Gitaroo Man

"Wow, the second weirdest game ever, just under Panic/Switch."

Well, Gitaroo-Man is a very unique, somewhat rare game that seems quite unlikely for a port to America, but alas, the things that reach our shorelines.

Plot 10/10
Gitaroo-Man is a very odd tale about U-1 (pronounced You-One) and his talking dog Puma and their quest to save the planet Gitaroo, and for that matter everyone else from sheer doom. Sound like an average video game? Your weapon is a guitar-shaped instrument that shoots lasers and your enemies range from, everything from baby faced demons to flying sharks. Average? Not quite...

Graphics 8/10
The graphics REALLY reminded me of Panic. If you aren't familiar with Panic (which you are probably not), it was a very odd game for the Sega CD which had you pressing buttons and getting very VERY bizarre results to your surroundings. The Art styles between the two games are relatively uncanny. The graphics are good for what they accomplish, but if I have to be picky, then I'd complain that the CG scenes look quite ''choppy''.

Sound 10/10
Love the music in this game so far. Only a few songs annoyed me. As for voice acting, it's not the best, but I've certainly heard worse (*ahem*, RAD, *ahem*). Overall, with the oddness of the game the voices sound pretty much right.

Gameplay 7/10
You know, I have this saying, ''It's good for a game to be hard, but if it's too hard then it's sheer torture!'' This game is quite difficult, however it is not sheer torture. There are so many things that you have to pay attention to at once that you may get frustrated at times. And I've found that sometimes the controls feel like they aren't responding right at all. However the game is still very inventive. I just think it needed a little more polish, or a little less frantic button mashing.

Extras 9/10
Actually there aren't a whole lot of extras I've found as of yet, except for some bios and unlockable characters for 2 player mode and whatnot. the Bios are kind of funny, and the pictures are interesting... well some of them are interesting anyway, others look like they were taken straight from the manual.

I don't have to tell you whether or not to rent this game or buy it because you WILL NOT find it for rent... well you may, and if you do, good for you then, rent it. Otherwise, it's worth a purchase if you like music games, and it's definitely worth checking out if you are into off-the wall Japanese humor!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/02, Updated 12/29/02