Gitaroo Man

"Gitaroo-Man kicks it up a notch. BAM!"

Gameplay
97 out of 100

Thoroughly impressed. Gitaroo-Man adds a new level of challenge by implementing the analog sticks with rhythmic taps and holds with the cardinal controller buttons. Keep in mind, however, this is not something quickly mastered ad then just put away for the next challenge. Gitaroo-Man's levels get rapidly more difficult and will sometimes have you thinking, ''Yeah right! I'm not getting past that part anytime soon!'' Animerica said this game was ''Simple to learn, yet difficult to master.'' Absolutely.

The developers used their heads and created a excellent tutorial which debuts as the first stage in the game(hosted by U-1's puppy pal Puma). The tutorial assumes that you can't figure out anything for yourself, and this is a good thing because there are people who can't and it doesn't hurt the rhythm savvy folks to warm-up before gettin' their party started.

The multi-player is a blast. Especially since you can also play as the bad guy and that's something you don't get to do in single player. It supports the multi-tap for a possible 4-way menage a trois of jamming and mad skills.

Graphics and Story
79 out of 100

The ''choreography'' of the levels deliciously complements the music, especially during the 2nd and final stage. The graphics, well, was intentional. You don't judge South Park and say stuff like ''Wow! That is crap! Is that the best they could do?!'' The animation used in Gitaroo-Man is fine and is obviously not a tribute to PS2's capabilities.

BUT!....If you watch the intro, the graphics look like something off of a movie they would make for Gitaroo-Man. The characters are animated to the artists' style but the special effects and some of the backgrounds are sweet. To be honest with you, however, you really won't be paying too much attention to them unless you want to lose; your eyes need to be at the center at all times. Watch someone else play and then you can judge for yourself.

The main concern I had was that sometimes the background got so flashy that it was hard to see your patterns.

The story was cute and teaches a good lesson about self-esteem. Nothing really profound but there was an unexpected twist I thoroughly enjoyed.

Sound/Music
99 out of 100

AHHHH YEAHH BOOOOYYEEE! The music was so great I almost..TMI...

This game moved me. I haven't been moved since...well...since...FF3(US)! When you get to the next to last stage you may feel the same way.

**(SIDE POINT-not a crucial part of the review)**
If you saw Night at the Roxbury and you remember the part where Will Ferrell whipped out the boom box and played ''What is Love?'' during one of Chris Kattan's darkest moments and saved the relationship, you _could_ compare that to what happens later on in this game.

A really cool variety of music and some of it even sounds mainstream! (I don't know since this game isn't American and I'm not Japanese)

Please people, the music is what's supposed to make this game, and this game has it ''made''!

Most of the hardest patterns yield the best parts of each song so practice hard and reap the benefits!

Replay Value
92 out of 100

When you beat the game you unlock Master Play which is a much harder version of the original. On top of that you can adjust the difficulty to hard if you're really gutsy. According to a couple reputable sources, the difficulty level had to be lowered from the JP version. That doesn't bother me because any harder and I might have just taken it back!

Play the game over and over and over. With practice each song will sound better and better because you're not missing the riffs.

Again, since you can't play as the bad guys during the story mode, you get a WHOLE NEW set of patterns when you play multi-player since you can play the enemies' portion of the song as well. Get some friends if you don't have any and get a multi-tap and this game's replay goes from 92 to 98!

Also you can collect the different characters and what-not from the game and hear a cool mini-bio for them in the ''Collection'' section. This will unlock new characters for you to play as in multi-player.

Overall value
367/400 (91.8%)

Loner? Never liked any of the rhythm games introduced to the console (DDR excluded)? Well at least RENT this one and give it a try. A few of you may change your tune.

Even remotely liked a rhythm game introduced to the console (DDR excluded)? Have friends? This game owns the rhythm genre and definitely deserves to be in your library. Especially if you own Parappa or UmJammer Lammy! BUY IT. NOW. Espcially if you got a multi-tap in your possession. Where I went all they had left was the display copy so get yer bootay over to your game shop and get Gitaroo or get nothing at all!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/02, Updated 02/25/02