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60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastically Fun for All Ages, July 3, 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Guitar Hero On Tour brings the fun of Guitar Hero strumming to the Nintendo DS. I am really amazed at what they packed into this small handheld unit, even with its few quirks.
The game comes with a four-button attachment that lets you push the buttons, much as on the guitar controller for the larger consoles. The unit is made for the DS Lite, and tells you to unscrew parts if you have a regular DS. To test this, we tracked down a small screwdriver (a normal one won't fit) and unscrewed the screws. Then one of the screws wouldn't screw back in on the regular connector. After some fiddling I finally had to tape that screw down in place to get it to work. Not a great sign.
On to gameplay. It's a little awkward to hold your hand around the DS unit and get your fingers onto the buttons. One of the very first screens that appears is a warning about hand cramps - to only play for short periods of time! Hah, how many gamers do that? I see a LOT of cramped hands in the future for this game. If your hand isn't JUST the right size, it will be too long, too short, too fat, too thin for this setup. They could have included various foam inserts or something to help out.
On to gameplay. There are five venues with five songs apiece, and four difficulty levels. I whipped through easy in a few hours, no problems. I then popped into the free-play mode to test out songs on the harder levels. I only started running into any trouble once I hit expert. Now, I've been playing all the other games for quite some time, so I'm well versed with button pushing. I imagine newbies will find the easy levels challenging. Those of you who are Guitar Hero fans, though, know that you'll have to wade through a fair amount of non-challenging gameplay to get up to the more fun levels.
The songs? Here you go: Do what you want, All the small things, Spiderwebs, Are you gonna be my girl, We're not gonna take it, All star, Breed, Jesse's Girl, Hit me with your bst shot, This love, Heaven, Helicopter, China grove, Rock and roll all nite, What I want, Jet airliner, Black magic woman, Stray cat strut, La grange, Youth gone wild, I don't wanna stop, Anna molly, Knock me down, Pride and joy, I know a little.
What's funny about these games is how different people love and hate different songs. Some people might say "I really hate playing XXX and YYY!!" while someone else would say "The only reason I play is to sing along with XXX and YYY!" So they have to do their best to balance the songs out. For example, I really love La Grange, Stray Cat Strut, Pride and Joy and This Love. That's just me. I'm sure other people hate those songs :) Something for everyone!
Ironically in most guitar hero games it's the fingering I have to work on in the hard songs - but here the strumming was killing me. I never have problems strumming!! Getting the little pick to "strum" on the screen would always either miss the right screen area or hit the main screen when I was trying to tag the star power area. I didn't feel like screaming at the mic to activate the star power (which is muffled under your hand).
Also, the DS unit is moving wildly while you're strumming unless you hold it down against something - in my case I held it against my stomach. Anything solid will do.
The DS speakers are a bit tinny, but it sounds much better through headphones. Invest in a good pair to enjoy the music. Not Bose stereo quality sound, but it's still quite fun.
It's also quite intuitive. I sprang the Kiss song on my boyfriend who is a guitar player and had played the console games, but had never seen this DS version before. I didn't give him any instructions at all. He didn't blink an eye and played right through the song with almost a perfect score, figuring out immediately how to play and strum. The only thing he didn't get was activating the star power - he was shaking the DS unit :)
Highly recommended for pretty much anyone. The gameplay is easy to figure out, the songs are fun, and you can take it anywhere. Yes, the console versions are better with the full guitar, and the larger song lists, and better sound quality - but remember, this is specifically portable. For a portable version I don't know that they really could have gotten much better. Better grip options is pretty much all I can come up with as a suggestion for next time.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally! A way to get your fix no matter where you are!, June 23, 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
The Guitar Hero series has been selling in mass quantities for years now, captivating gamers and non-gamers alike. It's intuitive and addictive gameplay has always been its stongest feature. Who hasn't spent at least some part of their lives wishing they were a rock star? Guitar Hero gives everyone the opportunity to live out their rock 'n' roll fantasies in the comfort of their own living rooms. With Guitar Hero On Tour, Activision is branching out into the handheld market with a unique experience that still maintains the look and feel of the console versions of the series. The result is something that has a few quirks and inconveniences, but still manages to please even the most die hard Guitar Hero fan.
Of course, the most intriguing part of Guitar Hero On Tour is the newly-designed guitar grip, a clever peripheral that recreates the feel of the Guitar Hero fret buttons in a relatively compact package. The peripheral plugs into the GBA slot of your Nintendo DS and has a strap that allows you to strap in while playing. The fret buttons themselves are about half the size of your standard Guitar Hero controller, and Red Octane and Vicarious Visions have smartly chosen to shrink the number of buttons down from 5 to 4. Because of the relatively small size of the bottons, it can be tough to get your fingers to hit the buttons that you want them to sometimes. My fingers are in no way fat, yet I still find that I could hit two buttons with one finger easily. A lot of missed notes ensue if I don't stay on my game.
In addition to this complaint, I've also had a tough time getting used to the grip. My hands are slighly larger than normal and try as I might, I just can't find a "normal" way to hold the grip that doesn't result in a painful hand cramp. Personally, I've started playing with a 1-inch rubber ball in my palm to complement the natural curviture of my hand. I've also learned that if I don't have the bottom of the DS pressed up against my abdomen, that my accuracy drops due to furious shaking of the DS that can occur when tackling a particularly rockin' part of a song. It's definitely not the most convenient way to play a video game, but I've learned to make it work. On a positive note, Guitar Hero On Tour also comes with a special pick-shaped stylus that works perfectly. I literally could not imagine playing this game with a regular DS stylus.
The song list on the game is not my favorite collection of tunes, but for the casual crowd that the Ninendo DS seems to attract, I can see how it would be a smart move for the developers. The better tracks on the game include "Anna Molly" by Incubus, "Helicopter" by Bloc Party, and Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Pride and Joy." The balance things out (or cater to the casual folks), there's also Smash Mouth's "Rock Star" and Blink 182's "All the Small Things." It's not a terrible collection of songs by any means, but not nearly as challenging as its console brethren. Of course, this is also probably related to the guitar grip, which limits your ability to "rock out" as fluidly as you would normally. In addition, the songs have been compressed to fit them all on the DS cartridge. That results in less than stellar sound quality obviously, and headphones don't really fix the problem at all. Still, with 25 songs (most of them master tracks, most of them unique to this version of Guitar Hero), there's not a whole lot to complain about with the songs.
Looking at Vicarious Visions' past games, I was a little skeptical of how the development team could do with the Guitar Hero franchise on a handheld. But they have far surpassed my expectations with this game! Over a year of development, testing, and tweaking have resulted in a handheld game that truly does feel like Guitar Hero! All the staple features of the game are there: career mode, the shop, quickplay, and co-op multiplayer via local wireless. This version also introduces the guitar duel feature which is similar to battle mode on Guitar Hero 3. Players can play in this mode against the CPU or against other players using local wireless connection. Unfortunately, there is no option for online play, but that's not entirely surprising considering the lag problems with Nintendo's Wif-Fi Connect service.
The strumming motion that players are required to make over the DS touch screen feels entirely natural, and really adds a new level of excitement to the franchise. To whammy, players simply hold out the note with the fret keys and move the pick back and forth over the screen. I've run into the problem a few times where the note will end in mid-whammy, which then turns my fast whammy into a frantic strum and a whole lot of missed notes. A small oversight, but players should be able to adapt and correct themselves in no time! I was also a bit disappointed that the game doesn't come with its own standard-sized DS box, only a small case about the size of the cartridge itself. Considering how often I lose things, and how small the cartridge is, this can't bode well.
But for the most part, Guitar Hero On Tour is still a fun handheld version of an incredibly addictive game. The console versions of Guitar Hero focus on recreating the feel of playing a guitar. This version focuses more on recreating the feel of playing Guitar Hero, rather than the guitar. There is a bit of a learning curve, even for seasoned Gutar Heroes. Personally, I hopped right into Expert and was able to get 4 or 5 star scores by the the 5th song or so. There are a few hurdles to jump over, and a few quirks to deal with, but Guitar Hero On Tour is a great way to get your Guitar Hero fix no matter where you are! For me, it was totally worth the purchase!
7 out of 10 Stars
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
DS GH brings innovation to the strum action and battle system, June 24, 2008
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Track List
ALL STAR
ALL THE SMALL THINGS
ANNA MOLLY
ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL?
BLACK MAGIC WOMAN
BREED
CHINA GROVE
DO WHAT YOU WANT
HEAVEN
HELICOPTER
HIT ME W/ YOUR BEST SHOT
I DON'T WANNA STOP
I KNOW A LITTLE
JESSIES GIRL
JET AIRLINER
KNOCK ME DOWN
YOUTH GONE WILD
WHAT I WANT
WERE NOT GONNA TAKE IT
THIS LOVE
STRAY CAT STRUT
SPIDERWEBS
LA GRANGE
PRIDE AND JOY
ROCK N ROLL ALL NITE
The adapter for the DS PHAT works great possibly better as it goes deeper into the gameboy slot than the LITE adapter piece, I have noticed when using the strap that it is possible to dislodge the handpiece if you have it on tightly. I have better luck just putting my hand over the strap and way less hand cramping with this method. The song list is what it is with some choice cuts and some that we have had before and some we could do without, you be the judge of which ones could go.
On Tour for the DS really shines in its battle/duel mode for every song, where you have 12 different tricks to pull on your opponent. One of which involves blowing out a fire through the mic, and another which has you signing a fans tshirt. The touch screen pick action is also a welcome addition as it really feels like picking at notes, more so than the traditional rhythm bar of GH guitars. Even the touch screen whammy bar controls great, as do the standard hammer ons and pull offs. The mic driven star power is very responsive even with the phats mic in an awkward place under the pick hand (just turn up the sensitivity). On Tour DS is a welcome addititon to the GH franchise one that adds more than a few new tunes and characters with its touch screen use and battle system. My only complaint is the rehashed songs but at least they are some of the better ones from III.
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