Guitar Hero: On Tour

Guitar Hero for the DS: there were so many ways it could have gone wrong. But thank the rock gods that developers Vicarious Visions were in put in charge.

They pulled off a minor miracle and managed to distill the manic musical mayhem of Guitar Hero down into a bite-sized form. Say it with me: we're not worthy, we're not worthy!

Porta-Pretty

The most impressive thing about On Tour is the four-button controller-it a fairly simple yet sophisticated piece of tech that snaps into the GBA port and elevates On Tour from a simple port to a full-fledged product. To use it, you hold the DS in book mode and cradle the controller in your hand, with your fingers resting on the button. The gameplay is still the same classic Guitar Hero that you know and love, with the familiar rolling fretboard "highway" delivering colored notes that you have to strum-using the stylus or the included guitar pick-on the touchpad screen in time to the beat. Everything's been shrunken down in scope from the big console versions but it was nice to see unlockable extras like costumes and guitars.

The audio is especially impressive, even through the DS' relatively tinny speakers, but for best results, use a pair of headphones. The song mix is fairly eclectic and like every Guitar Hero titles, the songs are mostly awesome with a few duds thrown in-I'm looking at you, Daughtry. Also awesome is the fact that almost all of the tracks are new to the series and are master recordings to boot. The multiplayer Duel mode is also a clever refinement of the mode found in GHIII, with weapons galore; setting a match up is super easy and a heck of a lot of fun.

Cramping Your Style

The only thing I didn't like about On Tour is the fact that the controller isn't the most ergonomic device in the world. It's well designed but it can be a little unwieldy; you'll probably struggle to find a comfortable position and even then, extended sessions are going to be grueling to pull off. The comfort problem also affected my performance-I kept missing notes because my fingers slipped or because I was trying to adjust my grip. Strumming on the touchpad can also be difficult, especially for fast sections or when notes are clumped tightly together

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And yet, there were moments when I was playing On Tour and I felt that same rush that I felt while playing the full-sized Guitar Hero. It's perfect for quick sessions and there's enough content to keep you satisfied for a long while. If you take your DS with you everywhere you go, you definitely should put this on your shopping list.

PROS: Classic Guitar Hero gameplay; unique controller is well designed; audio performance is quite good.
CONS: Your wrist and fingers will take a beating over extended sessions.

Comments [30]

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SteveTKO

Cool; IGN gave this game a 9/10 so I'm getting this game for sure. Now I'm really impress with the DS I can't believe they actually pulled this off.

Toneman

Revenge24 Posted at: 06/24/08 at 10:01 AM PST this is a weres than when hillary disided to run for president
At least she can spell.

imnotirish1990

It's nice to see some innovation from developers trying to get the most out of the DS, instead of using the same trite stylus controls. It's also nice to see a good third-party game for the system.

leadoffhitter

i already got this game played and luckily was able to return for full credit back. yes, it is a good game but it is so short with only 25 songs, and 2 modes. Some of the songs were even in Guitar hero 3. It is pretty awesome how you strum on the touch screen though, but to short.

MasterxofxStrings

I just dont see how you can play guitar hero without a guitar. Actually I dont know how you can play guitar hero at all since Rock Band is so much better.

Darke

Im waiting till the price goes down, and a third-party controller is released

chiodos

This is good news. Probably gonna wait till price goes down...if ever...lol

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