11/01/05 - Guitar Hero (PS2)

[schild]

Yet another title that people with a PS2 should buy without thinking. It's basically Taiko Drum master, but with a guitar.





I think the images speak for themselves but if they don't, you're basically following commands to press a certain fret at a certain time. The string equivilent of Taiko Drum Master or DDR or Donkey Konga. Kick. Ass.

[Sky]

Or you could spend an hour learning a power chord and actually play along with real music. Shit, if you tune to drop-d, you only need one finger just like that crappy fake guitar piece of plastic crap. They shoulda called it Modern Rock for Dummies.

[Signe]

Or you could just learn to play the same chords over and over and over again and form a Status Quo tribute band.

(you'll have to learn to play them really, really good, though)

[AOFanboi]

But I thought Status Quo these days were little more than a Status Quo tribute band? Why more?

(I love old Status Quo, though - Quo, Piledriver, Hello)

[voodoolily]

They did Pictures of Matchstick men way better than Camper van Beethoven.

[Samwise]

I played the arcade version once and found it very satisfying.  This is yet another reason I need to get one of my friends to buy a PS2.

[stray]

So Schild....

Can you play Smoke On the Water yet?

Do you even learn anything from this game (like real fingerings), or is it just for fun?

[Samwise]

IIRC the fingering is about as challenging as power chords on an open tuning, as Sky alluded to.  There are three buttons (arranged fretwise) as opposed to six strings and fifteen frets, and one button/switch thing that approximates a strum.

Guitar Hero is to guitar playing about like DDR is to dancing.  Which is to say that it's a fun game but you wouldn't play it to learn anything useful.

[stray]

Ah, oh well. I probably wouldn't buy this, but it still sounds like a pretty cool idea. The world needs more games that ROCK 

Which gets me thinking....Why AREN'T there more games that rock? We need more action games with guitars. First Person Shooters with guitars. Adventure games with guitars. Sim games with guitars...

[schild]

We haven't gotten it in yet in Phoenix. I have one on preorder though.

[schild]

Motherfuck. That date better be wrong.

[voodoolily]

That's only a week away. I've grown so accustomed to dashed hopes with regards to release dates that a week is nothing.

[schild]

That's only a week away. I've grown so accustomed to dashed hopes with regards to release dates that a week is nothing.

I wouldn't be so mad if I didn't get a phone call yesterday saying I could pick it up today after 11am. Which means they shipped...AN EMPTY BOX?

What the hell is this world coming to?

[Sky]

Buy a $50 walmart guitar and have someone tune it to drop-D. Then you can get chicks.

[voodoolily]

The only things I can play on the guitar are the bass line from Astronomy Domine, the intro from From the Beginning, and The Wizard by Uriah Heep. I am a special, special kind of dork.

[schild]

Buy a $50 walmart guitar and have someone tune it to drop-D. Then you can get chicks.

I'm trying to play games here. Not pick up chicks who say they like music but really have no taste at all.

[Signe]

You should pick up chicks instead.  How about those hot fems who model for the game companies at all those conventions you like?  They have boobies and everything just like real girls.

[Sky]

Buy a $50 walmart guitar and have someone tune it to drop-D. Then you can get chicks.

I'm trying to play games here. Not pick up chicks who say they like music but really have no taste at all.

I've heard the guitar is better in multiplayer.

[Shockeye]

Buy a $50 walmart guitar and have someone tune it to drop-D. Then you can get chicks.

I'm trying to play games here. Not pick up chicks who say they like music but really have no taste at all.

I've heard the guitar is better in multiplayer.

Twitch 4tehwin.

[schild]

I was GOING to review this. But it just killed my PS2's DVDRom drive. Yay.

[Shockeye]

I looked at it earlier today. I went with The Movies DVD edition instead. I'm weak.

[schild]

Ok, got a new PS2 for $61 after trading in my old one and getting the employee discount. W00t.

[Yegolev]

Buy a $50 walmart guitar and have someone tune it to drop-D. Then you can get chicks.

I'm trying to play games here. Not pick up chicks who say they like music but really have no taste at all.

I've heard the guitar is better in multiplayer.

Too much PK.

[Sky]

Only in Eastern European black metal! Or rap.

[Hokers]

This game so completely rocks.  Sure the concept is simple and looks easy, but it does take skill and endurance, I am mentally drained after a song.  But I am smiling.

Smoke on the Water is on the disk in the easy section.  Joan Jet's "I love Rock and Roll" is actually the simplest song included.

What other games tell you "You Rock" when you do well.

I  this game.

[Shockeye]

That's it, I'm going to have to buy this. I cannot resist the urge to rock.

[NiX]

Motherfuck. They pushed back the release of this AGAIN in Canada. I'm getting a family friend to pick it up while he's down in the states. Nonsensical bullshit.

[Merusk]

"Jukebox Hero" missing from the game seems like such a complete oversight.

[CmdrSlack]

Yep, it's fun.  It's most challenging if you sight read the songs and don't try to practice them a bit first. 

No, it's not like playing guitar.  But it's fun, so I could really give a rat's ass.  Fortunately, it did not kill my PS2.

[schild]

I think I'm done with the game. I'll still play my favorite songs (Ziggy, Killer Queen, etc), but now that I've beaten Texas Flood on expert mode (and scored over 50,000 with a streak higher than 50), I feel like I've finished what it has to offer me. Now hopefully they'll release more shit. Like a punk/ska version and a death metal version.

[stray]

The Death metal version would be lame. It's just a bunch of downpicking on power chords and bullshit pentatonic leads (with whammy dives in between every three notes or so). For a game I doubt it'd even be as (un)interesting as that.

Ska: Instead of downpicking, you'll be uppicking high chords, but at half the speed.
 
If you can flow through a gamer riff version of Texas Flood, then you'll won't probably won't be satisfied with much else. Virtually at least. I suggest that you now get a real guitar. 

[schild]

I played real guitar at some point. But no one was keeping score. Sure, I was scoring, but there was no high score list. Unless you count tattoos. I don't even think I'm talking about games anymore.

I meant fun songs. Shit I can sing along to while playing. A ska version would be idea for that. Also, more 70's rock, but the not quite as popular stuff. No Stairway. Also, needs more cowbell beatles. I'm not looking for challenging here. I'm looking solely for fun. I don't think it gets much harder than texas flood. I mean, some of the stuff is artifically harder, but none of them feel realistic, Texas Flood *felt* like I was playing Texas Flood.

Also, an all David Bowie, Peter Murphy/Bauhaus, and Nick Cave collection. I'd be all over that like white on rice. I'd add soy sauce if it was the acoustic shit from Peter Murphey's Alive Just for Love tour. Oh, and I guess they can throw in some old metallica, specifically One or Call of Cthulhu.

[Der Helm]

*derail in progress*

The Death metal version would be lame. It's just a bunch of downpicking on power chords and bullshit pentatonic leads (with whammy dives in between every three notes or so). For a game I doubt it'd even be as (un)interesting as that.

Whoa. How can something so simple (and I have almost no idea (technically) what you are talking about) sound so good.Death metal that is.

But I prefer Grindcore, not sure if that qualifies as music at all.

[stray]

I played real guitar at some point. But no one was keeping score. Sure, I was scoring, but there was no high score list. Unless you count tattoos. I don't even think I'm talking about games anymore.

I meant fun songs. Shit I can sing along to while playing. A ska version would be idea for that. Also, more 70's rock, but the not quite as popular stuff. No Stairway. Also, needs more cowbell beatles. I'm not looking for challenging here. I'm looking solely for fun. I don't think it gets much harder than texas flood. I mean, some of the stuff is artifically harder, but none of them feel realistic, Texas Flood *felt* like I was playing Texas Flood.

Also, an all David Bowie, Peter Murphy/Bauhaus, and Nick Cave collection. I'd be all over that like white on rice. I'd add soy sauce if it was the acoustic shit from Peter Murphey's Alive Just for Love tour. Oh, and I guess they can throw in some old metallica, specifically One or Call of Cthulhu.

Ah...Well yeah, better music selection is a plus.

What's the "fun" part though exactly? The gameplay (i.e. the guitar) or the combination of that and what's seen on the screen (Which I haven't heard much about. Is there a story or something?)?


Get a guitar anyways. You've got a house man. Take advantage. You could crank that shit up (I can't even do that)!

[stray]

*derail in progress*

The Death metal version would be lame. It's just a bunch of downpicking on power chords and bullshit pentatonic leads (with whammy dives in between every three notes or so). For a game I doubt it'd even be as (un)interesting as that.

Whoa. How can something so simple (and I have almost no idea (technically) what you are talking about) sound so good.Death metal that is.

But I prefer Grindcore, not sure if that qualifies as music at all.

Well, it's not so simple right off the bat....


Actually....Yeah it is.

It's "dexterous" though, if that makes sense. That can make it hard to an extent.

[edit] When I think of death metal though, I'm thinking of, say, Slayer on one end, and Deicide on another. Not that I don't like any Death Metal because of this, but most of the riffing and leads aren't very complex. They just sound cool and require some endurance to keep up a whole set with.

Thrash guitarists, on the other hand, like Dimebag, Mustaine, and the like, or general hard rock guitarists like Wylde or Van Halen are doing far more at the same speeds.

I myself prefer to just be slow as a snail.