GamersInfo.net

The DS has come a long way. I remember when I first saw a picture in my April Issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly of what appeared to be a mangled monstrosity of a portable system. I looked on in utter mockery, as I thought myself clever for finding the infamous Electronic Gaming Monthly April Fool's joke so quickly. Oh, the wonders of naïve youth. Turns out Electronic Arts had not committed a heinous crime (this time) by sinking money into the convincing "Lord of the Rings" kart racer that also was present, which made my mind reel even further at the possibility of how the kings of portable gaming could develop such a silly idea.

From E3 through launch and beyond, Nintendo has had me certifiably bamboozled into submission. The system rocks;, playing it rocks. Fast-forward almost four years, and the device — with a few rough spots — has found a great market in being a "what if" machine (crosses fingers for a %!@$-longer stylus). What if ... puppies? What if ... crazy overdramatic lawyers? What if ... anthropomorphic animals divulge an ulterior motive toward a career change of racing F-zero machines? Well, it's "what if" time on Guitar Hero's behalf on this little ma-jigger doohickey ... with complementary pick stylus for all those aspiring plastic guitar mavericks out there.

The whatchmacallit ipso facto this time consists of strumming on the touchscreen and a little fret help from our friends at Red Octane. No Guitar Hero experience would be complete without the appropriate finger dancing, and since we have mere inches instead of feet to work with on the DS, the fret board is presented with only four colors (not the traditional five) and makes use of the GBA slot as an acting anchor to turn your DS into a makeshift guitar.

The improv GBA geetar is a unique take on the only way this could have worked; and the buttons feels smooth in hammer-on sections with only a little problem ... err, the problem that they are little. My hands are fairly large, so having the ability to accidentally press down two buttons at one time is a detriment in some streak-breaking cases. The peripheral goes beyond the "awe, that's cute" and delivers a fairly robust feeling for the most belittled way of rocking imaginable, with only the flaw of a few centimeters getting in the way. The exclusion of the orange fret is OK in my book, though I think they would have benefited in trying to get include the orange fret by making the actual "fret stick" a bit longer on the end of the DS. Leaps and bounds with pull-offs would have had a higher satisfaction in execution.

The underbelly of the device is featured with a smooth surface to rest your hand and an awkward wrist strap to try to ease the movement of your hand on the DS itself. This part of the design is sadly flawed and does very little in accomplishing its goal of keeping your hand attached to the system comfortably. The console comparative would be likened to the Guitar Hero controllers shoulder strap working as a full-functioning noose instead. The wrist strap can constrict your fingers in broader motions, forcing you to try your hand at subtle movement on the sufficiently small buttons. Were the buttons bigger, the strap wouldn't be as constricting, and had the strap been more ergonomic, the buttons could have stood without their extra measurements. The paradox exists only as a neighbor to the ever-growing impatience that is millimeters between your knuckles and black Velcro.

To find a good medium, I forego the wrist strap in the regular sense and use it more as a thumb wedge so that my hands can fret to their hearts' content. The built-in reflex of sliding my index finger down for chords and trills is tricky to fight, so the fact that each finger can be assigned to a single button with little leeway at the end of the device can take a mighty powerful urge to resist. My imperative as a Guitar Hero player forced me to want a greater range of motion in this sense, so the strap not acting as properly as it should is a huge source of contention. The opportunity for having quick bursts of Guitar Hero at my side is appealing, when the deciding factor of me playing a set is my fulfillment in portable rockage and not my thumb giving way to too much stress. It's a hard balance in this case.

The strumming itself is nicely done, with manageable leeway in back and forth motions, especially when taking the lenient (and necessary) time window into effect. The entire notion of strumming in this game will be a glaring mirror into how much basic rhythm you posses — and how gently you can fall your hand to the music. Many sources of error will spring from downright impatience, and I'm glad that I didn't have to face too many contentions with my pick. The whammy bar leaves a lot to be desired, as it's always a chore to extract tons of star power on anything but the longer sustains. The activation of star power is done with the mic, but the small thrill you could have with yelling this into your DS will fade as a gimmick, and blowing air will suffice. Any other DS functionality will be met with cool use in battle mode with various amounts of power-ups, and it actually makes for cool little back and forth as a nice detour when you're done with the main setlists.

The soundtrack (which is usually what this whole Guitar Hero business is about) is considerably smaller ... for obvious reasons. The audio quality of most of the tracks should be given recognition, as it must have been difficult to risk jamming as many tracks onto a cartridge as possible without compressing everything too much. The quality maintains without disappointing, and headphones do make the experience sound better all around.

The songs up for grabs have a rather obvious demographic and have a high concentration on newer pop pieces. Some bands like All Star and Maroon 5 have a goofy overtone in my head for having simple riffs, but they have decent enough note charts not to completely bore. I'm sad to see so many repeats from Guitar Hero 3 ( Pat Benatar and Kiss), though some of the alt pieces from already existing Guitar Hero contributing bands (ala Stray Cats and Ozzy Osbourne) are welcome selections in my book. Ironically, the progression of difficulty parallels with the increasing age of the tracks, as well as the more "colorful" note charts. I wish the soundtrack was a little more diverse, but the pleasing nature of going through a setlist and finding something like Skid Row is a surprising saving grace.

With only a small chunk of unlockables to focus on (and just a single song for the bonus list), you'll be spending most of your time finding someone else to play with. The wireless works just fine, and the battle mode will get more mileage here than ever before. With sane note charts, hammer-ons that feel great when given the attention and good note charts that don't skip on the solos, the rather bland graphics (but quirky venues) will matter little. The screen is so small, you'll be focusing on the wisely clean interface, so as to always let you know when to fret and when to strum like a madman. The ability to improve on the go is cool in a score sense, as you can always squeeze in a few minutes as a nice distraction. I would not recommend playing in a moving vehicle, as the experience becomes rocking in a very different sense.

With portable games, the bottom line is always adaptation. How well do they translate the experience, when faced with a shrink gun, how much detail becomes lost in the skirmish? Guitar Hero: On Tour is not a bad experience, but it is slightly worse for the wear in having one of its biggest problems being in the very support which damages the main vehicle (your hand) of play. The longevity of a portable Guitar Hero is questionable, and I feel that the main learning curve will be finding the best way to sit for longer than five minutes.

Players who are more prone to have random flings (on lower difficulties) will find greater enjoyment versus others who might pursue the savage Expert strums of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This game caters to casual playing on multiple levels, and though I personally would have preferred a little less candy-coated musical pieces, I could see a good many walking away with a groove in their neck in a good way. The game is a neat enough package that I felt it worthtaking a chance on, and I think any DS owner in-between arithmetic problems and learning another language would do well not to cast aside this Ukulele Hero outright. The adaptation isn't perfect, but it marks itself as a cool enough "what if" scenario.