faragher
29-03-2008, 10:53 PM
Cut and paste for great justice!
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We got a Wii. There was a kind of logic to it. I've always been a bit of a gamer, and my wife isn't really. I wanted to avoid the "haven't you got better things to do" conversation by getting her interested in gaming. Simple really.
I got some serious games and some casual games. I expected her to embrace the Wii Play stuff and leave the 'proper' gaming to me. How wrong I was - I knew the worm had turned when I came downstairs at 2am to find her chuckling to herself as she blew the heads off a zombie villagers in Resi 4.
How could I regain my rightful place as alpha geek man of the house? I bought the most ridiculous, comical, midlife-crisis-fixing game I could find. Ladies and Gents, I give you:
GUITAR HERO III - LEGENDS OF ROCK
But before we start
- Wished you had formed a rock band instead of getting a job? Check!
- Can play the guitar a bit, even some of the fiddly bits? Check!
- Despite limited musical ability, absolutely damn sure that, given practice you could have given Hendrix a run for his money? Check!
- Perfected full-on legs-spread air-guitar-shredding pose? Check!
On to the game. LETS ROCK!
For those of you who haven't come across Guitar Hero before, its pretty simple. You press the buttons when you are told to. That's it. Simple innit? Well, to start with, yes. But pretty soon, not in the slightest. It gets faster and fiddlier and scarier. But on the converse, the sense of satisfaction and your rock awesomeness grows with the challenge and pretty soon you are pulling guitar faces and striking poses and generally soaking up the adulation of your virtual fans.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8507/wylde0001smallit9.jpg
A rock star. Pulling a face
The nitty gritty reviewy bits:
Graphics - I am using a Wii. So it is never going to be knockout. But it works. The playing area is well defined and the background of your concert is good enough to neither be irritating or over intrusive. No lag, thankfully.
Sound - Excellent. As long as it is loud. I mean, how can you not love something that lets you play along to Barracuda or Sunshine of my Love or Black Magic Woman. Oh, and lots of that metal stuff for the kids. And its very immersive - from the crowd noise, to the crunch of a missed note, to the added reverb when you hit star power. Oh yes, star power. Activated by tilting the guitar upwards like the rock maestro you are.
Gameplay - This game is one of the most fun I have ever played. The simple basis of the gameplay - hit the frets, strum, waggle your whammy bar takes moments to understand. The learning curve is steep but never too frustrating. And what can be better than standing in your living room taking on Slash himself in a guitar battle. Two types of career mode (single and cooperative), two player head-to-head and online play mean this will keep you occupied for a while. And that's without the 'gotta catch them all' fun of outfits, guitars and extra songs to play.
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1443/10669463re6.jpg
Slash getting his skinny-jean-wearing ass kicked
What's wrong with it:
Firstly, its on the Wii, which means that if you want to use the online play you have to use that stupid code to link up with others. They really do have to sort that out - I want to be known to the world as xXxXJohnnyAxeShredder74XxXx. And I want my downloadable additional content please.
Second, it gets insanely, hand-numbingly difficult as you progress. My wife found this even more of a problem, with her weak girly fingers.
Overall a definite buy. The sheer joy of nailing that tricky solo, the exhilaration of getting a 5 star review, the uplifting roar of the crowd - its a short step away from being a real rock legend. And you know, if I had just practiced more, and concentrated on my band instead of my A-levels, I would have sold a million albums by now...
/edit
images changed for less obviously copyright infringing ones :)
/moar edit
So I removed the so's. Still not quite good enough though. Will think more...
------------------------------------------------------------------
We got a Wii. There was a kind of logic to it. I've always been a bit of a gamer, and my wife isn't really. I wanted to avoid the "haven't you got better things to do" conversation by getting her interested in gaming. Simple really.
I got some serious games and some casual games. I expected her to embrace the Wii Play stuff and leave the 'proper' gaming to me. How wrong I was - I knew the worm had turned when I came downstairs at 2am to find her chuckling to herself as she blew the heads off a zombie villagers in Resi 4.
How could I regain my rightful place as alpha geek man of the house? I bought the most ridiculous, comical, midlife-crisis-fixing game I could find. Ladies and Gents, I give you:
GUITAR HERO III - LEGENDS OF ROCK
But before we start
- Wished you had formed a rock band instead of getting a job? Check!
- Can play the guitar a bit, even some of the fiddly bits? Check!
- Despite limited musical ability, absolutely damn sure that, given practice you could have given Hendrix a run for his money? Check!
- Perfected full-on legs-spread air-guitar-shredding pose? Check!
On to the game. LETS ROCK!
For those of you who haven't come across Guitar Hero before, its pretty simple. You press the buttons when you are told to. That's it. Simple innit? Well, to start with, yes. But pretty soon, not in the slightest. It gets faster and fiddlier and scarier. But on the converse, the sense of satisfaction and your rock awesomeness grows with the challenge and pretty soon you are pulling guitar faces and striking poses and generally soaking up the adulation of your virtual fans.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8507/wylde0001smallit9.jpg
A rock star. Pulling a face
The nitty gritty reviewy bits:
Graphics - I am using a Wii. So it is never going to be knockout. But it works. The playing area is well defined and the background of your concert is good enough to neither be irritating or over intrusive. No lag, thankfully.
Sound - Excellent. As long as it is loud. I mean, how can you not love something that lets you play along to Barracuda or Sunshine of my Love or Black Magic Woman. Oh, and lots of that metal stuff for the kids. And its very immersive - from the crowd noise, to the crunch of a missed note, to the added reverb when you hit star power. Oh yes, star power. Activated by tilting the guitar upwards like the rock maestro you are.
Gameplay - This game is one of the most fun I have ever played. The simple basis of the gameplay - hit the frets, strum, waggle your whammy bar takes moments to understand. The learning curve is steep but never too frustrating. And what can be better than standing in your living room taking on Slash himself in a guitar battle. Two types of career mode (single and cooperative), two player head-to-head and online play mean this will keep you occupied for a while. And that's without the 'gotta catch them all' fun of outfits, guitars and extra songs to play.
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1443/10669463re6.jpg
Slash getting his skinny-jean-wearing ass kicked
What's wrong with it:
Firstly, its on the Wii, which means that if you want to use the online play you have to use that stupid code to link up with others. They really do have to sort that out - I want to be known to the world as xXxXJohnnyAxeShredder74XxXx. And I want my downloadable additional content please.
Second, it gets insanely, hand-numbingly difficult as you progress. My wife found this even more of a problem, with her weak girly fingers.
Overall a definite buy. The sheer joy of nailing that tricky solo, the exhilaration of getting a 5 star review, the uplifting roar of the crowd - its a short step away from being a real rock legend. And you know, if I had just practiced more, and concentrated on my band instead of my A-levels, I would have sold a million albums by now...
/edit
images changed for less obviously copyright infringing ones :)
/moar edit
So I removed the so's. Still not quite good enough though. Will think more...