I cannot play the guitar, as evidenced by this photo in which I am holding the thing upside down (apparently.) And then there is my son, who was so obsessed with a pink ukulele that when he randomly found a $20 bill mere feet from a store selling pink ukuleles - right after I told him I wouldn't use my money to buy him one - he purchased it himself. (I mean, how could he not given that the gods were apparently smiling down on him?)
So when Mom Central put out a call to try Guitar Hero for the DS, of course I responded. Not because I think I'm a rock-star, but because I clearly need the help. More so, I wanted to try out these games because I knew my boys would be interested. After all, they spent a good portion of Thanksgiving watching my brother play Guitar Hero on his Playstation.
I figured, if my brother can do it, so can I! (But, um, apparently he's the one who got the guitar talent.)
We received free-for-review both Guitar Hero: Modern Hits and Guitar Hero: Decades. These versions are for DS and include a modification piece for those who have the original DS. (The various Guitar Hero DS games are not yet compatible with the DSi.) We have the DS-lite, so didn't need the modification piece. The game comes with a grip, a pic, and then a bunch of stickers. It also has "skins" for the grip - and apparently more skins can be obtained separately.
Thankfully, extra guitar pic styluses are available to purchase. Although the grip has a handy place to stow the pic, I anticipate my boys might not remember to dock-the-pic so might end up losing theirs. Also, it is possible to purchase an additional Guitar Hero grip controller in the event that you rock out a bit too hard and end up jamming the fret buttons. But honestly, I think it would take quite a lot to damage the controller; it seemed pretty sturdy to me.
But you want to know about the game itself, don't you?
My youngest son and I tried it out first. He just turned five, so it turned out to be a challenge for him. I did the fret buttons while he "strummed" using the guitar pic stylus. This collaboration worked pretty well. He tried it on his own for awhile, but was frustrated. (This game is technically for age 10 and above, so it makes sense that a 5 year old might be pretty challenged.) I did it awhile on my own, too. Pressing the button and strumming at the same time requires quite a bit of hand-eye coordination. I know teenagers would laugh at me since their reviews of the same product say how super-easy the "easy" mode is, but it was plenty challenging for me.
Since my guitar knowledge is so non-existent, I had to figure out what to do: hold down the fret button the moment the colored circle reaches the "current" part of the timeline, and strum (on the touch-screen using the pic stylus) simultaneously. Long lines mean to hold down the button until the end of the line reaches the "current" part of the timeline. I still haven't figured out some of the extra icons (water, fire) and exactly how to use the various "power-up" type things, but that's because I'm still at a level that requires getting the basic moves down. Still, I've earned a bunch of "multipliers" by playing a lot of correct notes in a row (before I totally bail) so my scores haven't been horrific.
I have confidence that I'll soon get to a proficient enough level to actually have a "career" and thus "go on tour" or even do a guitar duel. My boys and I had lots of fun doing the various multi-player modes, such as a collaboration (one on lead guitar, the other on support) or a competition. We haven't yet tried the "guitar duel" mode because that involves not only playing the guitar, but also dealing with a variety of distractions, such as being blinded by flash photography, providing an autograph to a fan, fixing a broken guitar string, putting out a fire, and other such unfortunate events. I imagine this will become a favorite mode once we're practiced enough in the more straightforward modes to multitask!
The multiplayer modes allow song-sharing; so this means that when both versions are in the respective DS consoles, the song list is effectively doubled. The song list is not limited to the collection of the "host" DS. Although the "host" has the most control in the multiplayer games, the options therein can allow those who "join" to be lead guitar instead of the "host" so the actual playing isn't affected by who "hosts" once the settings are mutually agreed upon.
In terms of "stats" Guitar Hero: Modern Hits has a playlist of 28 songs, 5 venues, and a bunch of new characters in addition to those in the previous versions. Modern Hits also adds "fan requests" which enable the star to build up a bigger fan base. This version includes more control in the "career" mode than in previous versions, too.
Although my 8.5 year old son was a bit reluctant to try the game, my description of the "guitar duel" has piqued his interest. He's done "catch the falling item" type games before, so my guess is that his ability to catch the falling note while strumming will probably be rather high. I bet he gets the hang of it pretty quickly.
Now I'm off to go practice -- gotta keep my future fans happy!
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I received both Guitar Hero: Modern Hits and Guitar Hero: Decades free-for-review thanks to Mom Central. I was not required to post a positive review. The words above are my own. Thanks Mom Central and Nintendo!
