5 Music Video Games Much More Fun Than Guitar Hero
A word on the new Guitar Hero.
Guitar Hero: World Tour will feature a whole band like Rock Band but just slightly different enough to require you spending another $180.
This is just another step in the decline of what started as an incredible series. Guitar Hero 1 was a great game popping with personality. Guitar Hero 2 was a pretty good follow-up that lost some of the flavor of the first. Guitar Hero 3 was also a game.
Activision is known to do this with every series possible. Tony Hawk had the same problem where, after the third game, they drove it into the ground hard and fast.
So instead of shelling out $200, here are some better music games that you can find on the cheap.
5.) Amplitude
Aplitude is actually the game Harmonix designed before the first Guitar Hero. Unlike Guitar Hero, you control the entire song in Amplitude. Moving along a track, you must move from instrument to instrument and match the rhythm of the entire song. Missing the vocals track will remove the vocals from the song. Missing the bass will take out the bass. Etc.
Song complicated? It is. But therein lies the fun. Amplitude is a challenging game that requires both rhythm and an ability to spot where individual instruments begin and end.
While the crappy Techno-World theme of the game can be off-putting, the music selection is great and the game is incredibly challenging.
4.) Space Channel 5
Space Channel 5 is ridiculous. Ulala, a woman who looks like the E-Surance lady, is a space reporter covering / defending against an alien invasion. There's also a rival television station, Michael Jackson, and an entourage that grows as you play the game.
While very short and somewhat easy, this game is simply too weird to not enjoy. Music games are largely about style since the basic follow-the-pattern format needs a balancing visual flair. Space Channel 5 is the most stylish - if off the fucking wall - music game out there.
3. Samba De Amigo
Yay! Imagine Guitar Hero, but with maracas. And, like Guitar Hero, you used a toy version of those maracas. They even had little beads in them to create a shaking sound when you used them.
This game rocked because of how physically tiring it was. Unlike most music games - excluding Dance Dance Revolution which isn't on this list because there are more music genres than J-Pop, Techno, and J-Pop Techno - Samba De Amigo was fucking tiring. You needed to keep moving the maracas up and down as you shook them. You literally couldn't play this game sitting down or resting.
It also had Chumbawamba and they're bringing this game back for the Wii.
2. Rhythm Heaven
Yes, this game is Japanese. But fuck if it isn't amazing. A collection of music-based mini-games, Rhythm Heaven really mixes up genres and creates interesting play experiences that never get boring because they never last longer than a few minutes.
1. Elite Beat Agents
Elite Beat Agents has everything the past four have had and more. Great music selection, style, graphics, portability, challenge - everything. Even the story is awesome: three secret government agents help people solve problems by dancing. That's it! The end! This ranges from helping a film director finish his movie to reuniting a girl with her dead father (really) to stopping an alien invasion.
This video doesn't do the sound quality justice, but it does demonstrate some awesomeness.
'
Guitar Hero: World Tour will feature a whole band like Rock Band but just slightly different enough to require you spending another $180.
This is just another step in the decline of what started as an incredible series. Guitar Hero 1 was a great game popping with personality. Guitar Hero 2 was a pretty good follow-up that lost some of the flavor of the first. Guitar Hero 3 was also a game.
Activision is known to do this with every series possible. Tony Hawk had the same problem where, after the third game, they drove it into the ground hard and fast.
So instead of shelling out $200, here are some better music games that you can find on the cheap.
5.) Amplitude
Aplitude is actually the game Harmonix designed before the first Guitar Hero. Unlike Guitar Hero, you control the entire song in Amplitude. Moving along a track, you must move from instrument to instrument and match the rhythm of the entire song. Missing the vocals track will remove the vocals from the song. Missing the bass will take out the bass. Etc.
Song complicated? It is. But therein lies the fun. Amplitude is a challenging game that requires both rhythm and an ability to spot where individual instruments begin and end.
While the crappy Techno-World theme of the game can be off-putting, the music selection is great and the game is incredibly challenging.
4.) Space Channel 5
Space Channel 5 is ridiculous. Ulala, a woman who looks like the E-Surance lady, is a space reporter covering / defending against an alien invasion. There's also a rival television station, Michael Jackson, and an entourage that grows as you play the game.
While very short and somewhat easy, this game is simply too weird to not enjoy. Music games are largely about style since the basic follow-the-pattern format needs a balancing visual flair. Space Channel 5 is the most stylish - if off the fucking wall - music game out there.
3. Samba De Amigo
Yay! Imagine Guitar Hero, but with maracas. And, like Guitar Hero, you used a toy version of those maracas. They even had little beads in them to create a shaking sound when you used them.
This game rocked because of how physically tiring it was. Unlike most music games - excluding Dance Dance Revolution which isn't on this list because there are more music genres than J-Pop, Techno, and J-Pop Techno - Samba De Amigo was fucking tiring. You needed to keep moving the maracas up and down as you shook them. You literally couldn't play this game sitting down or resting.
It also had Chumbawamba and they're bringing this game back for the Wii.
2. Rhythm Heaven
Yes, this game is Japanese. But fuck if it isn't amazing. A collection of music-based mini-games, Rhythm Heaven really mixes up genres and creates interesting play experiences that never get boring because they never last longer than a few minutes.
1. Elite Beat Agents
Elite Beat Agents has everything the past four have had and more. Great music selection, style, graphics, portability, challenge - everything. Even the story is awesome: three secret government agents help people solve problems by dancing. That's it! The end! This ranges from helping a film director finish his movie to reuniting a girl with her dead father (really) to stopping an alien invasion.
This video doesn't do the sound quality justice, but it does demonstrate some awesomeness.
'
posted by Mike Drucker at
7:46 AM
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