Guitar Hero: On Tour with Children
I love music games and I love Guitar Hero but On Tour is just plain weird. Describing how it works takes far too many words so lets just say it does work, larger hands will have big problems, and the experience is only moderately satisfying. Put simply, the off-hand goes through a strap on a doohickey that fits into the GBA slot. Holding the DS like a book, the right hand clutches a stylus shaped like a guitar pick while the left hits the green, red, yellow, and blue buttons. Orange is missing, but that doesn’t mean going from Medium to Hard is any easier. The left screen shows the notes, the right screen shows guitar strings and you must strum and hit the buttons.
Got it?
The experience is a lot like playing real Guitar Hero. It hits the same buttons, if you will, but the style of play invites cramping. The game is crammed with low fidelity rock tracks, mostly from the original artists, but decidedly less hard rocking than Guitar Hero III and nowhere near as cool as Rock Band. I mean, are you aching to rock some Daughtry or – cringe – Smashmouth’s All Star? You are? Really? Okay, whatever. Oh, while I’m asking questions, is Jet paying people to including “Are you gonna be my girl?” in every music game release?
Kid Factor:
The kids couldn’t master the controls but they enjoyed me rocking out and it was pretty fun to play in my easy chair with them flanking me and rocking out. I’d love to check out the multiplayer but another unit is required for that and $50 makes this a pretty expensive product to begin with.
Notes:
Rhthym and music game fans should buy this on principle. It’s a heck of a novelty and far better designed then some reviews would have you believe. If you dig innovation, this is what gaming is all about.
If you’re looking for music on your DS go for Elite Beat Agents, Looney Tunes Cartoon Conductor, High School Musical, import Taiko Drum Master, or for the elite, try Jam Sessions.
Question: DS has a microphone (in fact, in On Tour the embarassing way to activate Star Power is to yell), why no Karaoke Revolution on DS?
July 1st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews for this one, but I take your word over anything else I read these days so I’ll look into buying this again, though I am quite weary of that Jet track at this point. -_-
July 1st, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I can’t urge you to be careful enough though.
My love for this game comes – I fear – mainly for my love of novelty. If you’re the type of person who would pay extra for novelty, then you’ll like this. If value is key and you won’t put up with inherant flaws with this concept, then you might not like it so much.
I have no idea what GameSpot’s reviewer meant when he claimed it didn’t recognize some of his strums (it’s easy to miss the screens if you get too into it, staring at the other screen after all) and the unit never shifted from the GBA slot for me. I don’t GBA so maybe my GBA slot is less prone to this problem?
July 1st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Actually, the Guitar Battle mode can be played solo, although it is more fun with two. They have included many DS specific attacks which are fun to experience. Also, of the 25 tracks in the game, 20 are new to the series. (Yes, as usual, I wouldn’t have chosen all of them but I did discover some good music here I hadn’t heard yet.)
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:47 am
I have heard that it is very uncomfortable in general, and really prone to cramping if you play for any sustained period. Also heard that it isn’t very comfortable to play sitting down, which sounded weird to me.
Also heard that the song list is very short for a $50 game with no expandability or downloads …
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:57 am
That’s lacking perspective Mike. Something I’m seeing in most reviews of this game.
Since you’ve read this post, you know I agree. Allow me to repeat:
1. It’s comfortable and non-cramping for normal sized hands, arms, and for people who follow the instructions on how to hold it. That said, yeah, don’t play it for more than 5 songs in a row maybe – but that advice is good for every music game, especially GH and RB.
2. It’s amazingly comfortable considering it’s a guitar sim for a handheld.
3. It’s easier to play sitting down than standing. (I have no idea what reviewers mean that it’s hard to play sitting down.)
4. The song list is long for a DS music game. No other DS music game like it is expandable or features downloads. (Btw, this is an asinine criticism. Guitar Hero 1-2 had no expandability beyond buying a new disc of songs – which could be done here – and Wii RockBand Guitar Hero also aren’t expandable). Also, the song list is 80% original artists – which makes this the best and most generous song list to ever appear on a handheld.
5. It comes with a really cool plastic doohickey. That’s why it’s $50.
So Mike, now you’ve heard some other stuff! Go spread that why don’tcha? 😉
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 am
I think that lack of perspective is the best description of what is happening – I wasn’t paying attention to GH 1 & 2, so I didn’t know that.
But GH games tend to be family play for us, so you are never on the controller the whole time, meaning that you don’t get the same fatigue factor.
Thanks for the nice clear list … that helps clear things up!
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I meant the reviewers lacked perspective. 😉
The only perspective a consumer needs is “Is this worth my time and money?” There are a million reasons why that question can be answered as yes or no. All the above points are worth mentioning, but most of them deserve a YMMV qualification.
On Tour isn’t a great game folks. But it is a great DS Guitar Hero game.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
My bad – that is what I meant …
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 am
I’m considering this game and your review and details have been VERY helpful to me.
Thanks!!
July 5th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I love this game, but I am a Guitar Hero (for lack of a better term) (urg) …fanboy. I hate that term. That aside, the game played surprisingly well for a handheld. I love the game, and it kept me occupied on a long drive, lol.