Gitaroo Man

"Well, it has its share of bad things, but it's definitely worth playing."

I must honestly say that I thought the idea of how the gameplay worked in this game was just awesome. It may be a bit hard for some people, but it's definitely original. It combines music/timing with hand/eye coordination and it's simply incredible. I also like how when you miss a note on screen, it doesn't play that note in the music background. That's pretty cool.

GRAPHICS
Well, to put it simply, the graphics in cut-scenes were simply awful. A kindergardener could draw pictures that looked better. Not to mention, the characters look like some human-shaped mannequins with faces painted on them. The graphics while in-game play are pretty much the same, however they add in some supersonic/colorful waves while you are attacking/producing music that look pretty cool. The lightning and star at the end of every stage you beat is drawn pretty well too. However, the character design needs some SERIOUS work.

STORY
The story was... really lame. Honestly, they need much more of a story, but I suppose they couldn't do that because the gameplay took up too much room on the disc. At the very first stage, Panpeus just jumps in from out of nowhere, calls U-1 (what kind of a name is THAT?) Gitaroo Man and the dog suddenly turns into a boom box? Sounds like a 1st grade fantasy-complex story to me. But, then again, this game isn't notable for either its story nor graphics so I will say no more.

GAMEPLAY
Gameplay in this game is just awesome. Although I believe they need more difficulty settings (they don't have an easy, for example), it really gets to be fun once you get your fingers working. Although I don't know why you use the left analog stick and point to a direction for some reason, it excessively develops your hand-eye coordination, and it is just so fun. Also, there is a multiplayer as well, so you can enjoy the fun of working you fingers with your friends. However, you must defeat that song in single player to unlock it in multiplayer. After beating single player, you unlock master's mode (recommended for finger gods only). It is a TOUGH TOUGH mode to beat, and it's for the players who feel that they want to play some more or haven't been challenged enough.

MUSIC
This games' fun also grows because every time you land a correct note, you play some notes that go along with the awesome song in the background (or rather, the notes you play ARE part of the song's main theme). The songs, which sound really good, vary from soft guitar melodies (stage 6), to soft rock (stage 9), to really hardcore/metal guitar themes (stage 10), or you can go with blues music (stage 3) to some awesome techno stuff (stage 4). It's a nice variation of different songs, although they should have more songs... They only have 11 songs unfortunately. But, the songs they do have sound really great.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this game to people who are into music and rhythm games. It's a must have, although I must say that it's hard to get a hold of, so it will definitely be expensive. Best of luck to you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/07