Guitar Hero: On Tour

June 23,2008 - Have you ever sat there at the bus stop, waiting room or in between classes, strumming way with your mp3 player in-hand? Many people have. Activision has you covered now as they introduce Guitar Hero to the Nintendo DS with On Tour. There are a few other games that mimic playing a guitar, but GH: On Tour bests those games and also offers up a worthy Guitar Hero experience.

The plastic guitar is iconic now (to a degree) when it comes to faux rocking. After showing off a potential peripheral that mimicked a ukulele more than a guitar, the Guitar Grip comes packaged with On Tour, as well as a pick stylus. So many things could have gone wrong but the adaptation is a successful one. The grip plugs into the DS’ game pack and uses an adapter if you are using an original DS.

For the most part, the grip is comfortable. An un-itchy strap keeps you locked onto the grip as your fingers come around the DS to tap the four fret buttons. The exclusion of the orange fret was a wise design choice. An orange fret would have given an uncomfortable experience to owners of the game. After settling in the grip, you use the pick stylus to strum along as the notes pass.

It works as well as it should, though quicker notes present problems where a console version would not. There were times where it seemed the touch screen wasn’t able to keep up with our strumming. You also have to strum as close to the neck image you can get. Straying too far off will negate any touch applied to the screen. It’s tricky to keep it still because between tapping the frets and swiping the screen, the DS will move around a bit. If it were not a game that required so much attention, we wouldn’t bring it up, but it is.

There is also an issue with the whammy bar. To use it, you may waggle the stylus back and forth, yell or blow into the microphone, or tap the Star Power meter. When waggling, you can’t do it until the end if there is a note following the sustain. Doing so will make you inadvertently strum a note prematurely. You are best off tapping the meter or using the microphone.

The Guitar Duels in Guitar Hero III were a bit of a bust but On Tour continues the battling with some improvements. It isn’t as dull and – thankfully – never enforced. And because of the DS technology the duels are a bit more fun. You have the old attacks but introduced are ones such as an autograph session, where an overzealous fan forces a shirt upon you to sign, and a fire attack, requiring you to blow out a fire on the guitar by blowing into the microphone. Offered in multiplayer, there is an entire career section where you can play every song with attacks in place.

Speaking of battling, you won’t be playing the exact same characters as before. Judy Nails, Johnny Napalm and Axel Steel return, but On Tour gives some new characters. Pandora fans will enjoy the triumphant return of the dark queen (or emo queen, whichever you prefer). Memphis Rose, a Southern “belle”, and Gunner Jaxon, a grunge head, are the brand new additions. The drummer has also been given a make-over, or replacement, and the bassist has been dropped for what we can only guess would be space issues. The singer will now be laying down the bass grooves.

On Tour also offers a solid playlist and even better, a vast number of master recordings. Some tracks have been taken from Guitar Hero III, and even Rock Band, but most are new. Incubus’ “Anna Molly”, OK Go’s “Do What You Want” and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Knock Me Down” are just some of the new tracks. It’s also nice to see that some of the reused tracks have been replaced with master recordings.

To get optimal sound out of the game, use headphones. The game stresses it and we’re here to push that further. It sounds just fine over the DS speakers but there is too much scratch included. You can still hear some with headphones on (too much rock for the DS we suppose) but at least it will be noticeably less. The graphics could have been just a bit better, even if it was just polishing, but it doesn’t look too bad for a DS game.

Multiplayer is a decent experience and a good way to extend the life of the game’s 25 tracks. Lag will depend on your internet connection but for the most part you should be fine. We mentioned you can compete in Guitar Duels, but you can also do battle in Face-offs or play nice in co-op.

So Guitar Hero On Tour manages to be more than a pimping out of the series and more than just a dumbed-down version of its console cousins. With only 25 tracks, it is a great addition to your DS library and a solid title within the Guitar Hero franchise. And at $50, only a $15 mark-up on the usual Triple-A DS title, it is worth your money.

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