Gitaroo Man

"How to Save the World In Twelve Easy Songs"

Gitaroo Man, a game of unparalleled greatness. In the genre of music games, mainly one title comes to mind. Dance Dance Revolution. But now, when one little child stands on a corner and thinks of music-related games, they will think “Gitaroo Man”.

Where to begin describing this game? Well, I’ll start with the essentials. Gameplay. The gameplay in Gitaroo Man is new and refreshing. No flying arrows tell you where to place your feet to dance, and it’s hardly a PaRappa the Rappa game (shudder). Gitaroo Man’s gameplay revolves around a simple and easily understandable point, to play your songs, and play ‘em damn good. The game itself is very short, but the gameplay makes up for the lack of content. With three different difficulty levels, you’ll be playing this when your grandchildren play their PS8’s.

The controls, another axle in which the game surpasses itself. The controls can’t be any simpler. Use the left analog stick to direct the cone to where the music line comes in, and use X to hit the various notes and such. When you go on the defensive, which you will have to do, just push the corresponding buttons (Square, Triangle,e X or O) when they pass over your central dot and ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, you’ve got the controls.

Apart from gameplay and controls, is the story line. Here’s where Gitaroo Man slightly disappoints some. It doesn’t have a deep story line like FFVII, and but isn’t as simple as Gradius. Basically, you find out that you’re Gitaroo Man, and have to go save the world with your rawking songs. You fight some battles, find your girl, fight the big bad guy, get the girl, the end. Cliché? Sure.

The music is the key to Gitaroo Man. All of the songs are -fantastic-, and cover almost all genres. If you like reggae, pop, rap, jazz, hip-hop, hard rock, hard metal, it’s all in here. The first song starts out mellow, teaching you the controls. And a couple songs later, it’s a crazy drum-fest of Hispanic beats and mouth harps. I liked Gitaroo Man’s soundtrack so much I imported it, which was well worth the money.

The extras include an unlockable little museum that describes the enemies, Gitaroo man, and much of the other game. There’s also Master Mode, which is incredibly hard and will keep you glued to the game for an extra week. The multiplayer is fun, even though it doesn’t have a difficulty setting.

All in all, Gitaroo Man is a must have for anyone who likes music, video games, or musical video games. Koei, hats off to you.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/04