Android App Review Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour
Droid App
"Your thumbs will need rehab, again," one of the early screens warns. Too true. Guitar Hero World Tour, a Droid adaptation of the popular home video game, is a rock-themed thumb-ercize class.
The game uses the familiar Guitar Hero format of colored pucks advancing toward targets, indicating when and where "notes" should be played. Instead of the faux musical instruments that come with the mainstream version, the guitar and drums are represented by three spots at the bottom of the screen that serve as both instrument and target.
The basic play is decent; you jam along with a variety of songs tapping the appropriate spots as the notes go by. With a little practice, you can get your groove on, and it almost feels like playing. The music is catchy, if a little skewed toward the 1970s.
There are three levels of play, easy, medium, and hard, with increasing numbers of notes and increasing syncopation. There is also a one-on-one challenge over the network where you can jam against random other players, earning "battle points."
The biggest annoyance is that fat thumbs obscure enough of the screen to make it difficult to see and hit multiple-note riffs.
The next biggest problem is that the songs terminate to a chorus of boos after a small number of misses.
The menu selection buttons are often unresponsive. The audio feedback for the controls is annoying, and cannot be turned off without turning off the music as well (which sort of defeats the purpose of the game). "Network Busy" is a common message when trying to load a new song or start a challenge match.
Oh, and do the folks in your vicinity a favor; play with a set of headphones.
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