April 2006

You know what they say: when you give something up, replace it with something else. Well, since I can't drink for six months, and since I got me a nice new job, I treated myself to a new video game. This isn't just any video game - it's $70 price tag assures you of that - this is educational.

This game teaches you how to rock. Of course I'm talking about Guitar Hero.

Guitar Hero is a game in which you play some of your favorite classic rock songs and earn points for doing it. The game comes with a guitar that serves as your controller. It has five colored buttons, a strumming button and a freakin' whammy bar.

Here's what the screen looks like during a game:
So when the colored dots get to the bottom, you have to press that color button on your "fretboard" and hit your strum bar at the same time, otherwise the song sounds like shit and the crowd will start to boo you (that's where the meter on the right comes in). The box on the left is for your points, which get multiplied (X3) the longer you play every note (a streak). At the end of the song, assuming you get through it, you are awarded the points, receive a review in a rock mag and get cash for the gig, which you can use to buy a new guitar, new songs, etc.

The background is your show as you're playing it. If you're really rocking, your character will do all kinds of crazy moves like throwing the guitar in the air, setting it on fire and, of course, smashing it at the end of the song. It's awesome and incredibly addictive.

And, if your friend has the game too, you can play 2 player and go head-to-head in a rock challenge. One of my friends has this, but we have yet to get together to rock.
The songs include "Smoke on the Water", "Ironman", "I Wanna Be Sedated", "Ziggy Stardust" (with an additional guitar solo), Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" (Awesome) and many more!

I find myself getting excited by a Sum 41 song on the game, or bobbing my head as I play "More Than A Feeling". It's just the best video game there is until they create a drum set and do Drum God or something like that. Anyway, if you have a PS2, I highly recommend getting this.