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Alternative Names

ギターヒーロー:上ツアー

Developer

Vicarious Visions

Genre

Misc

Release Dates

06/22/08 Activision
09/25/08 Activision
07/18/08 Activision

Community Stats

Owners: 65
Favorite: 0
Tracked: 0
Wishlist: 0
Now Playing: 0
 
7.1

Avg Community Rating:

 

I Wanna Rock! On Tour!

13th Apr 2009 | 1,658 views 


Myviewing

User Score
8.1
                         

Presentation - 8.0
Gameplay - 8.0
Value - 7.5
Rock and roll on the go!

When Guitar Hero debuted for the Playstation 2, it became a smash hit with critics everywhere, and gamers who had an ear for music. Guitar Hero became famous for its multiplayer fun, its awesome soundtrack, and what quickly became one of the greatest game peripherals in history, the guitar controller that allowed gamers to feel like they were actually rocking out to the song. Guitar Hero was a financial success despite its higher than average price for a PS2 game, and Activision reacted by beginning its new franchise. Guitar Hero II was met with the same praise, and in this day in age Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a multiplatform game for all current-gen consoles. While Guitar Hero is known for being a console experience, the last thing many would have expected was a handheld version of the Guitar Hero series. Amazingly enough though, Activision has managed to make a handheld Guitar experience for players everywhere in the form of the DS game: “Guitar Hero: On Tour”.

There is still not story to be found in Guitar Hero, and it has thankfully stayed that way since it's safe to say none of them would be too interesting. The single player mode is simply there to allow people who want to play Guitar Hero by themselves the option of doing so. Fear not if you didn't want to dive into Pandora's past and learn how she scared her fellow Girl Scout troop with an uber scary ghost story, all of the character's profiles explain how they got into rocking in the first place.

One thing players might wonder about the DS version is if the graphics are well done enough to convey the feeling of an actual concert like the console versions. While the graphics are on caliber with the original Playstation, the graphics do a decent job of creating a crowed for players to rock out to. Everything else looks familiar, the same note board, the same gages, outrageous stages, the cast of band players. In a nutshell, it's titled Guitar Hero for a reason, everything else that defines the game series is all here to be found.

In terms of sound, most of the sound is music themed, with selections being “twang” and “chug”, the audience cheering and booing, and of course the songs. The sound effects play a minor role as they always have in the Guitar Hero series, and that fact hasn't changed here, though they do add to the rock atmosphere. Where most of the sound truly shines is in the soundtrack, Guitar Hero has always provided players with a fantastic soundtrack to rock to, and On Tour fulfills that task. There are songs from Smash Mouth, Twisted Sister, and many other bands that offer some great tunes to rock out to and instill a great rocking experience. Though the soundtrack is well done, the downside is that the soundtrack is not as high in number as its console counterparts, the console versions having at least 60 or more, while this game has 25. Despite the low number, 25 songs is a fairly decent number of songs for a handheld version of Guitar Hero.

So “On Tour” might sound like it offers a decent handheld version of the great rhythm series, but one thing many might wonder is how would it play? The game is set up like this, you plug the guitar peripheral into the DS's GBA cartridge slot, hold the DS like a book and hold on to the peripheral while holding the guitar pick depending on which hand you normally use. Now that you know how to hold the handheld guitar, are you going to have fun playing her?

Guitar Hero: On Tour's control scheme might turn off some people, but those willing to try it out will find that the DS guitar strap fits pretty snuggly and can be adjusted to the players preferences. To play through songs, you play the songs like you would the console versions by pressing the buttons and twanging in time with the rhythm of the song. Twanging is done by picking the touch screen like you would an actual guitar, and this control scheme works very responsively. Playing with these controls at first might feel a bit clunky, but gradual practice can let players have a very fun handheld rocking experience.

As for the rest of the game, there is also the multiplayer that you can play by having another person with the game play and either rock out to songs or battle in battler mode, where players use various power ups (Bombs, groupies, scissors, and flash cameras) on one another to keep each other from getting any more points. This multiplayer function can be fun with friends and truly justifies a purchase with such long lasting appeal. Overall, Guitar Hero: On Tour is light on the console versions, but being taken as a handheld game, allows players to rock out whenever and wherever.

Overall, paying $50 for Guitar Hero: On Tour is like paying $2 per song with a new way of playing Guitar Hero. The peripheral will either be a hit or miss for most people depending on how well they're able to play them. If you want to play Guitar Hero on the go, there's really no other officially released way for you to do so. If you're willing to fork over the additional money for the new DS peripheral and get used to the controls, Guitar Hero: On Tour may feel like “Guitar Hero Lite”, but the fact that its Guitar Hero can make up for it. The fact that there are initially going to be many people who will buy this game for the name and the DS popularity alone will also help if your looking for someone to play Guitar Hero with on a plane or in some other secluded area. Let me just say that personally with this game, “I wanna rock and roll all night!” with DS power like this.


Sales History

Total Sales
0.01m
Japan
2.10m
NA
1.01m
Europe
0.35m
Others
3.46m
Total
1 n/a 297,640 n/a 52,525 350,165
2 n/a 102,797 n/a 18,141 120,938
3 n/a 76,594 n/a 13,517 90,111
4 n/a 63,527 41,690 17,998 123,215
5 n/a 56,350 53,651 18,678 128,679
6 n/a 47,068 60,812 18,206 126,086
7 n/a 41,726 49,147 15,364 106,237
8 n/a 35,251 39,959 12,726 87,936
9 n/a 32,496 38,226 11,958 82,680
10 n/a 28,486 27,748 9,544 65,778

Opinion (54)

Salnax posted 15/09/2009, 01:54
Activision: If you want to sell games to the Japanese, try including Japanese music. Just a thought.
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killeryoshis posted 22/04/2009, 11:05
Looks like japan has not fallen for this game
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primogen18 posted 21/01/2009, 08:16
Activision says they are confident about DSi, and that they have this all figured out. It was in a video at IGN sometime, I don't remember which. I wouldn't be so sure you won't be able to rock these games on DSi somehow.
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AJM Ruler posted 04/01/2009, 11:04
This is getting nasty sales. I think this has a GOOD shot at 3 million.

Still sucks about the DSi but still, most people will still own a DS Lite over a DSi in US and Europe.
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arsenal009 posted 10/12/2008, 03:16
Why don't they just combine sales?
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MrBirdTurd posted 01/12/2008, 03:32
my guess is by the end of next year this game will be close to 4 million in world sales.
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