Pros:
- Character Customization.
- Unique gameplay features, makes the best use of touch controls.
- Smooth Performance.
- Leaderboards.
- Facebook Integration.
Cons:
- Very few songs.
- Doesn't make the best use of the in-app purchase system.
- No free downloadable songs.
- The Bottom Line
Guitar Hero for iOS is a great game for all mobile gamers who want to kill time while traveling. However, the lack of songs (especially free ones) may make you choose Tap Tap Revenge.
Guitar Hero is a popular franchise from Activision, and last year it was ported to iOS devices. This game brings a few elements from the famous console version of the franchise, and introduces a lot of new features which enhance the gameplay experience for portable gaming. As the Guitar Hero tradition suggests, the game is packed with popular rock songs, but to have a lot of them, you will have to spend some extra cash.
The gameplay is just like the console version with many unique features which you won’t find on any Tap Tap Revenge versions - players can strum, use the whammy, tap and slide. When adding all this to increasing difficulty levels, the game keeps getting challenging and more fun.
On the scrolling fret board you will see things like arrows pointing in left or right directions and indicating you how long you have to slide -- you will find notes connected to each other by a glowing line where you tap your finger on the first note and follow the line to the other notes corresponding to the time and beat of the song. Then there is a bar which scrolls down the fret board and this can be tapped anywhere in the tapping area. Those who have played the console version should be familiar with these, there's also the extremely awesome and useful star power, which doubles your scroll multiplier, and the vertical line which follows a note and can be used as whammy.
Now, the sound on an iPhone or the iPod touch as we all know is not all that great hence playing this game on loudspeakers does not make any sense. It sounds decent on the default headphones, but there is one thing you may miss in the game - the crowd cheering for you as you reach various note streaks. The graphics on the other hand are fairly good, but you won’t ever get to see your other band mates. There are a few customization options for your character and these include changing their costume, hair style, accessories, face, shoes, etc. Sadly there are not a lot of options to choose from. As the game allows players to play with a normal guitar and a bass guitar it also lets you do some basic customization on your desired weapon of choice.
The iOS version includes leaderboards, Facebook sharing and in-app purchases. The most annoying thing about the game is that $2.99 just gets you 6 songs, to add more songs you need to purchase them in a bundle of three and there are no free songs available to download. Every song pack will cost you $1.99 and this is where the game takes huge hit when compared to Tap Tap Revenge.
The songs included with the game are;
- Queen – “We Are The Champions”
- Rise Against – “Savior”
- The Rolling Stones – “Paint It Black”
- Vampire Weekend – “Cousins”
- Weezer – “Say It Ain’t So”
- The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
Downloadable songs are mainly from bands like Foo Fighters, Breaking Benjamin, Queen, Vampire Weekend, Darkest Hour, The White Stripes and a few others. In closing, the game is well developed, fun to play and runs very smoothly - however it does not have a lot of exciting songs and needs more customization options.
