Guitar Hero On Tour

• System: Nintendo DS
• Game Type: Music/Rhythm
• Difficulty: Medium

• Fun, cool graphics
• The Guitar Duel rocks
• You can take Guitar Hero anywhere!

• Guitar Grip can be hard to get used to
• Sometimes the grip slips out
• Not a huge song selection

Put on your most rock'n'roll outfit and bust out that crazy hairstyle, because it's time for you to take the stage and rock with Guitar Hero On Tour. You'll take on the role of a guitar-playing superstar as you jam along with some fabulous tunes and work your way through different venues to get that star of yours rising. Don't miss a beat!

If you've played any of the Guitar Hero titles on a console, you'll see a lot that's familiar around here. Notes glide down the "note highway" the same way they do on the big screen, and keeping rhythm is essential to the game. Strumming takes place on the touch screen using a special pick-shaped stylus, and you can unleash the "whammy effect" on long notes by scribbling with your pick. As different-colored notes descend, you'll hold down the button that corresponds to the color of the note and strum with the stylus pick at the right time. Some notes are star-shaped and contain Star Power - get a series of these right, fill up your meter and you can set off a bonus score multiplier!

While the console versions of Guitar Hero give you a full guitar to play, the DS has to improvise. An attachment called the Guitar Grip plugs into the GBA slot on your DS. You'll secure the contraption onto your hand using the wrist strap, then line up your fingers on the four colored buttons. Okay, so it's not a real guitar, but this is where you'll need to use your imagination! Considering the limits of packing all the fun of Guitar Hero into such a small package, this game does an amazing job. The game graphics are fun and entertaining, and will help to get you in the rock star groove. The game gives you a choice of difficulty levels, so if you've never played before, don't be shy! There are also mini-tutorials where you can rehearse your moves.

Once in a while the Guitar Grip does get detached from the DS. This is annoying if it happens mid-song, but after a bit of practice you'll get used to how to hold it to make sure it doesn't come apart. It might also take a little while to find a comfortable way to arrange your fingers around the grip so you don't get a hand cramp, but you'll be a pro before too long.

In Career Mode, you'll rock your way through a whole bunch of different venues, unlocking new stuff, new songs, and new looks on your way up. But the coolest thing in the game is without a doubt the battle mode, Guitar Duel. You'll take part in a showdown with a computer-generated opponent (or a friend if you connect wirelessly to engage multiplayer mode). It's not just about how well you play in this duel, because your opponent is determined to sabotage your moment onstage! Avoid your opponent's traps and fire back with tricks like Broken String, a power-up that cuts one of their strings loose. Look out...your guitar can also catch fire!

To get out of your predicament, you'll have to use all those great features unique to the DS. Blow into the microphone to put out the fire and slide your pick stylus vertically along the touch screen to repair a broken string. There's a vast selection of other things you can do to get in your opponent's way. Why not up their difficulty level, or make their notes zoom along at warp speed? The music's only half the fun in this battle.

It's hard to imagine a handheld Guitar Hero. But this game not only does the best it can, it adds more, and it's out to show you that the DS can do things even the consoles can't! It's great seeing all the fun DS features being put to use - On Tour proves it's not just a mini version of Guitar Hero; it's a totally quirky and unique DS title. Rock on!