So, before I got Guitar Hero for my birthday I had only played it a handful of times. Yes, yes, I know, I spent the past year or two living under a rock when it comes to video games, but that’s what nursing school does to you. A few months ago I tried it at a friend’s house, but after miserably failing I quit playing after just one attempt and didn’t give it a second thought for some time. When my best friend moved into her new apartment though, her roommate had Guitar Hero 2 for Play Station 2, sadly the only system I own as well. After many nights of playing till 4 in the morning and smoking copious amounts I decided I had to own it for myself. I ended up finding the Guitar Hero 3 bundle on walmart.com for only $39.95.

Having now played the game for a few weeks I decided to read the other review of the game on GamePartisan. Needless to say, I don’t think the reviewer had much taste for the game. But, hey, why not make an argument for it? First things first, if you don’t know how to play it’s like Dance Dance Revolution with a guitar instead of your feet. You have to hit each note, as well as “strum” the guitar-shaped controller, as it comes down to the bottom of the screen on the scrolling guitar neck. There are 5 notes total, and as you increase in the difficulty of the game you use more and more notes and more and more combinations. For example, in easy there are only green, red, and yellow notes (the first 3); while medium adds the blue, 4^th, note and hard the orange, 5^th.

There are three different modes of the game. Career is the obvious single player choice where you can create your own “band” (even though it’s really just you playing the guitar with other random people singing and playing with you). As you play through each set of songs you have to play the “extra” encore song or beat the boss to move on to the next set. Playing earns you money, and beating each set earns you money from sponsorships. My favorite part is unlocking all the extra characters and using your money to buy them. Or you can buy new guitars, new finishes for your guitars, new songs, new outfits, and new styles. The characters aren’t that exciting, but with the endless choice of guitars and outfits/styles there is bound to be something that matches your taste. Mine just happens to be the guy with the mohawk in a skeleton outfit with the blue and white Apollo guitar that is shaped like a star. What can I say, I know it’s a little gay, but the skeleton outfit helps me compensate for it.

Now in order to beat certain points, there are battles like I said before. There are three total: Tom Morello, Slash, and Lou Reed. Normally you earn “Star Points” by hitting certain notes that have star outlines around them. After earning enough star points to charge up your meter if you tilt your guitar up you enter “Star Mode” and the notes all turn a single color and your point value doubles. In battle mode you earn moves instead of star points to use against the person you are battling. And when you tilt your guitar you use moves to mess them up. They can use moves against you too of course, moves like making the difficulty go up one level or doubling notes or messing up one of your buttons. It’s fun and challenging, and adds a little more dimension to the game. The only bad thing is that it leaves you longing for more. I wish there was a section where all you could do was battle different characters played by the system, that would at least add an “arcade-style” element to the game.

The other two modes are free play, where you can just play any songs you want, as long as they have been previously unlocked in career mode, and record your high scores. This is fun of course for when your friends are over and everyone is playing. Beating each other’s high scores is always a competition that can last well into the night, and it gives you something to beat once everyone has left. We all know of that one friend who comes over and gets like 100% on expert. At least there’s a goal to work towards, right? Then there is multiplayer mode. I only really get to play this when I go to my friend’s apartment, since there is the extra guitar there. Even though I don’t get to play it often, it makes it worth it a billion times over.

We started our own band, which we named Nim after our favorite little creature from NBC’s short-lived show Surface. Now, it’s really neat because one person gets to play the bass line, and the other gets to play lead. So adding that onto all the fun that you get in individualizing both of your characters to make the band it makes it worth playing multiplayer with your friends. You can also play battle mode, where you battle each other instead of just playing with each other. This is the part that really gets us all up jumping around while we are playing, because you don’t just finish the song to win – you have to make the person mess up enough times so that they die. Sounds like fun, right? Of course it is. Playing different moves on each other, and making the other person mess up is a riot. We sat there for hours making alliances with each other to no longer use moves against each other, only to renounce them minutes later followed by intense rounds of laughter as the other person messed up beyond belief.

The graphics of the game aren’t bad, especially for the PS2. I am sure on the PS3 and Wii they are even better. But, at the same time, it’s not like you need that amazing of graphics to enjoy the game since it’s mostly just hitting notes. At the same time, the brightly color coordinated notes help you learn the game and always makes for a stunning visual. The different outfits and styles again help with the individuality of the experience and the graphical presentation.

Guitar Hero is a simple game, I will give you that. But, what did you expect from it? Going into it you knew that’s what you were buying. Granted, there were a few extra things I might have liked to see in the game, but overall it well-exceeded my expectations. Right now I am trying to beat the game on medium, and I know that once I do I will continue to play until I beat it on hard; then we’ll see about expert. More than that though, it’s something I play every single day. Whether it’s after work, before I go to work as a pick-me-up, or before bed to just relax. It’s fun and gratifying, and c’mon you get to act like you are really playing the guitar with the kick ass controller. Seriously, what other game had a controller this cool? The last game with a cool controller was Duck Hunt, and it’s been years since I’ve had a go at that goddamn laughing dog. It’s also something I play with my friends all the time. People are always coming over to my apartment now to hang out, watch movies, and of course play guitar hero. Even when we are going out to do something else, when my friends stop by to pick me up they always come in to play some guitar hero. I’m sure after a while I will get tired of the songs, but there are like 70 songs total; not to mention the numerous other games that are out: Guitar hero 1 and 2, Hits of the 80’s, Aerosmith, and god knows what other sequels are yet to grace store shelves. It is definitely a great investment that I am happy my parents made for me. It’s probably going to end up being the game I play most of all my games, second maybe only to Goldeneye for 64.

Out of 10 I would give Guitar Hero an 8.5. Arguably, it is a party game – like Mario Party, Mario Kart, Dance Dance Revolution, or Mortal Combat. Something that can be played alone, but most enjoyed with multiple players. With the new online gaming, I am pretty sure you can now play against other people online. Yet, this party game can stand by itself as a fun single player game that I will enjoy for a long time to come. The great thing about Guitar Hero is that it is timeless in the sense that even after you beat it you can go back to it. Well after I move on to other games I will still come back to Guitar Hero between games as well as when friends come over to play it and hang out. I am definitely satisfied, and recommend it to all my friends. Finding it on sale now is easy as cake online.

A few more hopes I have for the sequels include being able to load your own songs onto the game and play them. Or at least having the company come out with expansion packs or something where they release sets of extra songs of different genres. They could have country packs, modern rock packs, alternative rock packs, pop packs, oldies packs, etc. That right there would lead to an infinite sales possibility and also more fun for the players. When I play Guitar Hero, one of the things I love most is that fact that I get to listen to music while I play the game, which is what I would probably be doing if I weren’t playing games anyway. Since the sequel coming out soon includes the drum set and microphone just like Rock Band, it makes it an even more enticing idea. So, where does the future of Guitar Hero lie? Who knows, but I can bet it will have one for at least a few more years to come.