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Thursday 6 March, 2008
SESSION 2:
GAMEPLAY:
This second session I exclusively played only in Career Mode and was determined to get through the game. I found that after coming back to the game playing Slash was actually a lot easier than I thought. The game also became slightly easier and now I seem to be passing more songs that I couldn’t get through before. I however have not graduated into Medium setting. I’m only just starting to become comfortable on Easy
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I actually found the end battle against the Devil and the concept of playing for my soul as really interesting and very entertaining. I wasn’t a big fan of this new “cover” version of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (I actually really love the original song) but I thought that the song was very fitting and a very nice surprise as well.
One thing I really enjoyed was seeing my avatar’s hands fire up when I managed to hit a lot of notes in a row. I also found that choosing your own avatar in Career Mode was a very nice feature in the game and I wish that this feature was also part of the Quickplay Mode.
Being a game of emersion, the rules of this game are fairly simple to learn but it does take a while before you get used to the game and develop your skill. I hope to eventually get to the point wee I will be able to reach the orange and blue buttons sometime in the future.
GAMEDESIGN:
I actually find this game a nice alternative to DDR (which is impossible for me to do). Partly I find this true because of the guitar controller. Its very comfortable and helps involve you more into the game. It’s not the same playing GH with the regular PS2 controller and loses some of its appeal. I’d say the controller is a big part of the gamer’s experience.
I particularly enjoyed the small narrative within the Career Mode. I liked that the challenges forced you to play songs that weren’t songs you were necessarily comfortable playing with. The reward system (money) was also a nice touch to add to the magic circle the game created in which the player becomes an actual rock star. It seems that every element in the game was really pushing to create the illusion of rock star lifestyle (the cheering crowd, the “breaking” news stories, signing contracts, touring to Japan, money rewards etc.)
My favorite feature in GH was the ability to customize my avatar’s clothing and even change her guitar and buy songs. My favorite is “Radio Song” by Superbus, which is a song I have never heard before and the band is very new to me. I also liked how the songs are characterized by time period or genre.
The conflicts were also very enjoyable. The Boss battles were a nice touch and playing an encore with Slash was also a lot of fun. The final boss was the best part of the whole game. The song and playing against the Devil was a very nice way to end the game.
Its also nice that the game has different levels (Easy, Medium, Hard) and it does take a while before you can actually get really good and play Hard flawlessly. This gives the game a large replay value. This as well as the point system and the star power also contribute largely to the appeal of GH because you can always play to better your score and master the best way to use star power.
Also GH has a very large fan following. People are constantly comparing scores and having battles. The game is very sociable in this way. Its also entertaining to play with bystanders because they make good real-live spectators and there is definitely cheering and booing involvement from them.
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