Hit The Road, Jack

About a week after receiving my copy of Guitar Hero 3 for Wii, I got Guitar Hero On Tour for DS, too. Actually, I’d pre-ordered the DS version a while back, before I expected to own a Wii, and kind of forgot about it in the excitement of getting my Wii up and running (and purchasing roughly $10,000 worth of accessories). At the time I ordered the DS version, I figured it would be the closest I’d get to the GH franchise. So while it’s not as exciting now that I have a full-size version, I was still intrigued to see how the mini-version worked and how it stacked up.

Guitar Hero On Tour comes with a peripheral device – a small plastic cuff that clips over the bottom half of the DS and clicks into the Game Boy Connect slot. The DS is held vertically for this game, and you can flip it to lefty mode if you’re left-handed. There’s a Velcro cuff, which you put your hand through and fasten over the widest part of your hand, so your left (if you’re a righty) hand essentially grips the right (touch screen) side of the DS, with your fingertips on four small buttons that rest on the right edge of the DS. You use your right hand to strum the touch screen using a pick-shaped stylus that clicks into the peripheral when not in use. Sticker sheets allow you to customize your cuff if you so desire (I added some flames, green wings, and a smirking cat to mine).

The basic functionality will be intuitive to anyone who’s played GH before. You’ll be watching the left screen to see the familiar display of notes scrolling toward you. The right screen shows a guitar; simply strum anywhere on the touch screen while holding down the correct buttons. To activate the whammy bar, just scoot the stylus back and forth while holding it down. Hitting star-shaped notes builds your Star Power, which provides a point boost; when your Star Power is ready, blow into the microphone, scream “METAL RULEZ!!!” at the top of your lungs, or mash any of the buttons on the DS to activate it.

It can’t be easy to translate a full-size guitar into a small, portable device, and overall I think they came up with a good concept for doing it. The execution, however, leaves a bit to be desired. The cuff doesn’t lock in as securely as you might wish, and vigorous play or flexing one’s aching hand will cause it to rock out of its connection point a bit. If it comes loose, you’ll get an error message saying “you’ve rocked too hard,” and you’ll have to restart the game. Just in case, check it and push it back down after every song. The hand strap is kind of fiddly and requires some adjusting to figure out the best way to arrange it on your hand; it’s better to bind it as tightly as you can, because if it’s loose, the console will shift wildly and you won’t be able to recover your grip on the correct buttons. I played for a couple of hours and didn’t find it as painful as an equivalent time on GH3, finger-cramp-wise, but it does make your wrist ache because you have to hold it at an unnatural angle to view the screen and strum with the stylus simultaneously. I found that it helped to put a pillow on my lap to prop up my left wrist, so it wasn’t bearing the weight of the DS and my right hand bearing down on the screen – not very rock-star, but it helps.

I found that the game was oddly unresponsive to the pick stylus in any mode but song-playing. Whether you’re picking a band name (8-character limit, so “Satan’s Ashtray” had to become “Dethblud”), toggling through menus, or scrolling down for more information, the touch screen often doesn’t register your selection, even when you’re pressing directly on the button you want. It’s very frustrating and makes navigating through the menus a lot slower than it needs to be, when you’re forced to jab your stylus repeatedly all over the target area to make a selection.

As with other GH games, there’s a Career mode and Quickplay. In Career mode, you name your band and go through a (fairly thin) storyline, explained by letters from your manager. Your first gig is in a subway station, which starts out with some fun songs like “Do What You Want” by OK Go. From there, you play a rooftop show, then on a tacky octopus float in some parade high above the city streets. Your band becomes huge and goes to play an (apparently) Greek arena, and finally, the power of your rock flows across international waters as you play on the deck of a battleship. The graphics aren’t bad, considering the format, and really, all you have time to look at when you’re playing is the notes, anyway. You can choose from a handful of playable characters, some familiar and some new, and unlock additional costumes, guitars, and guitar skins. There are 26 songs, and you have to beat them all to progress through the levels and beat the game.

For $49.99, this is reasonably priced, considering that it includes the cuff peripheral, game, an extra pick, and stickers to decorate with. If you don’t have a Guitar Hero game and want an affordable, portable way to try the series out, this could be a good option for you, but make no mistake, the full-size version is way more fun. If you do own Guitar Hero for another console, you’ll probably be disappointed by the limitations of this version, but it could be fun as a portable version to take on the road so you can brush up on your rock anytime.

Song List:

"All Star" Smash Mouth
"All the Small Things" Blink-182
"Anna Molly" Incubus
"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" Jet
"Black Magic Woman" Santana
"Breed" Nirvana
"China Grove" Doobie Brothers
"Do What You Want" OK Go
"Heaven" Los Lonely Boys
"Helicopter" Bloc Party
"Hit Me with Your Best Shot" Pat Benatar
"I Don't Wanna Stop" Ozzy Osbourne
"I Am Not Your Gameboy" Freezepop
"I Know a Little" Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Jessie's Girl" Rick Springfield
"Jet Airliner" Steve Miller Band
"Knock Me Down" Red Hot Chili Peppers
"La Grange" ZZ Top
"Pride and Joy" Stevie Ray Vaughan
"Rock and Roll All Nite" Kiss
"Spiderwebs" No Doubt
"Stray Cat Strut" Stray Cats
"This Love" Maroon 5
"We're Not Gonna Take It" Twisted Sister
"What I Want" Daughtry featuring Slash
"Youth Gone Wild" Skid Row