Guitar hero rocks its way onto the DS and this concert is almost a sucess.
Cons: songs are alright (nothing awesome), 26 songs aren't that many songs, value isn't that great, and only four buttons.
The famous guitar hero series makes its way onto the DS (how is this possible?). So I bought the game and found it to be not all that bad. The game is almost successful and good on its own, but a few cons make it not as nothing as you hope. The game will come with a new peripheral called the guitar grip. The guitar grip goes into the GBA slot and works like the guitar hero controller. This rhythm game is all right.
This game is for the DS and is basically a portable version of guitar hero. If you travel a lot or on the road a lot you might like this game because its good for on the travel. Loyal guitar hero fans may find this enjoyable also and can now play guitar hero anywhere (literally). DS owners may find this fun if they liked the sound track. For the rest of you this review will help determine (I hope).
Controls are very hard to explain so I'll try my best. The game comes with a DS game card, a guitar grip, a pick type stylus, and an instruction book. The guitar grip is like the neck of the guitar hero where the buttons, but smaller (even the buttons). The grip goes into the GBA slot and you put the strap on so it doesn't fall out. The game also comes with an adapter that makes it work on the original DS (thank god or this review wouldn't be here). The game also supports lefty flip.
Now lets check out game play and graphics. The game play uses the DS touch screen (it gives the game a neat new thing). You strum by strumming any where on the touch screen. Your attention mainly goes to the note high way on the left. To activate star power you can push any button (except select and power), Tapping the star power bar, blow gently into the mic (yes it even uses the mic), my favorite is yelling something into the DS (may scare people). The other game play elements are no different (you hit the notes and get a score). The graphics are not all that good (decent on DS standards).
Guitar duels are back and are actually pretty fun. Guitar duels are the same as guitar hero 3. You tap the weapon on the screen to attack but also get attacked. You might have to blow out the fire on the guitar or sign an autograph and much more. It also has two-player mode and the same three modes (face off, Pro face off, and co op), and this is the best thing in the game. It also has a mode where you do guitar battles on each level and you must win to advance. If you beat it then you get the 26th song. Some things I forgot to mention are that there are only four buttons (sucks, but still a good game). There are still four difficulties (easy, medium, hard, and expert). Hard is just about as hard as the average expert level on guitar hero (but only with four buttons), and expert being way too over charted.
Some last things about game play I would like to say. The games learning curve is easy and takes a couple of hours before you get used to it. Use the regular stylus because it works better (the pick sucks). Now I still need to mention sound (important). The majority of songs are master tracks so we don't need to worry about crappy covers that much. The songs themselves aren't awful, but not great rock music. The audio sound actually isn't all that bad (better with head phones).
Some comments I will say about my purchase. I got the game because of two reasons: the guitar grip is certainly adds the most twist to the DS version, and it's a guitar hero game (I like the guitar hero games and many other rhythm type games). The game cost $50 or the edition that comes with the DS is $170 (which isn't good value). I think the game is something you should consider and do a little research on before you buy. I bought it because it offers a lot of songs I like (like all star). I admit the game is very fun and addicting like every guitar hero game has been. So even with not so great set list, lame graphics, and bad value I really enjoyed this game.
-Robby S.