Handheld
(DS) Guitar Hero: On Tour
By George Damidas
Jul 24, 2008, 7 :45 am

Guitar Hero: On Tour is one of those rare cases when a game fails despite succeeding. It was a pretty bold, if not entirely necessary, move to create a peripheral just for one game. Granted, there will most likely be more Guitar Hero titles to use the add-on and it’s been done before on a grander scale (Steel Battalion), but doing so on a handheld, bulking up an item that is supposed to be by its nature portable, is something surprising. It’s a shame that the very thing that makes the experience work on a restricted platform is also the main cause of its problems.

Bringing the Guitar Hero franchise to the DS was too lucrative to pass up. I can see that. But what will induce you, the player, to pick it up? As mentioned, the add-on grip negates the positive of portability. With this addition, you effectively double the size of your system. Forget about tossing it on your person for a quick game on the go, unless you have unusually large pockets or a forgiving purse. But let’s say that the power of rock compels you. Cumbersome? Hah! You need to take your talent on the road. Damn the consequences!

So you have your hand strapped in, the pick out, and are fully prepared to rock a house and/or face. You will quickly notice that the music blaring from your DS doesn’t offer quite the same experience as it does from your console setup. That isn’t to say that the quality is poor, mind you, as I actually found it surprisingly good, but it still lacks the ‘umph’ that rock thrives on. With that said, the speakers do what they can and most will find it more than acceptable. The 26 included tracks aren’t bad, with most being exclusive for On Tour, though the final level of satisfaction depends solely on the individual. I would say there were more tracks I was either not fond of (Daughtry – ‘What I Want’) or indifferent to (No Doubt – ‘Spiderwebs’) than I was jazzed to give a go (Pat Benatar – ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’). Like all music games, however, even those tunes I’m not terribly thrilled about became much more tolerable when partnered with button combinations and scores.

The DS’ various capabilities are also taken advantage of, especially in duel mode. For those who prefer to battle it out with power-ups, with both computer and human opponents, the tour can be dumped for duels similar to the console versions. The power-ups range from the screens flipping, cameras flashing to white out the screen every few seconds, and silence after amps overload. There are also other attacks that involve the touch screen and mic, such as when a guitar string pops and has to be dragged back into place and when a guitar is set on fire and the flames extinguished by being blown on. These interactions are novel at first, but they wear thin after a few battles.

The biggest problem I have is the grip attachment. I have read that some people have no problem with it while others have hand cramps when using it, and I am one of the latter. Using the grip for any length of time caused cramps during and after play. The unit feels very natural at first, but it quickly becomes uncomfortable with the level of discomfort increasing sharply with the use of the ring or pinky fingers. I also found that I had to hit the pick against the DS with an uncomfortable amount of force for it to consistently count my strums.

The entire procedure quickly becomes painful and tedious. I literally hated the person that translated No Doubt’s ‘Spiderwebs’ into Guitar Hero-speak by the end of the song.  My hands seem to be of average size, and I cannot imagine anyone with smaller hands coming close to having a more pleasant experience. The position required to be able to both see the screens and accurately control the unit is also awkward, with the DS’ body not bending for enough for the screen to be flat on top the side of your hand; instead, your knuckles will be tilted about 45 degrees so that you can see the screen while affording your hand the most comfortable position as possible, which ends up being not all that comfortable.

If you find the grip acceptable, then you will be in for a pretty nifty experience. I cannot say that it will blow you away, but it isn’t as watered-down as you might think. Condensing a plastic guitar down into a DS-sized grip is no small feat, and it will deliver something pretty unique to those out there able to handle it. The duel mode also helps to round things out, adding ad hoc multiplayer. So rock on, you lucky double-jointed folks.

Overall: 6.5/10