Maybe I'm out of touch when with modern fun. I like this game.
First of all if you master this game strumming with the right hand and playing the frets with the right switch it up. This game will give you a pretty good value for the money if you do this.
Like any Guitar Hero on one screen colored notes roll down what looks like a fret board and you press the colored button that coordinates with the color on screen when it crosses a certain line on the screen and strum the touch screen (with the provided pick). You blow in the mic when the special meter is high enough which can be tripped off too easily and is too hard to do sometimes but you can adjust the mic so at least it won't get set off by accident when you want to save it up.
The touch screen houses a guitar as well as your score,string bends, combo meter and audience satisfaction meter. The combo meter isn't placed well imo it ends up hiding behind your hand when picking. Also when alternate picking or picking "back and forth" you need to be very accurate and without any tactile feel as to where you're strumming it' tough sometimes.
Aside from the two screens the DS Guitar Controller is a comfortable piece of hardware. Although it can disembody itself from the DS a bit easily it's generally not that bad of a problem. At least for me. One last sidenote is that sometimes my fingers get pinched between the plastic buttons and the Guitar Controller casing, but that's fixed by adjusting hand the strap on the back of it.
In terms of Single Player content there's plenty. you can go through the career mode on all difficulty levels and try to unlock everything. You're performances are awarded 3-5 star ratings if you complete them. The higher the rating the more money you get to buy unlockables.
Then there's Guitar Duel where again you can try to beat the computer player on all skill levels but you battle them directly sending weapons that'll cur strings (which you reattach on the touch screen), set the guitar on fire (which you would blow out through the mic), make you sign a T-Shirt before you continue playing, and a bunch of other power-ups. It's more involved than career mode and you can only play the songs you've unlocked in that mode. So go through the career at least once before you take on Guitar Duel.
There's also the typical Quickplay and Practice. Quickplay is what it sounds like and Practice is pretty much too. Though it takes a little too long to start up and re-start up the section of the song you're practicing. Finally the Tutorial mode walks you through everything in the game and when you start career mode you are given the option to take a tutorial. So it's good for all beginners.
Multiplayer is basically Guitar Duel but each player can pick the difficulty they play on which works as a nice handicap to level any field.
The typical Guitar Hero humor and presentation and sound effects are all in check. The game looks good though the characters don't usually sync up with what's going on in the song at least the surroundings and the character models themselves look the part. The sound is fine too. You hear what needs to be heard, the songs are all enjoyable, and the fidelity really doesn't matter that much it works more than well enough especially with headphones.
I'm having a fun time with this game. I liked the other Guitar Hero games and playing those at friend's houses and Rock Band.... I like all music games. But in short this game works as a very serviceable portable Guitar Hero.