Guitar Hero Handheld Portable Game

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You know why the other people are complaining about this thing? Well, they expect it to be like the TV Guitar Heros. WHAT?! If you look at the picture, you'll immediately understand that this is a little LCD game that surely can't contain as much as the console games. Plus, they were expecting modern-day kids to love this. If they love Game & Watch games, then I'm sure there won't be a problem. Otherwise, you were mistaken.

First, let's go over the in-game. At first, they seem confusing to navigate, because you don't know which buttons to press. Well, soon, you find out that the yellow button sets the volume or difficulty higher, and the blue button lowers them. The orange button should be pressed to confirm your choices of volume and difficulty.

Now, the main gameplay is still pretty similar to all the other Guitar Hero games. You just don't strum with the buttons you press. You can also mash the Whammy button (See the fake handle next to the screen?) during long frets to score extra points. The songs are shorter than the originals, and there are only 15 of them, but the game plays well. And also, it's not really common for an LCD game to have voices come out of the speaker.

So overall, it's not as bad as everyone says, once you realize that it is what it's supposed to be: Guitar Hero on LCD.

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This game is fairly entertaining. The easy level is easy. The medium level is okay. The hard level is moderately hard.

This game does not play full songs, only clips of songs. Occassionally, you get some vocals blasted through the tinny speaker, which adds to the entertainment (only this version has vocals, and only on some songs).

The timing needed for hitting each note is a little tough to figure out, but nothing that can't be overcome with a little practice.

Overall, this game is okay. It is a fun distraction, just like any LCD handheld version of an actual video game. Any expectations that buying this will get you the real Guitar Hero for much cheaper than a console are simply unrealistic.

If you want a better version of this handheld game, I would recommend the 2nd edition (white).

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Lot's of addictive fun for times when you have nothing better to do, or wish you didn't.

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This toy is not a very good translation of "Guitar Hero" into an LCD form. Nobody expects an LCD handheld to have everything the full game does, and there are many ways they could have made this a fun game in its own right, but they just didn't succeed here.

The timing on the pulses is way out-of-step with the audible beats and riffs of the song. The whole point of the game to "play along" with music is completely out of whack; the only way to get ahead is to forcefully ignore the music and just watch the screen.

To play this version you also have to time your button presses very differently to how you would in the full "Guitar Hero" game; the timing that matches the on-screen pulses is wildly off compared to the original. Experienced GH players will have to re-learn a completely different gameplay system with unfamiliar feel and behavior. Since the music has little to nothing to do with the bizarre-feeling gameplay it just results in a very unsatisfying experience.

And finally, the game penalizes you far too heavily. The songs are grouped into levels, and after you complete all the songs in a level (in any order) you can proceed to the next if you have enough points in your "cool" meter. However, if you fail out of a level you don't just have to replay the songs in that level like in a sane game, the thing just resets and you have to start entirely over from the beginning. Ouch!

There are a few OK points about this game; the condensed chiptune-style pop songs are surprisingly well-done for this sort of thing (there are even select vocals compressed into some of them) though the cheap-sounding little speaker does not serve them well. The best thing about the game is a really well-designed guitar-shaped casing; the controls are not difficult to use, the guitar arm (purely for show) folds neatly behind the unit if you want it out of the way, there's an integrated hook for clipping onto a backpack or belt loop or whatever, the unit is well-built and seems like it could take a beating, and it's quite cool-looking. However, these positives are not enough to make the game actually fun to play.

I wouldn't play this game anymore, but I'm going to try and get use out of the unit by removing the electronics and installing a media player or something into the casing.

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