I love this game. The graphics are great, the design is awesome, it is fun, and you can chose to be a really fat rock and roll god. Now I am not much of a video game type . . . (But I secretly I have loved them ever since I convinced my parents to let me get a gameboy in 6th grade). I mention Guitar Hero because I think it is a sort of Purple Cow in a sea of “interactive video games.” It is really like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, or other sports games. It is more directed at an audience that maybe isn’t so in to sports or even video games (but had a gameboy in 6th grade). The graphics are sort of cartoonish and satrical. It is very user friendly and yet also very difficult. It is the type of game you might find yourself playing with a group of friends after getting back from the bar. A group of friends too hip to play video games in most cases.
The one problem BIG problem I have with Guitar Hero is that the songs are lacking in luster. They need more Roxy Music and less Allman Brothers. Every aspect of the design is very garage and underground. So I was confused as to why chose such bad songs by Boston and Rush. But it has remained the game the non-video game players talk about with hard-core video game players.
I propose a better playlist for Guitar Hero along these lines:
- Roxy Music
- Brian Eno circa Another Green World
- Bowie. Why isn’t Bowie there?
- Good Devo
- The Stooges! Jeezzz . . . atleast some Fun House
- Velvet Underground
- Throw in some current stuff for the kids, TV on the Radio or The Klaxons
- Throw in some stuff for the music snobs . . . Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine
- And round it off with some Sonic Youth, Pavement and Pixies.
That’s it. I am calling Guitar Hero.
2 Comments
May 1, 2007 at 6:20 am
Guitar Hero 1 actually has some Bowie on it. “Ziggy Stardust” to be exact.
May 1, 2007 at 6:29 am
yeah, i guess you are right on that one . . .