If you're new here and you like what you see, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, and browse around for more fun stuff. Thanks for visiting!

” With an orange-painted-with-swirls LesPaul in hand, Sir Swissgar The Stallion, the dude with the blonde hair and spiked leather jacket, struts out with covers of ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming’, ‘Killing In The Name’, and ‘Surrender’, followed up with an encore of ‘War Pigs’, sung by the notorious Black Sabbath. He misses a few notes, but it matters not. He was in the zone, and the crowd just went balls-busting nuts.”

Sounds like something you come up with your imagination while punching in numbers at that job in the local bank. In truth, this was one of the examples of a play session of Guitar Hero 2, the sequel to the acclaimed rhythm game series created by Harmonix. All of the intensity of performing live, less than 10 minutes to perform.

A few words about the developers: these guys have weekly jam sessions usually after their comfy work in their Massachusetts-based studio. Their first foray into the rhythm game genre was with Amplitude, where you control a funky-looking ship which has to hit all the right beats in a song. Yes, my simple description does not do this underappreciated masterpiece justice. In short, their love of music and games result in a union most unholy: the Guitar Hero series, with the first game on PS2, the second one on both PS2 and Xbox360, and the upcoming Guitar Hero 3, coming out on all major platforms.

For those not in the know, Guitar Hero resembles Konami’s Beatmania or Dance Dance Revolution: one of the five colored notes (or any combination) scrolls down the screen, requiring the player to press a button that corresponds to the note as it hits a bar at the bottom of the screen. Instead of using a standard console controller, you use a plastic Gibson SG to rock out. The guitar also has a whammy bar to bend and distort longer notes to your delight, and a built-in sensor which lets you activate Star Power, a score multiplier to rack up a lot of points from successfully hitting notes non-stop. Star Power also serves as a life-saver at crucial times when your performance is stinking up the joint.

To be frank, Guitar Freaks, an arcade game by Konami, predated Guitar Hero by a few years, from the rhythm parts to the actual guitar peripheral. Unfortunately, it never did catch on. Why, you may ask? Simple: it’s the songlist, and the presentation on-screen. Face it. Your parents did use to listen to The Doors and Judas Priest back in the 70s and 80s, with their flower power mentality, bellbottoms and so forth. People in the 90s are fans of grunge, speed metal and political-statement rock. Guitar Hero has those songs for you to jam to your heart’s content, from the slow and melodic licks of the Rolling Stones, to the guitar wankery of Lynyrd Skynrd. All the songs from both games bring in a certain aura of the era it was from. Elaborated solos, speed strumming, guitar standoffs: this is what people really want from a game which places an axe in your hand.

While you’re waiting for your turn to play, you notice something enticingly odd. Beyond the bottom part of the screen where the notes come down is a scene of a rock concert, with lights, fireworks and smoke effects, as well as a raving crowd either cheering or jeering your performance. The player is represented by a lavishly-dressed alter ego on-screen, ranging from a goth-chick guitarist to a guy with a spiky Mohawk. Even the Grim Reaper makes an appearance (if you’re good enough). When you activate Star Power, your avatar flips and spins the guitar around like nobody’s business; unreal, yes, but nice to watch nonetheless. It’s the little touches here and there that Harmonix craftily put together for a aesthetically pleasing visual package. The series also did something Nintendo has been doing with the Wii: bring casual and hardcore gamers together. While your mom plays Cheap Trick on Easy with just three notes to worry about, the experienced gamer will have a nice time getting through either Hard or Expert, with finger-melting guitar solos and licks which need gamers to master hammer-ons and pull-offs.

As you may have heard, a concert featuring Megadeth and parts of Black Sabbath took place in Singapore a few months ago. For those who missed it, just plug on Guitar Hero and rock on in your cranked-up 5.1 Stereo-decorated living room with your buddies, Heineken bottles in hand. You’d get about the same experience. The music, the visuals, the fact that Harmonix knows what they’re doing when it comes to music: it’s all part of the experience.

Because, deep down, everybody wants to be a rock star.

Part 3 is out October 28th. Get it.

Technorati : awesome, guitar hero, harmonix, red octane, rhythm game, rock, roll