Gitaroo Man

"Great music and addictive gameplay, but a ridiculous difficulty curve."

It's been a few years since this game was released to the Playstation 2. A critical hit but a commercial flop, it seemed as though we'd never get a sequel to this game, until "Gitaroo Man Lives!" was announced for the PSP. In light of this event, and by the recommendation of my friend, I picked up a copy of Gitaroo Man for myself, to see how good this game really was. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised, and it's definitely one of my favorite rhythm games. However, there are a few things wrong with it...I'll get to that later.

Controls - 9/10 - Controls fairly intuitively. Half of the game is the standard, "hit the button to the beat". The other half is something different. There's a cursor in the middle of the screen, and a "trace line" that will touch the cursor from different angles. You have to rotate the left control stick in order to face the direction in which the line is hitting the cursor. It adds a lot to the game, making it more interesting and difficult than the average rhythm game.

Graphics - 5/10 - This is one of the areas where the game doesn't shine. The graphics aren't terrible, they just don't stack up to the quality of the rest of the game. Colorful but on the blocky side, the graphics get the job done, and you won't be complaining about them. You just won't be praising them. FMV cut scenes between levels are the same. This being said, the character designs are imaginative and memorable. The animation is smooth. You will enjoy looking at the game, you just won't be awestruck by it.

Music - 10/10 - This IS where the game shines. Drawing from almost every genre, the game puts together a soundtrack that is fun to listen to. From reggae to techno to heavy metal, this is a game that is able to not only include multiple genres, but to pull them off successfully. I only wish that there were more songs to listen to.

Gameplay - 8/10 - Addictive and fun, yet hellishly frustrating later on. The "single play" mode isn't too bad, the difficulty vamps up slowly, and while it's never too hard, it's also never too easy. However, "master play" is another story. This is the bulk of the game, mostly because it gets to be hard as hell. The difficulty wavers throughout the game, too. Levels 2 and 3 are arguably harder than levels 4, 5, and 6 put together. When you fail a level, you have to watch the intro to that level all over again, who's length varies from 15 seconds to about 40 seconds. If you consistently fail a certain level, expect to memorize (and possibly annoyed) at the unskippable intros. Also, don't expect to be able to pause at any moment in the game, it forces you to start over or go to the menu. This feature isn't as annoying as the unskippable intros, but it does bother me a bit. Multiplayer is fairly fun, but due to the splitting of the screen, it makes the game significantly harder. Despite all these complaints, I have to say that I am enthralled by this game. The replay value is very high. Each and every level is memorable and fun, and touches a different genre of music. The characters are lovable, even if the voice acting is rather stale. There's nothing like attempting a level for an hour, and then finally succeeding. It's very gratifying. Overall, it's a very fun game to play, if not frustrating at times.

Overall - 8/10 - The uneven difficulty and the inability to skip intros hurt the game, as do the "so so" graphics and stale voice acting. However, solid gameplay, creative characters, and memorable levels, as well as great music, more than counterbalance the faults of this game. This game earned this 8/10, and I might actually pick up a PSP just because of "Gitaroo Man Lives!". If you can ever find this gem, buy it, and share the love with your friends. You won't regret picking up this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/06