DS Review: Guitar Hero: On Tour

There’s no doubt about it; Guitar Hero revolutionized the way we see and play rhythm games. The franchise has enjoyed great success in multiple consoles since late 2005. However, when a portable version of Guitar Hero for the Nintendo DS was announced, many were skeptical; how on earth could we get a guitar-playing experience on the go? Will there be a mini-guitar included, or some other peripheral that might or might not work? Discussion and speculation continued for a while, with little to none official word on how the game would pan out. Eventually, the Guitar Grip accessory was revealed; some followers of the title were impressed, while others felt a bit uncomfortable about the idea. With the recent release of the game; we can finally say ‘…almost’.


The first thing you will notice about Guitar Hero: On Tour, besides its $49.99 price tag, is the inclusion of the Guitar Grip peripheral. This neat accessory plugs into the GBA slot of your DS and features four fret buttons that mimic the five frets of the standard Guitar Hero guitars. Featuring customizable plates, a guitar pick stylus and holder, a hand strap and backwards compatibility with the original DS ‘Phat’, the Guitar Grip itself is a nice little product that translates the Guitar Hero experience to the DS as best as possible. Unfortunately, it isn’t perfect; the fret buttons are on the small side, and the peripheral is a bit uncomfortable to hold and maneuver successfully in higher difficulty settings.

The overall feel of the game is what you would expect from the franchise; form a band, pick a rocker, and go through venues and songs in Career Mode to unlock guitars, outfits, and more venues. You can also jump on to a previously unlocked song in Quickplay Mode, or take the game’s well-designed Tutorials or practice an specific song in Practice Mode. The next big thing most players will notice is the relatively short song selection. A total of 26 tracks are included, including All Star, Rock and Roll All Nite, I Don’t Want to Stop, and others (check out the full list of tiers and songs). 26 full-length songs are impressive to DS standards, but not nearly enough for the franchise. Call us crazy, but Activision could’ve offered downloadable songs that would go to a small memory unit located on the Guitar Grip peripheral; unusual, but possible.

Gameplay itself is really just as fun as the game’s console big brothers; simply hold one or more fret buttons as you use a stylus or the included pick stylus to strum anywhere on the touch screen. The responsiveness of the Guitar Grip and the well-synched notes and audio make for a very enjoyable experience; you can ‘whammy’ long notes, tap an icon or blow on the mic to activate Star Power, and use hammer-ons and pull-offs to nail tricky solos. Unfortunately, strumming isn’t very well developed. You can strum on any direction, but short strums sometimes go unrecognized, and the constant flow of notes in Hard and Expert will have you tapping your touch screen like crazy. You can try to slide sideways, but the slightest movement of the stylus can break your note combo. In a way, the challenge of a fifth fret translates to the frustrating and tiresome strumming mechanics, especially as the difficulty increases.

The multiplayer features of Guitar Hero: On Tour are quite good. Using Multicard play (no online support is included), you can rock with or against a local friend to any unlocked song. The game also includes a single and multiplayer mode called Guitar Duels, in which Star Power becomes special items to use during a match. You can set your opponent’s guitar on fire, break one of their strings, have them sign an autograph for an annoying fan, and other interesting challenges. With many different special attacks, this mode is really hectic and enjoyable.


There might not be many, but all the 26 songs in the game work really well and sound great; most songs are mater tracks, and the few covers sound just as good. Our only gripe with the game’s audio is the relatively low volume of the songs; we know the system is capable of more, and we really shouldn’t have to use headphones to get the full experience. The game’s graphics aren’t anything extraordinary, but they translate the Guitar Hero feel to the handheld fairly well, and the lag-less, well-synched note flow works perfectly, and that’s what really counts in this game genre.

Guitar Hero: On Tour is a great experiment that could’ve been better. The fun gameplay and the Guitar Hero feel are there, but control discomfort, a more ‘kid-friendly’ soundtrack, and an annoying strumming system really hurt the experience. Activision has done a great job with a franchise translation that could’ve ended up much worse, and our hats go off to them for trying, and succeeding to some degree, to bring Guitar Hero to handhelds, with a very cool and impressive peripheral; we just can’t shake the feeling of ‘…almost’.

Things we liked:

Great peripheral

Guitar Hero’s feel and gameplay remain

Fun multiplayer

Things we didn’t like:

Control discomfort, especially in Hard and Expert

Inefficient strumming system

Relatively short soundtrack, with very low song volume

Final Score: 7.5 / 10