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Guitar Hero: On Tour Review
Written by Chris Buffa on Monday, June 23, 2008
It's freakin Guitar Hero in the palm of your hand, peripheral works well, decent soundtrack, nifty pause feature, fun Duel Mode.
Only 26 songs, soundtrack isn't great, hands cramp up, buttons are too close together.
Being away from Guitar Hero (or Rock Band) for more than a few hours sends us into withdrawal. We develop a twitch, our heads nod to imaginary music and we bust out with some air guitar, much to the horror of terrified onlookers. It's quite a scene, and one that we'll avoid, thanks to Activision's cool DS game, Guitar Hero: On Tour. Now we can feed our addiction while on planes, in public restrooms and at funerals. Just do us a favor and pray we don't develop arthritis from the at times uncomfortable peripheral. Hey, no one ever said being a rock star was easy.
Vicarious Visions, the developer behind the DS offering, Ultimate Spider-man, somehow managed to shoehorn Guitar Hero onto the DS, complete with a peripheral that plugs into the system's Game Boy Advance cartridge slot. Much like Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, you hold the DS like a book, except you slip your left or right hand (the game features an option for both) into the peripheral's grip and wrap your fingers around the green, red, yellow and blue fret buttons (the console versions' orange fret button was eliminated). Then you take your free hand, grab the exclusive guitar pick shaped stylus (it fits snugly into the peripheral) and you're ready to party. Multi-colored notes stream down the DS' top screen and you press the corresponding fret buttons while strumming the touch screen with the stylus. It doesn't substitute for a plastic guitar, but it's cool nonetheless, and curious passersby will give you the same "OH MY GOD IS THAT GUITAR HERO WOW" response.
Much like previous games in the series, On Tour includes a Career Mode (as well as Quickplay, Practice and Tutorials) where you name your band, select a character (such as Gunner Jaxon, Johnny Napalm, Judy Nails and franchise mainstay Axel Steel) and then play a series of venues, completing songs and earning cash and sponsors along the way. In addition, you'll unlock new guitars and outfits for your avatar, giving you limited customization.
In addition, the game has a cool Multiplayer mode (offline, two players) where you battle against an opponent to see who plays the song best. What makes it unique are the numerous attacks you can launch at your buddies. They include flash bulbs that keep them from seeing the notes, an autograph hound that demands their signature (a piece of paper slides over the guitar and they must sign it to make it disappear), one that reverses the notes to the touch screen and even a devious attack that sets their axe on fire, forcing them to blow into the DS microphone to put it out.
We're also psyched about the pause feature. If you need to stop playing, the game automatically rewinds a second or two of gameplay, so you won't miss notes or lose the rhythm
Of course, a Guitar Hero is only as good as its soundtrack, and On Tour isn't nearly as strong as its predecessors. Its 26 tracks include an eclectic mix of tunes, such as Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take it, Smash Mouth's All Star, Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl and Ozzy Osbourne's I Don't Wanna Stop. That said, some additions aren't so hot, like Stray Cats' Stray Cat Strut or Steve Miller Band's Jet Liner. This is, naturally, a matter of taste, but we can't help but wish On Tour had more songs.
Then there's the peripheral, which quickly becomes uncomfortable. After a short while, our hands cramped up and we needed a break. That would be fine if it were after an hour of playtime, but it was 20 minutes. It also doesn't help that the fret buttons are too close together and our large fingers slip onto the wrong buttons. It's not a huge problem on the easier difficulty levels, but once we attempted Hard and Expert, it became a nagging issue that cost us multiple attempts.
Complaints notwithstanding, Guitar Hero: On Tour is a successful first experiment that delivers a slice of the console experience on the go, and Activision and Vicarious Visions deserve props for making such a cool portable music game. Sure, it doesn't have 70 songs, but that's what sequels are for. Considering it was flying off shelves the day we purchased our copies, this probably isn't the last time we'll rock out on the Nintendo DS. However, $50 is a lot to spend on such a limited game, especially when its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 cousins sell for $10 more, sans guitar. The lack of songs, mediocre soundtrack and the uncomfortable grip make this more of a curiosity than a must buy.
