Guitar Heroes PS2

If you are a geek, or a J-phile, and have watched Lost in Translation there is probably something that caught your eye in that film for the few seconds it was shown and gave you harder wood than Scar-Jo's transparent-knickered derriere..

Yes, the arcade scene where a typically uber-cool Japanese lad stands with his enviable perfect hair, a cigarette lazily drooping from his mouth as he strums effortlessly on an electric-guitar attached to an arcade cabinet. No doubt doing ridiculously well in it too.

Playing this game with the has long been a fantasy of mine, but somehow I managed to not see or hear anything about Guitar Heroes until it was actually released. After a 10 minute session in Game, Guitar Heroes told me "You Rock!" after sailing through a few songs on easy. Having massaged my ego into a buttery mess, Guitar Heroes had me signing away £49.99 on my Debenhams card before I even knew it.

Initially I played through the tutorials, which are pretty helpful (we'll forgive its poor-man's Spinal Tap "comedy" here and all through the game) and introduce you to the basic techniques and the premise of the game, which will be a familiar one if you've ever played any Dance Dance Revolution type games. A fretboard scrolls towards you, with different coloured circles in different "string" positions. These colours correspond to 5 coloured buttons on the neck of the plastic guitar you get with the game. You basically have to have to have the correct button, or buttons when the game gets trickier and introduces chords, depressed while strumming on a white plastic rocker-switch just at the right time. Timing this well results in hearing the song as it is meant to be heard, failing to do so however results in an out-of-tune ker-rang.

There are also longer notes, where you just have to hold the same notes, but you can add a personal guitar-wank touch to the songs by rocking the whammy bar. Miss the start of the longer note though, and you end up feeling quite the fool as you have to listen to up to 10-15 seconds of silence: some time to think about what you've done and reflect on what a terrible guitarist you are and also how you'll never be as cool as the J-guy from Lost in Translation.

Pulling it off however is probably the most gratifying thing I've ever experienced in 20 or so years of gaming, your star power meter fills, the crowd go wild, you tip the guitar heavenwards and unleash your star power, the crowd go wild-er, you complete the song and your performance is rated as a review in the music press. You don't have to do terribly well to complete the songs, but even doing averagely becomes increasingly difficult as they throw in more of the 5 coloured buttons in metacarpal-splinteringly difficult sequences.

Thankfully the tutorials teach you advanced techniques though which I presume will eventually allow me to lick the more difficult levels.

Forgive me for not having really discussed the overall game structure and progression but basically it doesn't matter at all. This game is fun on a really primal kind of level. There is a plot, yaddiyadda, progress through a rock career performing at better venues... make money.. unlock more songs.. unlock more characters.. unlock more guitars... unlock songs from 'underground' bands.. yawn.

I think this is where the game falls down. It is exhilerating to play, but having played through it in 'easy' and 'medium' modes, I have already played most of the songs I wanted to play and I really don't have much interest in unlocking more guitars and characters that you don't even get see because you're too busy concentrating on rocking out.

I think ideally I would like this to have the emotional grip of Gitaroo Man, but with the guitar controller, as it would certainly make for more enjoyable single-player experiences. Playing to a digitised crowd is pretty lonely and hollow: I prefer the whole thing to be an experience, watching your friends and family members' particular style and how the game really has you having delusions of rock grandeur, posturing and knitting your brow in concentration.

It is great fun in company, but playing alone feels a little sad and doesn't hold my attention. Maybe I'm an egotist.

I'll let you discover the songs for yourself, because listing them all here would only spoil it, but it encompasses quite a varied range of music from 70s power-rock, heavy-metal, modern guitar band "indie" and funk. I have to say though, the selection of tracks does seem to have a bit of a bias towards the heavier stuff. More "Cage" than "Felt" anyway, but even though I'm not a fan of a lot of the tracks on there and it's obviously great to play your favourites, the heavier tracks are surprisingly entertaining to play. Well, pretend to play.

In all, a whole lot of fun and certainly worth the £49.99. Guitar Heroes 2 comes out in November and sounds to be quite interesting, featuring more songs, the ability to play rhythm, lead or bass guitar parts, and co-operative play mode, whereby players take a role in the band a la "Daigasso! Band Brothers (Jam With The Band)" on the DS. Apparently a drum heroes of sorts is coming out too...

I give this 4 videogame hearts out of 5 as it is an exhilerating experience, but I'm not really convinced of its lifespan. How fittingly rock 'n' roll. Certainly try and play it once in your life.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3