is of a decent weight, not heavy, but weighs enough for power strumming. The fret buttons feel nice and are evenly spaced out. The slider bar is a little too close to the fret buttons, so you may find your hand slipping down sometimes and ruining a note spree. The guitar comes with a Sunburst face plate, and two AA batteries. The battery life of the guitar is superb. I’ve had the game for like 2 weeks now, and have yet to need to change them.

* Drums: They are a definite improvement over the rock band drums. It takes around 5-10 minutes to assemble them the first time, and with my set, every pad and cymbal worked like a charm. The kick Pedal doesn’t even move while playing.

* Mic: It’s a Logitech USB microphone…not much to say about it. Oh, it says Guitar Hero on it…

Gameplay

The notes come down the screen and you use the proper method to activate them. Depending on which instrument you are playing. The singer has to sing the song, staying in pitch with it.
The game features a “Create a Rocker” feature. It goes very in-depth with being able to change everything from skin color, to eyes, to creating your own tattoos, and make your own guitar.

Multiplayer

* Face Off: Two players compete in a guitar, bass, drum or vocal match, while alternating play on the same not chart. Each player can play on a different difficulty.
* Pro Face Off: Two players play on the same full chart, and choose their own difficulty.
* Band Quickplay: When on LIVE you connect with other players to play in a online 'band'.
* Band VS Band: You and three other people play against another band, the band with the highest score wins.

Some times it takes awhile to get matched up with people online, and that's annoying when you just want to play

Soundtrack

The song list is very varied, and well picked. Though this is a thing of preference. For the full song list click here.

Final Verdict

If you like the Guitar Hero, and Rock Band series. Then you should definitely buy it. If you've never played either, you may want to go to a friends house and try it out before you spend $189 plus tax, on the game. Also all the instruments are compatible with Rock Band 2. So for most, it's a buy.

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew