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The Guitar Hero franchise has gone from
strength-to-strength on the home consoles. Downloadable Content,
three full editions and the recently released
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,
 as well as Guitar Hero: Rock the
80’s on the PlayStation2 and the forthcoming
Guitar Hero: World Tour. With this kind of success, many had predicted
Activision would find a way to bring the series to the NintendoDS.
Rumours ranging from full-sized attachments to miniature Guitar
Controllers, to simply using the NintendoDS Face Buttons had been
rumoured until the official announcement came in March.
The gameplay premise is exactly the same as that seen
in the home console versions. The NintendoDS is held sideways,
similarly to with the Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training series,
and coloured dots scroll down the left screen. These dots
correspond to one of the four Fret Buttons on the included Guitar
Grip. The player must hold the correct Fret Button detailed
on-screen whilst stroking the Touch Screen to simulate strumming.
The Easy setting only requires use of three of the Fret Buttons,
whilst Medium, Hard and Expert difficulties require all four and
get progressively closer to playing along with every note in the
guitar part of each chose track.
The Scoring System is identical to that of
Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock. The player will be granted with a
score Multiplier for every ten notes hit consecutively, with 2x and
4x available normally, and 6x and 8x when using your gathered Star
Power. Star Power is gathered by hitting every note in special
sequences denoted by star-shaped dots. When enough is gathered, the
player can shout into the Microphone to use the Star Power, and
either boost their score of possibly save them from failing their
current track.
The Set List is brief compared to the home console versions, but
comes as little shock, given the NintendoDS’s Game Cards hold far
less data than a DVD. What is a shock is the quality of the sound.
Many may be expecting a tiny quality equivalent to titles such as
Jam Sessions and Elite Beat Agents, but
Guitar Hero: On Tour – while still stripped-down equivalents of their
original recordings – offers twenty-five full length tracks with
the best clarity yet seen on the console.
The title uses the NintendoDS’s unique features fairly well.
Special Attacks in the available Duel Mode utilise both the Touch
Screen and the Microphone, and in basic play both are used as basic
play components. In addition, closing the NintendoDS will not only
Pause your game, but also lead you in for a few seconds upon
reopening before asking you to hit a note.
There are issues with the title, however. The lack of an option to
use the NintendoDS’s Face Buttons, as awkward as it would be, will
be lamented by some, and the minimal Set List and unlockables
totals won’t keep perfectionists busy for long. One of the biggest
difficulties with Guitar Hero: On Tour is it’s ability to
induce cramps. When starting, just getting through one track can be
a struggle and although extended play time will obviously lessen
the issue, it’s certainly a hefty barrier for entry.
While Guitar Hero: On Tour does incredibly well to imitate
the Guitar Hero aesthetic – at which, in-fact, it is a
complete success – the lack of detail will be
 disappointing to
those having experienced some of the better looking titles on the
NintendoDS. Decent enough 3D Character Models on-stage are backed
by jagged featureless humanoid shapes and stages with inexcusable
amounts of Polygon Pop-Up. The Touch Screen details a Guitar in 2D,
and is animated well. As stated above, the sound quality is
fantastic, and demonstrates that Vicarious Visions had their
priorities straight when developing the title.
Exactly how Guitar Hero: On Tour would work may have had
many people confused for quite some time, however, those who
question the validity of Guitar Hero on the NintendoDS
without a Guitar Controller are they themselves missing the point
of the franchise. In itself, the Guitar Hero series is
little more than a revamp of any peripheral-based Rhythm game;
Donkey Konga, Samba de Amigo and countless Dance Mat
games. Adding to this is the utmost “coolness” that the franchise
has bought to such games. No doubt, the Guitar Controller did play
some part in establishing the aforementioned sense of “cool”, but
only a few years later, Guitar Hero has become a distinctive
part of gaming culture, with instantly recognisable characters and
artwork, and therefore Guitar Hero: On Tour plays a fine
game of Guitar Hero, without the imitation of a Guitar seen
on home consoles. Guitar Hero: On Tour may not be as
rewarding, or feature the same life-span, as the Current-Generation
releases, but it’s certainly an enjoyable handheld experience in
its own right. |
