by Brooks Brown on November 18, 2008

When DDR first hit the local arcade, there were two crowds that loved to play it – the weekenders and the during-the-weekers. On the weekends, all kinds of people would show up, taking turns, laughing as they failed song after song, cheering for the rare victory. During the week, though, it was a whole other event. Kids with bags of quarters gathered around the machines and played all day. Nobody else would get a chance, and if you interrupted them you were greeted with nothing but derisive laughter as you failed ‘Barbie Girl’ on the lower settings. Over time, the casual player gravitated to other games, and the DDR guys were alone, too good to enjoy further iterations of the dancing game quite as much.

For some reason, every time I pick up my copy of Guitar Hero, I remember similar times, and I weep. Guitar Hero went from the fun time I would have with my friends and wife, and became the world of the hardcore. Nothing exemplifies this better than the most casual entry in the series – GH: On Tour for the Nintendo DS. Once assembled, it becomes immediately clear that casual gamers were the aim for this – there are, after all, only 4 buttons. Naturally, this is a put-off for the most dedicated players. The song list is great but short. Jumping into the game, though, is where it all simply falls apart.

Getting through a song is a chore in itself. Thanks to the tiny form-factor of the add-on, I felt like I was a giant holding something fragile in my palm. Using any pressure quickly leads to carpal-tunnel pain. If you push through make sure you don’t get too into the game. Unlike a static television, if you start rocking out (like they show in the commercials) you can’t tell what colors are flying at you and when. Oh, and the whole contraption might actually fall out. Rock out hard enough, and you might just loosen the controller enough to completely bring the game to a halt. But, that would mean you’d have to really get into it, and the chances of that are slim. The small speakers on the DS don’t quite foster a rockin’ room – more often, you’ll have to plug in some headphones so you can actually hear the song.

So there I was, trying to hold the DS as still as possible in my hands, bracing the button part into the GBA slot, wearing headphones to play the game. All this effort, and still, at the first fast group of notes, I missed half of them. As it turns out, strumming quickly up and down on the touch screen isn’t exactly intuitive. I soon found myself with a case of tennis eyeball – glancing back and forth to see the notes that were coming and ensuring my stylus was just in the right place.

I’m a GH hardcore. While it’s obvious that Activision is trying to appeal more to the casual gamers, this iteration can hardly be recommended for either. At least, that is, if you want to rock.

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