Platform: PS2
ESRB Rating: Teen

Have you ever wanted to play the guitar? Or have you ever caught yourself doing ?air guitar?? If you answered yes to these questions or enjoy rhythm games you may want to consider adding Guitar Hero to your game collection.

How do I play?

There are three tutorials that will show you the basics, how to gain and use star power, and advance techniques. I highly recommend watching all three! If you just want to dive in and jam there is a quick play mode. As you advance in the career mode it will unlock more songs for quick play.

How do I become a guitar hero?

In the career mode you get to select your difficulty (easy, medium, hard, expert), character, and their guitar (they only offer Gibsons). There are six venues to play in and in order to advance to the next you have to beat four out of five songs, except for the last venue where you have to beat all five to win. The easy difficulty does not pay you anything and it only has twenty-five instead of thirty songs.

Unlockables

You earn money based on how well you do at beating songs. You can get 3-5 stars per performance and if you improve on an older rank you will get the difference added to your wallet. There are many things to unlock including songs, guitars, guitar skins, characters and documentary videos.

Graphics

The graphics look smooth and the band and venues are nicely detailed and animated, though most of the time you?ll be looking at the fret bar in the center and the notes flying at you. One disappointment is that the graphics lag every now and then. It?s not enough to mess you up, but it is noticeable.

Sound

This game is all about Rock n\' Roll and making music so of course it\'s gotta be good! I will say that this game does an excellent job at making the song sound good or bad depending on how well you play it. The guitar solos can sound great and if you mess up you will hear a mis-strum or an awkwardly extended drum solo. All the music is done by cover bands, but they sound great. You can expect to play tunes from Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Ozzy Ozbourne, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Megadeth, and many others. There are many popular songs to play and many will get stuck in your head. Some that kept getting in my head were Smoke on the Water, Killer Queen, More than a Feeling, Infected, and Iron Man. I Love Rock N? Roll is one of the first songs you can play, and the songs get more challenging as you progress in your career. Soon you?ll have a chance to play Crossroads or Bark at the Moon.

Controls

The main selling point of this game is the guitar controller that comes with it. There are five colored fret buttons. You will only use three in easy, four in medium and all five in hard or expert mode. The whammy bar is a nice touch as well. Lefty\'s will not be left out since the game has a lefty flip option. To use star power you have to flip the guitar upwards like a real rock star; the sensor that does that is rather nifty in my opinion. You can also play with a standard PS2 controller, but what fun is that?

Appropriateness

If you don\'t like Rock n\' Roll or Heavy guitar music than you might not like this game. There are some lighter songs but a majority of the music is hard rock. With that being said let?s talk about lyrics. There?s a song called Take it Off which is sung by a female band and it is talking about having her preferred suitor?s clothes removed. There?s another song called Cheat on the Church which is talking about a greedy pastor asking his patrons to dig deeper in their wallets for him. Then there?s a song called Cowboy\'s from Hell, the title alone may offend some people. Other than that there are references to drinking and groupies etc. There are some dark characters, one of the unlockables is a grim reaper and the other wears a skull over his groin area. The guy with a skull over his belt has a 5 pointed star in a circle on his guitar fret bar. There is also headbanging and the ?devil horns? hand gesture throughout the game. Finally, the female guitar characters do wear tight clothing.

Final Thoughts

This game is incredibly fun and addictive I will not deny that. I haven?t played it multiplayer but it is an option. This game is great for parties provided that the music won?t offend anyone. I do look forward to sequels, depending on song content. I just wish a few songs were left out or exchanged for their unnecessary content.

Final Ratings

Game Play 20/20 Graphics 8/10 Sound 10/10 Stability 4/5 Controls 5/5 Appropriateness Minor Swear Words are used throughout the game (-2.5 pts) Sexual references are made throughout the game. (-3.5 pts) Characters clothing is sexy or accentuates their sexuality (Ex. tight clothing or low cleavage) (-1.5 pts) Game portrays rebellion against established cultural norms. (-1.5 pts) Game takes place in an environment with minor occult references. (-3 pts)

Final Score 85%