I Love Rock & Roll

Here it is, folks, the game that started it all. Not really, I actually have no idea if it started anything other than the Guitar Hero series that boasts, what, 4 games with a fifth coming soon and a sixth rumored. The concept really sounded kind of silly to me at first – play along with songs on a toy guitar. I didn’t take into account the great song styles they chose or the difficulty in playing them. I got hooked playing GH3 at a friend’s house and have now begun filling my gaming library with all the GH titles. #1 lacks some of the features and slickness of the later titles, but it has some upsides as well.

WHAT IT IS:
This is essentially a guitar simulation game. You pretend to play a guitar like you would pretend to fly a plane or build a city or whatever.

WHAT IT IS NOT:
This is not a guitar tutorial. Do not think you are going to play the real thing although I suppose it could get you on track to learning hand positioning as well as timing and coordination. If nothing else it might generate an interest in learning the real thing.

GAMEPLAY:
A series of colored gems move across the screen. You mash the corresponding fret buttons at the appropriate times and use the strum bar to activate playing the notes. If you hit them right you get the sound of the guitar. If you screw up the band will play on without you until you catch up. A meter measures your progress. If you miss too many notes in a short span you fail the song. Points and an accuracy percentage as well as other stats are presented at the end.

If you play well you’ll be rewarded with boosts to your score. Some are automatic and some have to be player activated. Accuracy and score figure into your final rating which determines how much money you get (when applicable).

Career mode is the core of the game with which you select a band name and a character to perform on stage. You can change styles and guitars. The rest of the band members are set by the game. This is where you earn your money for the store.

Multiplayer allows challenging a friend, but the options are much more limited than what comes in later games. Pretty much you both play portions of the same song to see who gets the highest score. There is no co-op or battle. It can still be fun I suppose, but for most players I imagine the later features will keep #1 from being used for multiplayer purposes much.

Quickplay is like a shortcut to all of the songs you’ve unlocked. This can be useful if you have someone playing and don’t want them messing with your account or if you have multiple people playing the same game (but not playing together) and want a place to compare high scores.

UNLOCKING ITEMS:
Money can be spent in the store. There are some additional characters including the Grim Ripper (who is my personal favorite), more guitars (although so far I have not found any real unusual ones except for Ripper’s scythe guitar), clothes, and videos that look at the making of the game. The real treat, though, is a list of bonus songs. These do not gain you any money for playing nor do they affect the game progression, they are just fun to play. They seem to be all indie and underground bands including some contest winners. The Guitar Hero theme song is included. There are 17 of these tracks.

One really annoying thing about this game is that anything you buy in the store is specific for the level you’re on. Want to play as the Ripper? You have to buy him. But then when you get to the next level you have to buy him again for that level, and your money is back to $0. So here’s a tip, buy all the bonus songs on medium then use the Quickplay when you’re ready to play them on harder difficulties. That way you don’t have to buy them 3 times.

SONGS:
The focus of the game, of course, is the song list. The main 30 tracks are predominately well known songs ranging from light rock to heavy metal from the 70’s to the present. While there are some songs I’ve never heard of, there are a large number that I have liked very much for years. In fact, as far as title recognition goes this might be the best track list of all the games so far for me. The downside is that these are all covers. Not that they aren’t well played, but they still sound different in some cases. For example the vocals in “Thunderkiss 65” are not nearly as good as the real song. The bonus songs are not covers, by the way.

Getting to the songs may be a little different for you if, like me, you cut your GH teeth on #3 and are just going back to the earlier ones. I like to start out on easy mode. It’s a good way to get familiar with the songs, especially if there are some you haven’t heard before. It’s also a quick way to get all of the songs and some goodies unlocked. I mean, come on, the bat and fish guitars in 3 & 2 respectively are fun. In #3 you can also earn enough money to buy all the bonus songs as well as unlock the boss characters for purchase.

#1 offers no unlocks that I have found, no money for playing, and doesn’t even include the encore songs or the final set in career mode. So bottom line is unless you know of a worthy unlock I haven’t found or really need the practice, easy mode in #1 is a complete waste of time – no rewards at all for playing and limited access. This was particularly annoying since the songs I wanted to play the most ended up being almost all of the ones that I couldn’t get to until I played again on the next level.

DIFFICULTY:
While I’m talking about these levels this might be a good time to talk about the difficulty of the game. You get 4 modes. Easy is a little slower than normal and only uses the first 3 buttons. Medium speeds up and adds the fourth button as well as more notes. Hard throws in the fifth button and adds still more notes. Expert, well, you’ll see…

Easy really is easy. I was able to nail a 5 star rating on almost every song the first time around including songs I’d never heard before (keep in mind I had been playing #3 for a little while by this time). This is a great way for beginners to get started and to play without a much frustration. Once you start getting better, though, you might find it a little boring. The challenge increases nicely depending on how much of one you’re after.

As a whole the songs seem easier than those in later games. I was able to beat songs on expert while I was unable to make it through a single song on hard mode in #3. There is an added difficulty, though. “Bark At The Moon” was one of the hardest songs between the 3 games for me to beat on medium (with the possible exception of “Raining Blood” and not including bonus songs). I dread playing this one on harder levels because there is no practice mode. You just have to dive in and figure it out on the fly.

If you’re just getting started a round of tutorials will help you advance more quickly. A lot of the game is obvious from the start, but there may be some tricks or game elements a minute with the tutorial can help you with.

GRAPHICS:
Not surprisingly the graphics aren’t as good as what comes in later games. However, the animation is smooth and the venues interactive. The guitar characters have different signature moves and the rest of the band has animation to make the scene come alive. Each set takes place in a unique venue from a house basement to clubs of various sizes. My favorite is the Toxic Fest which includes barrels emitting green gasses scattered around the stage and the drums set atop a smashed car. The sets include animations that react according to how well you’re playing. Overall it looks good though not to the point of being amazing. The focus is primarily on the playing of the songs, and that’s the way it should be.

RATING:
I haven’t found much questionable in the game although I haven’t been through all the bonus songs yet. There are some sexually suggestive lyrics and some dark themes although they are rather mild compared to #3. Any bad language in the songs has been removed. There is some bleeped out cussing in the tutorials and a few mild words here and there.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Guitar Hero titles have definitely improved since #1. The practice mode if nothing else is a great addition, but the changes in the store design (1 store for your profile no matter the difficulty setting) and the addition of some truly bizarre guitars (anyone want to play a coffin?) like the fish (would this be a bass guitar?) adds a layer of fun for folks like me that just can’t stand to be normal for too long a period. Oh yeah, don’t forget the addition of the bass lines. Even though #1 lacks in some of these areas it has a great song selection providing plenty of enjoyment for people enjoying this type of gaming. Even better is the ability to now be able to buy it in a 2-pack with #1 & #2 in a single package. Save some money! So what it comes down to is despite having some great tracks, it’s not as great a game as #3 and therefore gets a lower rating: 4*.