Nick Adams Games Blog

Guitar Hero: On Tour – Review (Nintendo DS)

Since Activision’s acquisition of the Guitar Hero franchise, we’ve seen lots more of the Guitar Hero games spring up seemingly from nowhere. Guitar Hero: On Tour is one of these Guitar Hero installments that nobody saw coming. This is probably because the idea of a game centred around a peripheral on a portable games console is insane. I mean, imagine a lightgun game appearing on Sony’s PSP where you had to hold a physical handgun peripheral. Its outright bonkers.

Fortunately Red Octane, the hardware makers, have invented something called the ‘Guitar Grip’. This attaches to your Nintendo DS to give it a fretboard. The idea is to wrap your hand around the Nintendo DS to grab the fret buttons and to strum by using the touch screen. They’ve even provided a special plectrum shaped stylus. Initally this strange setup will probably cramp your hand as you adjust to it, but after a while you’ll get used to it.

Red Octane may be the guys behind the hardware, but the actual game was developed by Vicarious Visions. They’ve kept the Guitar Hero game play formula intact: a conveyor belt of coloured blocks travel towards you, hit them in the sequence they appear and you’ll produce guitar sounds. The mechanics are also the same as in previous Guitar Hero games – you can adjust the pitch of some long notes using the whammy bar , and you can use star power to temporarily double your note score. The whammy effect is used from the stylus and the star power is activated by shouting (or blowing) into the DS’s mic. The only significant gameplay difference on the Nintendo DS version is that there’s physically 4 notes on the fretboard instead of the usual 5.

This game also creates another first for the ever expanding Guitar Hero franchise, as everything is stored on a small memory card instead the usual optical media of DVD’s. This means that there’s a lot less songs than your usual Guitar Hero: there’s a grand total of 25 songs – and no bonus songs(!). Vicarious Visions’ solution to this is simply have quality over quantity. There’s a very strong lineup of loveable guitar music from Nirvana, Blink 182, Maroon 5, No Doubt, and lots of other successful acts. Selected songs from Guitar Hero 3 also make a return, giving it an element of a greatest hits compilation.

Usually this would seem like an extremely lazy thing to do on the developers behalf, but having familiar songs available on the go really does make for a convincing ‘play Guitar Hero anywhere’ feel. Put some headphones on, and your bus/train/airport/outdoor surroundings will melt away into Guitar Hero goodness.

Graphically, its impressive what they’ve managed to squeeze out of the Nintendo DS. The overall presentation is nearly on par with what you’d expect from a Sony PSP title. The character models of your chosen guitarist and their band are very detailed and make for a good attempt at recreating the visual feel of the home console Guitar Hero games.

For the Guitar Hero fanatics out there, this game is definitely worth picking up. It has everything you’d want from a Guitar Hero game and it really is a lot of fun having the option to play Guitar Hero on the go. The only problems with this package are physically getting used to the Guitar Grip, and some people may be disappointed at the cut down song selection. This is an otherwise brilliant chance for you to take your Guitar Hero gaming on tour with you wherever you go!

9/10