Guitar Hero is a unique kind of music video game that is rocking the world of video game players all over the world. It has successfully bridged the gaming world with the music world. Good reviews claim that this has contributed to increasing musical awareness in children. It includes popular music tracks by contemporary musicians. It falls under the video game genre of rhythm games. To those interested in the world of gaming, you might be familiar with the other game this was influenced by, Konami’s GuitarFreaks in Japan, released 1998. It even uses the basic mechanics of its predecessor. In this one, however, Western rock music was added to the tracks, especially made to suit the American population. It is designed to be played on a PlayStation2.
To play Guitar Hero, one will have to emulate a rock star. Air guitarists never had it so good. The console includes a guitar-like controller, or peripheral. Its buttons are colored frets. It has a strum bar in place of guitar strings. As notes scroll down on the screen, the player attempts to match them on the fret and strum the controller at the same time, in keeping with the music. There is a virtual audience to keep entertained. On screen, the player sees a Rock Meter dial and a Star Power indicator. There is also the score as well as the current score multiplier. Dominating the video screen is a fret board or guitar neck, looking like a note highway. The player has to hit the right notes indicated in the screen, and then strum the bar to get his points. If he does well, his points will increase. If he loses, the song in the game stops and the player gets his boos from the virtual audience.
From the instant and unexpected success of the first game, developers Harmonix Music Systems and publishers RedOctane have moved on to make many more games, enough to build a Guitar Hero series. The Guitar Hero World Tour has additional consoles for drums and vocals which could be played simultaneously to emulate a 4-player band. Other popular rhythm games include the Dance Dance Revolution, BeatMania, PaRappa the Rapper, Donkey Konga, Karaoke Revolution, and Rock Band. The Rock Band series of games include Unplugged, The Beatles, and Lego Rock Band.
So do you wanna be a rock star? Stop playing air guitar and get your hands on a Guitar Hero video game.
Air guitar is fun. *Guitar Hero *is better. It is like a dream come true for music fans, video game aficionados, and frustrated musicians. The video controller is shaped like a guitar, and the video game will guide you to play your favorite rock songs like a pro. An avatar of your favorite rock musician can be chosen as your character. It will appear on the video screen as you play. Newer versions allow a 4-player band with special controllers such as drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, and a microphone for the vocalist. This is the ultimate in the rhythm gaming genre.
There have been a number of *Guitar Hero *tournaments. There is a website, a mobile phone version, and other portable versions of the popular game. Its popularity has spurred a succession of games in the series. Originally designed for PlayStation 2, there are now versions that are compatible with the Xbox 360, the Wii, the Win, and the PlayStation 3 consoles. Aside from the *Guitar Hero *series, there is the Rock Band series as well. The best product in the series is The Beatles: Rock Band. Instead of a range of musicians and their songs, this rhythm game offers only 45 Beatles songs and the avatar characters consist of the band members themselves. The quality of the soundtrack recording, the amount of work that was done on the accompanying video, and the way the game was designed in general have earned this new game the best in critical reviews. Harmonix Music Systems, in partnership with different groups, is the game developer responsible for these.
The *Guitar Hero *game and its offshoot Rock Band has inspired young people to go back to guitar playing as a favored musical activity. With their exposure to the rudiments of the instrument, and the hundreds of songs in the collective play list, the perceived impact of this game is grand and far-reaching. It has not only opened the young gamers to the field of music. Of corollary significance is how the world of the video game has expanded its repertoire, and brought some of the oldies back into the fold. One need not be too old or too young to play this game. One need not know a lot about music or video games to enjoy the thrill of being a *Guitar Hero. *The moment that the guitar shaped controller is in your hand, the stage is yours and yours alone.
Play on!
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