Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 73
 Great, with some flaws June 23, 2008
Jeremy Tartaglia (Florida, USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
For those who have never played Guitar Hero before, this game is a pretty good replication of it. You have four fret buttons (as opposed to the normal five buttons) which each represent a different note to play on your guitar. With your pick, you can strum the note (on the touch screen display) you've chosen with the fret buttons. Do this correctly multiple times, and you can play a song. Fail, and well, you fail the song. The play is identical to that of any Guitar Hero game, or even the competing Rock Band.
The biggest difference in this game versus all the other Guitar Heroes (and Rock Band) is in how you interact with your 'guitar'. Rather than having a physical guitar controller, you have instead a Gameboy Advance Pack, which plugs into the accompanying slot on the DS. This pack has your four fret buttons, and a hand strap to keep your hand from slipping. Or so they say.
Out of the box, the pack will plug directly into a Nintendo DS Lite. Having bought the original DS when it came out, I was rather annoyed at the fact that I had to unscrew the DS lite adapter, and attach the 'classic' DS adapter. And here I thought the Gameboy Advance cartridges were all the same size.
This cartridge is where most of the flaws of the game come into play. The fret buttons themselves are so small and so close together that even an expert Guitar Hero player will have difficulty getting used to it. Having played on expert level, I felt like playing this game was a lot like roller skating down a well greased bowling alley. I don't see this as a major problem, though, since I enjoy the challenge and that "newbie" feeling of playing Guitar Hero for the first time. But it can be quite frustrating.
Another major flaw stemming from the "cartridge" is that there's nothing to secure the cart in the slot. While playing through some particularly difficult solos, you might find yourself staring at a red screen of "death", that says you were "rocking out too hard", and you need to turn off the DS and plug the cartridge back in. This is a major nuisance on those tough songs when you finally do well through the solo, but end up having to redo it anyway.
The third major flaw with the game comes from the strap. My hands must be quite unique, because my pinkie is shorter than all my other fingers. When my hand was strapped in, my fingers were just barely on the buttons. All in all, I hadmaybe 1/4 of an inch clearance between my fingers and the buttons, except my pinkie finger, which has none and barely touches the blue button at all. This is quite annoying, if only for the fact that, instead of moving the whole finger, you're limited to moving only the last knuckle or so. It's even worse in fast sections, when you need more leverage, and can even become painful (achy and sore) after just a few minutes of play. While you can adjust the strap to your liking, I found that the "recommended" way to play is really the best, and the tighter your hand is secured, the less likely you are to hit wrong buttons.
The last minor issue is that a number of songs from this version can be played on other versions of Guitar Hero (and Rock Band). Although not an issue for people new to the genre, it is a bit of a let down, to buy a game with 25 songs, 9 of which you've already played. Fortunately, the notes aren't the same, so the songs feel and play different.
Even despite the numerous flaws for "adult" sized hands, cartridge/strap design, and similar songs, the game is fun and addicting, just like all other versions of the game, and definitely a good buy for people who already own a DS. If you don't, I wouldn't recommend buying it just for this game until you try it out first, just due to the issues I've had so far.
 What should have been. June 26, 2008
W. Ashcraft (Michigan)
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
It was a great idea, however the track list is small and includes songs we've seen before. The least they could have done if including songs they're used before is to throw us some GH1 songs we haven't played in a while. Even the new songs aren't a huge draw for me, so if you like the songs on it your mileage may vary.
The controller is a great idea but I find the buttons too close, so I have to squeeze my fingers over the buttons. Playing the game was fairly uncomfortable. I hardly have big hands, I would hate to see someone like that try this game.
Even with these problems I had the game wasn't too challenging to pick up and play. While I'm hardly good- In GH3 I sometimes struggle on Expert, I had no problem beating songs on expert here. I suppose they pulled the difficulty down to make up for 4 buttons on a portable system, but I think it came down a bit too much.
 The Pessimists Optimist! June 29, 2008
T. Rhodes (Celts,Sox & Pats Rule)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
C'mon folks, it's not perfect, but given what we have to work with, this game is awesome! I'm a big guy with big hands and fingers and I have no problems hitting the notes up to the medium level. It gets a little more interesting after that, but I have the same issues with the regular sized GH game. So it's more my skill level than a flaw in the design of the game.
Stop complaining and have fun with it, after all isn't that why we use the DS in the first place?
nice thought, bad result July 6, 2008
Leslie Molnar
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
I was looking into this game for a long time and when i decided to buy it, I was pretty disappointed with it. first of, if YOU HAVE AN ORIGINAL DS you have to unscrew 2 bolts to switch the part that goes in the GBA slot. the bolts are a pain to unscrew and are nearly impossible to screw back in, then comes the gameplay, the graphics are great for the system, but there are only 25 songs. some from previous GH games. to activate star power you have to blow/say something in the mic which means leaning over to the touch pad and blowing into it or stretching a finger to press a or b which pretty uch means you'll miss a couple notes. the grip is uncomfortable and will hurt wrist I would not recommend buying this if you are right handed
Thank You!!!!! June 22, 2008
Tracey Woodward (Nowhere)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
I have waited so long and its here. This game is truly amazing the best ever. The games graphics sounds and game play make it guitar hero.
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