Guitar Hero: On Tour
Review
Guitar Hero Goes Mobile
by Chris Scott
reviewed on NDS
Career mode
The main game is still comprised of mostly the career mode and to play the set list in quickplay you will need to unlock the songs in career. This time around though there are two types of careers. One of the biggest additions to Guitar Hero III, boss battles, gets its own mode in Guitar Hero: On Tour, with the new career structured Guitar Duels mode. While the idea is sound the execution on the small screens of the DS will leave you wanting. Due to the limitations of the small screens you never see your opponents' notes coming down the screen. The only indication that you as a player ever get that you are doing well, is the tug-of-war slider bar at the top of the screen and your opponents score. Thumbs up to Vicarious Visions for attempting something new but this seems like something that might be better suited to the console versions. And much like Guitar Hero III, Guitar Hero: On Tour allows you to take your show online and pit yourself in a variety of online modes via The DS's built in WiFi.
Gamers will still have four levels of difficulty to play through although the hard and expert difficulties are changed due to the absence of the orange fret. The difficulty itself is kind of hit and miss. On the one hand due to the lack of the fifth fret the game is inherently easier for experienced players but the strum detection may cause the game to be unfairly harder. Regardless what it all comes down to, in the end it's all about the song selection and Guitar Hero: On Tour does a passable job on that front.
Songs, sounds and graphics
The song list in the Guitar Hero games is always the subject of hot debate and Guitar Hero: On Tour is going to be no exception. The biggest cause for likely complaint is the use of songs that have previously been used in the console games. Songs like Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", Kiss's "Rock and Roll All Nite" and Santana's "Black Magic Woman", amongst others, are all reused for this portable version and while they are certainly still fun to play their inclusion seems lazy, especially when you consider that there are only 25 songs total.
The songs that are not duplicates are a mixed bag as well, songs like the Steve Miller Band's "Jet Airliner", The Doobie Brothers' "China Grove" and Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild" are all a blast to play and certainly rock but the inclusion of Smash Mouth's "All Star" and Maroon 5's "This Love" seem like Vicarious Visions may have been trying to skew the title a little more casual than previous iterations. In the end the core gameplay is fun enough that even if you do not love the "Stray Cat Strut" you'll probably have a good enough time playing it.
The biggest complaint - and it is a big one considering this is a music game - is the sound quality. The DS speakers weren't designed to output at loud volumes so the music from Guitar Hero: On Tour doesn't sound excellent, but this is easily remedied by plugging in a set of headphones. Once the headphones are in the music sounds about radio quality, which is nothing to sneeze at, and Vicarious Visions should be commended for their masterful compression of the tracks. However if you don't have a pair of headphones the music will sound low quality and a little tinny.
I would be remiss if I didn't touch a little bit on the graphics. Much like the set list they are a mixed bag. The touchpad screen which features the guitar, star power meter, multiplier box and score tab are all very well modeled. The strings on the guitar vibrate as you strum and everything looks very nice. By contrast the fret board and stage area in the background look mediocre at best. All the on stage characters move like robots, Guitar Hero III's drummer looks lifelike when compared to Guitar Hero: On Tour's animations. Luckily the fret board is handled well and if you are playing the game you won't be looking at Mr. Roboto and his backing band of cybertronic musicians.
Fun
In the end Guitar Hero: On Tour is a success. It brings the fun, core gameplay of the Guitar Hero franchise to the portable screen and is a blast to play. The fact that -even without the performance aspect- the game is still so much fun speaks volumes about the core gameplay of Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero is fun, be it at home or On Tour.
7.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
