Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night

Ever since 1986, Konami has been pumping out games in the Castlevania franchise, and the franchise just gets better and better with each installment. Up to the point of Symphony of the Night (SOTN)’s release, the games were sidescrolling action games, with level by level gameplay. While not official, many consider it to be the greatest PSX game ever, and even the best game ever. Why is this exactly?

While the story on its own is not anything special, the scale of everything taken as a whole is. You play Alucard, Dracula’s son, who is a half-human, half-vampire. Why is he a halfling? Dracula’s only true love for a human belonged to his wife Lisa. Richter Belmont (a main character from a previous CV game) has mysteriously disappeared, and his previous feminine companion Maria has gone looking for him when Castlevania emerges in front of her. She decides this is a sign and enters to search for Richter. Alucard, who has been in a slumber for hundreds of years, is awoken and drawn to Castlevania. He learns that evil forces are working in the castle, and he enters to rid the evil, as well as settle a score with his father. He and Maria agree to swap information as they discover it, and they set off separately. And then you are off to freely explore Castlevania. The storyline is actually quite good, and it holds a few twists and turns that can’t be spoiled here. Rest assured it is excellent.

When this game came out, the graphics were a disappointment to many, because most believed that this CV was going to be in 3D, to showcase the power of the new PS hardware. There are 3D elements of scenery and magic here, but nothing distinctly 3D that affects gameplay. What is here, are monstrous bosses, some taking up to 3 screens to even see their head, large scale enemies, and a diverse palette of colors that are brilliantly shown throughout. The backgrounds and scenery are very magical and ominous at the same time, and all look very polished. But the best part of the graphics is the fluidity of Alucard’s movements and attacks. The only gripe, is that there are mass amounts of slowdown sometimes in boss fights where Alucard moves incredibly slow and the PSX is using all of its power to display everything going on. Mostly though, the game plays very smoothly. The graphics are superb. This is one of the best sounding games ever released for Playstation, mainly due to the phenomenal soundtrack. SOTN has the best soundtrack for any CV game, but it might not be going too far to say that it has one of the best soundtracks ever. You just have to hear it to believe it. Words cannot describe this particular composer’s mastery of music. The major downfall is the voice acting. There is voice acting whenever a character speaks in the game, and while Alucard’s voice isn’t horrible, the others are. However, the game’s grandiose soundtrack more than makes up for this.

As mentioned earlier, you are free to go wherever you want, whenever you want, provided you have earned certain skills. But even without some of these skills, there are still plenty of areas accessible from the start of the game. Basically, as you fight enemies with various weaponry found throughout your adventure, you gain experience, which eventually nets you a new experience level. Not uncommon to the standard RPG you might find, except combat is obviously real time. This is more of an Action/Adventure with RPG elements in it, than a full-fledged RPG experience. As you gain levels, you are able to dispatch enemies quicker, and then you level up more and kill enemies quicker and so on. Also equippable, are different types of armor, helms, rings, and magic accessories to enhance Alucard’s overall ability. This whole system of equipping items in CV games originated in SOTN. As you explore different areas, you will fight bosses and earn new abilities along the way. These will allow you to explore even more areas. For instance, because Alucard is half-vampire, half-human, he has access to Dracula’s abilities. Once acquired, he has skills that allow him to turn into a mist, a wolf, and a bat. Scattered thoughout the game are Relics, which will grant you certain abilities, like stat increases, to upgrades to your bat form and mist form for example. There are many to get, and some are well hidden, this is incentive to search the castle very closely.

The game can be completed very quickly, and it can also be completed in a long period of time. It all depends on how much you are willing to search for new areas and objectives, because trust me, this game has plenty of things to do. Once you beat the game, you can play it again with all of your equipment from your last saved game, and try to complete it as fast as possible, there is a secret character to play the whole game as, a sound test to unlock, and much, much more.

The other item worth mentioning is that the game can be completed a number of different ways. If you meet certain requirements, you can extend your playtime by a lot, earn a number of different endings, and learn the real story behind everything.

Conclusion – This is a game I believe that will continue to amaze in years to come. When you think that this is the one single game that came up with what CV games play like now, (for instance the GBA Castlevania series) it is simply incredible. This is, quite simply put, the best Castlevania game, one of the best Playstation games, and one of the best games ever made in total. With an amazingly deep gameplay experience, phenomenal sound, and genre defining graphics, why shouldn’t you get this game? There is no reason not to. Enter the awe-inspiring world of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and be changed forever.

Rating: 99 / 100

Review by Neil

The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker

For the video review go here: The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker Video Review

The first Zelda game for the Gamecube, and the first 3D Zelda game since Majora’s Mask on the N64 several years ago. This game is my favorite Gamecube game for several reasons, which I will point out in this review.

Let’s begin with the story, you are living on a island with your grandma, your sister, and some other people. The game starts on your birthday when you are handed the legendary Hero Of Time Tunic. Shortly after this your little sister gets kidnapped by a giant bird and your story starts and will expand later on, and near the end you will have to save more then only your beloved little sister. Now let’s move on to the graphics.The graphics for this game are absolutely stunning. Everything is cell shaded, and surprisingly, it looks absolutely fantastic to have these cartoony graphics with this game. All characters have more detail then ever, and they have great face expressions. The world looks beautiful as well, even though most of the environment is water. In this game you will not travel through Hyrule or any other land, you will travel on a giant sea, with several islands to visit. This game runs very fast and has no framerate issues at all. To move deeper into the graphics, you will notice nice things in this game like wind blowing away dust,, great water visuals, great looking explosions, everything looks very polished and this game has pretty much perfect graphics. Now the music, the music in this game is also very impressive, though you will find some old Zelda tunes here and there, the game’s music is top notch, same for the sound effects.

Now the gameplay, the game uses the same battle system from Ocarina Of Time/Majora’s Mask and works really well, as expected. There is a nice little addition to this battle system however, there is a countermove. When you are fighting a opponent, and before he is about to attack, sometimes a little shining A button pops up in the screen, when you hit the A button at this very moment you will roll/jump away, dodging your enemies attack and deliver a devestating slash with your sword. This counter attack is very usefull and will be very important with some of the game’s more intense battles. Talking about intense battles, this game has, as every Zelda game has, great bosses. You will face the giant bird from the intro of the story, you will face a giant ghost, and some other bosses. Now the downside, the bosses are very easy, and are not challenging, only the final boss is pretty hard. This is a real bummer, since I really missed the hard bosses during the game, I want challenging bosses, and these bosses are not challenging at all. Now the dungeons, you will go through a few different dungeons in this game, and a few other places you will have to visit to bring the game to an end. The dungeons are impressive, they look great, are big and have enough rooms to explore. However, the dungeons have enough puzzles, but just like with the bosses, they aren’t really that hard most of the time. You will find some tricky puzzles however, but you will never get the feeling that your ” stuck ” inside a dungeon. This is a slight bummer once again. Overall, the game is just a tad too easy.

The game is also relatively short, even though there are enough side missions and enough items to collect, the game just meets an early end. A few extra dungeons would have been nice to extend this great game even more, and a slightly higher difficulty would also make this game even better. Now that I have talked about the side missions I would like to point out that these are very fun to do and some are pretty hard as well. For example, you will have a to make photographs of certain people at certain places and when you have done this, you will get a Deluxe Picto Box which you can use to make full color pictures of people and enemies. You can use this to make pictures of enemies, and after that you can make little statues of them at a certain place in the game. This is an example of the great variety that this game has to offer.

The items you will collect, and the weapons are pretty much Zelda standard weapons and items, you will get the bow and arrow, your hookshot, your good old Master Sword, you will also get your potions to drink and some other things. This game also offers a few new weapons and items, but a few more weapons would have been nice.

Conclusion – This is a great game and is close to perfection. The only things that make this game less great are the following – The game is pretty easy and it could have been bigger as well, to extend this greatness. Overall, a must have Gamecube game and one of the best Zelda games.

Rating: 96 / 100

Review by Justin

Half-Life 2

When Half-Life came out on the PC in 1998, it became an instant classic, redefining the genre. Valve certainly took their time to make a sequel to the award-winning game, and in 2004 Half-Life 2 was released for the PC, and it was worth the wait.

To better understand this game, it would be wise to play through the first game, but not necessary. In Half-life 2, you play as Gordon Freeman, a physicist who becomes a pawn to a mysterious figure named the G-Man. The G-Man calls upon Gordon to liberate Earth from an invading alien force known as the Combine, and starts his adventure on a train to City 17. Gordon is quickly put into a plan to save humanity from the Combine, but along the way things go wrong and it’s up to Gordon to make things right. In Half-life 2, you start the game with nothing but a crowbar, and as you advance, you will collect more and more new weapons to use, from pistols to shotguns to rocket launchers. About a quarter way into the game, you are given one of the most innovative weapons of all time…. the gravity gun. This gun is a blast to use. Using the primary and second attack buttons, you can pick up and/or punt nearly anything in the environment at your enemies. Even people later in the game. The gravity gun is also more than a weapon, it’s a tool. Using this weapon, you can grab items you normally couldn’t reach, or stack crates as platforms, etc. And to add to the fun, Half-life 2 has an awesome physics engine. Shoot a barrel and everything around it will break, and the shrapnel will be sent flying. Land a grenade beside a window and glass shards will be propelled in all directions.

The physics engine also allows for some really clever puzzles. For instance, place a plank of wood on top of a barrel to make a teeter-totter. Then you can place heavy objects such as bricks and crates on the other end to weigh it down. Now you have a ramp to higher ledges. These puzzles provide a nice break from the intense action, but remain fun. The AI in Half-life 2 is impressive and makes for some really crazy shootouts. Hide behind cover for too long and you will be bombarded by grenades or flanked. Combine the puzzles and action, and you got yourself some fast-paced and incredibly fun gameplay. Also in Half-life 2 are vehicle sections, and levels with horror elements full of suspense and gruesome visuals that break up the regular run and gun gameplay, but are fun to play. Throughout the game you will also arrive at checkpoints where you can interact with other freedom fighters, be given objectives, and stock up on supplies.

The graphics and sound are also outstanding. Half-life 2 has some of the smoothest character animations seen in a video game. The models are extremely detailed and sometimes look like real people. This really draws you into the experience. The environments are extremely detailed as well, with good draw distance and plenty of debris. The only bad thing is that some of the textures are very blurry and pixelated, which can make you remember that you’re only playing a video game.

Conclusion – Extremely, fast-paced and innovative gameplay, with nice puzzles and quiet sections to give you a break from the action. Great graphics, but some blurry textures here and there. Any fan of the FPS genre with a decent computer should definitely get this game. I give it a 95/100.

Rating: 95 / 100

Reviewed by Robert

Super Street Fighter II – The New Challengers

Super Street Fighter 2 was released on both the Snes en the Sega Genesis. This review is about both versions. Let’s begin with looking at the differences between both versions. These differences are all esthetical: The Snes version looks and sounds better than its Genesis counterpart. SSF2 on the genesis doesn’t use the entire screen, while the Snes version does. The Snes version also uses considerably more colours. As far as the graphics are concerned the Snes version is superior to the Genesis version. In fact SSF2 on the Snes is one of the most incredible arcade-to-console conversions of the 16-bit era. The sound on the Snes is also better. On the Genesis the sound effects are less clear and the voice effects are scratchy.

Both games, however, feature the same brilliant gameplay. Street Fighter 2 was easily the best 16-bit fighting game; its only competition came from Mortal Kombat, a game that was a typical case of form over substance. In the arcades Street Fighter 2 had some serious competition, notability SNK’s Samurai Shodown-series. The balance between the characters in SSF2 is excellent. Most people use Ken or Ryu, but every fighter on the roster can be a force to be reckoned with if controlled by a seasoned player. Nowadays when using an emulator it’s possible to play this game over the internet and although I’m an experienced player myself people have fought me on equal terms using Guile and somebody even went as far as to humiliate me using Zangief (!).

One last thing that remains to be done is to compare this game to the earlier editions in the Streetfighter 2-franchise. This game offers four new playable characters and subsequently four new stages. The new characters are all valuable additions. Playing as the Indian T. Hawk might not be easy or even effective, but at least he and the other new fighters add some variety to the game when you play against the CPU. A few new moves have been thrown in and other moves have been slightly altered: for instance Ken now can set people on fire with his dragon-uppercut and Ryu now can set people afire with his fireball. In my opinion Super Street Fighter 2 is more an upgraded version of Street Fighter Turbo (which in turn was a mere upgrade to the original Street Fighter 2) than a new game. At the time SSF2 was released most gamers already owned one of the many versions of Street Fighter 2. I think SSF2 didn’t offer enough innovation to warrant a purchase if one was already the owner of SF2, SF2T or Street Fighter Championship Edition (genesis).

When I judge this game without taking an earlier purchase of a Street Fighter game into consideration, I must conclude that this one is the best in the series. It has better graphics than Street Fighter 2 Turbo and it has 4 extra characters.

Conclusion – An awesome fighting game, nothing on the Snes or Genesis beats it.

Rating:

SNES – 100 / 100
Genesis – 95 / 100 (slight deduction for inferior graphics and sound)

Reviewed by Butch

Related Article – Top 10 SNES Games

Related Article – Mortal Kombat VS Street Fighter Poll

Top 10 SNES Games

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Written by Justin

Far Cry

This will be my first review for this site, and also the first PC review here. I was asked to review Far Cry. I’ll start with a brief summary. Far Cry plays like most other FPS games, but what sets it apart from the rest is the massive, wide-open, levels. There are dozens of ways to advance through each level and the game. But in spite of all this, Far Cry has some glaring flaws that make the game very frustrating.

In Far Cry, you play as Jack Carver. Jack is hired by Valerie, a mysterious photographer looking to get some pictures of a tropical island chain. Upon arriving, Jack’s sailboat is destroyed by a rocket and Jack finds himself stranded and fighting for his life, with the help of a mysterious scientist named Doyle, who contacts Jack shortly into the game. Jack soon finds the island is full of highly trained mercenaries, and later in the game, genetically mutated humans and animals called trigens. The HUD contains a compass that will point you in the direction of your objectives. Getting there is the fun part. Along the way are mercenary camps and patrols. In Far Cry you can sneak through dense jungle or go in guns blazing. The AI gives up a good fight but cheats, as enemies will see you through walls and trees. Jack has an arsenal of around ten weapons, but can only carry four at a time. This adds a bit of strategy, as you will need long-range and short-range weapons. The third option you have is vehicles. Jack can use all mercenary vehicles except helicopters, including jeeps, hang-gliders and patrol boats. All options are extremely fun and rewarding.

The graphics, played on a computer able to handle them, are stunning. The jungles are covered in trees and bushes, and the draw distance is incredible. Also impressive is the water, lighting, and bump-mapping. The lighting really gives the indoor sections an eerie feel to them. The huge areas add to the amazing graphics too. In one section of the game, you can walk along a beach and see islands on the horizon. I figured these were just part of the backdrop, but became curious, and after literally five minutes of swimming, I was standing upon the shore of that same island looking back at the mainland. The sound is equally impressive. Unfortunately, no game is perfect and Far Cry has its fair share of flaws. For one, the lip-synching in the cinemas is horrible, character’s mouths move for sometimes up to five second after the dialogue finishes. Another huge problem is that later in the game, you will face enemies with rocket launchers for arms who kill you in a single shot, yet take four rockets to take down. Often times, you will be put in a narrow corridor and be pitted against these trigens, with no cover and nowhere to run. Combine this with the lousy save system, and you got yourself some extremely frustrating gameplay.

Conclusion – In the end, Far Cry is an awesome game that could have been so much more. I give Far Cry an 80/100.

Rating: 80 / 100

Reviewed by Robert

Mario Kart DS

Nintendo is the world’s largest leading creator of fanboys. You cannot deny that simple fact. You talk to them and they go on a rant how Nintendo should rule the world and every single game they produce is worth your money, regardless of the quality or originality of the product. At the mere mention of Mario, this particular group of people go into a tremendous cheer, most times for no reason at all. Sometimes, Nintendo releases a game with the Mario name on it and it, well, sucks. But for those other times, Nintendo releases a Mario-brand game that is just awesome. And, of course, I’m referring to Mario Kart DS. Nintendo has created a package that is almost perfect from head to toe. It is probably the largest Mario Kart game to be released, even quite possibly the largest DS game to be released. It has some minor flaws, but overlooking those can give you on fun racing experience

The Mario Kart series has always been known to have incredibly simple controls and the gameplay doesn’t require much thinking, but Nintendo can always make it fun. Mario Kart DS continues the tradition while also including the capabilities of Nintendo’s two-screen handheld. Right when you begin the game, you’ll realize that there are 32 tracks (quite a big number compared to other racing games), although half of them are from past Mario Kart games. There are four apiece from the classic Mario Kart for the SNES, the Nintendo 64 version, the Game Boy Advance version, and GameCube’s Double Dash version. These sixteen tracks have all been remastered and look great. The brand-new tracks are very interesting and varied also. My favorite is Tick Tock Clock, which features giant clocks everywhere (now I don’t quite remember why it is my favorite). The races are just as classic as the gameplay.You can race on 50, 100, or 150 cc tracks (like past versions of Mario Kart). You really have to study the tracks before picking your best racer for that particular track, simply because some strategy is involved. In courses with sharper turns and no guard rails, karts like the sluggish Donkey Kong one wouldn’t be that good of a choice. On the other hand, Princess Peach’s lacks the speed to win the shorter, more straighter, tracks.

Back from the previous games are the power-ups and weapons that you have come to know and love. Bananas, turtle shells, and the lightning bolt that decreases the size of your opponent are back, but some new ones grace the screen of your DS. One problem with the increased selection of weapons is that there is nothing for defending yourself from incoming attacks. Nothing is more fustrating than being in first place, only to lose your lead because of homing missiles that are impossible to avoid. But Mario Kart DS relies more on driving skill than weapon luck, seeing that most of the tracks require fast reflexes and the ability to powerslide (which is a necessity for success). The driving can get tedious for some players considering that there is no analog stick, but after some practice the D-Pad will feel like home. There are plenty of modes to keep you busy playing Mario Kart. First is the classic Grand Prix mode, which has you racing around the tracks in a circuit-like fashion. There are two arena style matches called Balloon Battles and Shine Runners (and anybody who plays the past Mario Kart games should know what you do in those). Time Trails and VS. mode are here as well. There is a brand-new mode on this game, and that is the Missions mode. At beginner levels, Missions mode can act as a training tool for amateur players, but on harder difficulties, these can prove to be fun challenges.

The multiplayer is where Mario Kart DS really shines. You and seven other DS-owning friends can all play with only one cartridge, but there is limited cars for those that don’t have the game. If you can rally up seven people who all have Mario Kart DS, then complete chaos can ensue when you’re on the tracks. And if you lack those friends, you can go online and duke it out with people all across the world. Mario Kart DS is the first DS game to have the ability to go online, and it is really easy if you have a wireless router at home. If not, then you can simply buy a Nintendo USB Wi-Fi drive that simply connects into your PC and uses that internet connection to provide you with the connection you need. And if you don’t want to do neither, then go to the one of the 6000 McDonald’s in the United States that have partnered with Nintendo to give you a free Wi-Fi connection point. When you get online though, the ways to play are quite mediocre. All you can do is click on Optimatch, which randomly puts you in a race against another opponent. All the game gives you in terms of stats is the win/loss record of your opponent. No leaderboards, chat rooms, nothing. If you want to play with a friend, it gets really tedious seeing that you have to input your friend’s 12-digit “friend ID number,” which gets really annoying after a while. Plus, there are only twelve tracks to play online (the others were disabled because of lag concerns). But when you hop into a race online, it can be really fun and it so much better than playing against the CPU.

The graphics and sound are just as good as any other part of the game. The graphics are smooth and no hiccups on the framerate, while the sound and music can keep you hyped up for the next race.

Conclusion – Overall, Mario Kart DS is an outstanding game for the Nintendo DS. The single-player is generally fun all around, and the multiplayer is incredibly fun. I would like to see an improvement in the online server (if there ever is going to be Mario Kart DS 2). You don’t have to be a fanboy to enjoy this Nintendo offering, no doubt about it.

Rating: 90 / 100

Reviewed by Aaron

Meteos

Most of you haven’t seen a decent puzzler since Lumines for the PSP, but for those DS fans (or fanboys), one has finally comes to grace your double-screened little baby.

The story is quite intriguing for a puzzler. A planet called Meteo has released “phantasmagoric matter,” which is known as Meteos, and is destroying the “sparkle of the universe.” Intriguing, isn’t it? But what is more intriguing is that a warship called the Metamo Ark is out to destroy the first Meteos there ever was. Then comes along someone (who got his theory from Tetris, most likely) who tells every planet that if more than one Meteos of the same color touch, they fuse and blow up! And that is your job.

The game plays almost exactly like Tetris, but with a nice little twist. Blocks fall from the sky and you have to align three or more of the same colored Meteos to make them ignite and blast off towards the top of the screen. When (or if) any of the blocks make it to the top of the screen, they blast off and hit your enemy (who you must destroy with Meteos to advance). To make matters worse, you fight on many different planets, and each of them has their own unique gravitational pull, so that means on one planet, lighting up three Meteos will blast them all to space, while on another planet, maybe five or six Meteos of the same color will only make it out of the atmosphere. It adds a much-needed level of challenge here. And since you’re facing enemies, they tend to drop colorless blocks down onto you, and these blocks are impossible to blast off back to them. Those blocks will form a color after time, but they could make or break you. There are two ways to play the game: with the stylus or with the D-pad. The former is the better choice as it gives the game a fast-paced feel. It may be difficult to learn, but over time you’ll get it.

The game has a pretty decent look to it (since it’s a Nintendo game, very colorful). The backgrounds all have a lot of detail and variety to them, and the same can be said about the enemies you’ll face off on. The audio can be expressed exactly like the graphics, great variety and interesting. The game does support wireless multiplayer with one cartridge, and it is worth it. Dumping blocks on your friend can be very satisfying.

Conclusion – Overall, I haven’t seen a great Nintendo puzzler in a long time! And this one really shoots to the stars (pun intended)!

Rating: 80 / 100

Reviewed by Aaron

Guitar Hero

Okay, heres the first review of hopefully many by me.This is going to be on a game that has pretty much taken over my life lately, and this game for the Playstation 2 is called Guitar Hero by RedOctane and Harmonix Music.

This is a Rhythm game with a difference. There is almost no bump-bump crap dance music in sight. All thats here are mostly amazing covers of some of the greatest guitar music of all time. Unfortunately there’s no Iron Maiden, but Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Jimi Hendrix and Pantera among others more than makes up for this. There are also some indy songs that can be unlocked which also for the most part hold their own. The controller for this game also adds to the fun. It’s a simplified guitar complete with 5 fret buttons, a strum bar and a whammy bar (for those long Iron Man opening notes). It really lets you feel like part of a band and that you’re playing lead guitar in front of a capacity crowd. Not a lot of rhythm games can emulate this feeling of really playing a song as well as this game can.

The idea of the game is relatively simple….to explain. On the screen there’s 5 rings scrolling at the bottom of the screen and as rings come down to each note, you hold in the relating fret button and strum the note. It seems simple, but it can be tricky to find the buttons to begin with. But once your fingers get used to the postitioning of the buttons you should fly through the early difficulties. Keep hitting notes to keep the crowd happy and if you keep messing up the notes you’ll be unplugged and will have to start again or choose another song. If you hit notes which are star shaped in succession you can fill up a star power meter which can help you increase your score. This is activated by tilting your guitar vertically, which should pretty much come as reflex to most wannabe rockers out there.

There are a couple of tutorials that can help you out with the basics of the game like chords and holding long notes. It also teaches you advanced techniques called hammer ons and pull offs which prove to be helpful in tougher difficulties if you perfect them. Shame that there isn’t an actual practice mode where you can constantly go through a certain section of a song until you can nail it. Oh well there’s always GH2. The graphics are okay, but you don’t really notice much other than the scrolling notes if you’re really concentrating. But if you decide to risk a few points, you’ll see a colourful stage with a well made backing band along with your guitar hero trying to
The game contains six unique characters spanning almost the whole spectrum of rock music:

- Axel Steel – Metalhead
- Judy Nails – Alternative rocker
- Pandora – Goth chick
- Xavier Stone – Modern Rocker
- Johnny Napalm – Punk Rocker
- Clive Winston – Classic Rocker

along with two unlockable characters:

- Izzy Sparks – Glam Rocker
- This one uses a scythe for a guitar, that’s all you should need to know to figure out who the last secret character is.
They all have their own unique presence on the stage and have some distincitve guitar moves that most veteran rockers will recognise.

There is also a hell of a lot of Gibson Guitars and guitar skins to unlock in this game, including the Explorer ( The axe of choice for James Hetfield in the days Metallica were still cool ) and a double necked SG. They all look amazing in their own right. There are also six colourful arenas to rock out in, ranging from a basement to a sold out arena, just like the journey of a real rock band to fame. This journey is actually the main area of the game where you play songs to advance to better arenas and play more songs and get more money, all towards getting the status of guitar god.

The sound in this game is where it shines the most. The music (which is what is most important in this game) is brilliantly covered, except for some iffy lyrics but that can be forgiven because you’ll be too busy zoning in on the guitar sound. When you mess up a note the game really lets you know with some horrible twang sounds. The crowd noise also adds to the experience with the mandatory yays and boos you’d expect from a rowdy rock crowd.

Conclusion – Overall this game is excellent, except for a couple of glaring problems (no real practice mode and no Maiden) so this game gets an 85 out of 100.

Rating: 85 / 100

Reviewed by The Hitman

Reviewers Wanted

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