Gitaroo Man

"Jam some. Flail some more."

The rhythm and music genre of video game is somewhat of a niche. You either get it or you don't. This niche is not without its holes. A lot of video games in this genre are certainly very shallow and poorly made. They don't have much replayability either. But some of the best rhythm and music games require great skill and make you come back again and again. That is if you can hack it. And the seemingly narrow appeal of this genre can be its weakness. Not everybody will be able to jam to the hardest songs on Dance Dance Revolution. And if you're like me, not everybody will see Gitaroo Man to the very end. However I find to one of the best rhythm and music games and an overall amusing and sometimes uplifting experience.

Here's the general gist of the game. You play a boy who transforms into Gitaroo Man when he grabs a hold of his gitaroo. You fight the evil Gravillians with your music. Yeah, it's completely nutty.

Gameplay: 8. The game alternates between different phases of music playing, but you always control a dot in the middle of the screen. In some segments, you use the analog stick to follow a trace line as it winds its towards the center dot and hold down any button during parts where an orange bar overlaps the line, thus creating music. The better your timing, the more energy you get or more damage you do to your opponent. As you can probably tell, some songs get really insane patterns, and I find this style of gameplay to have more depth than the simple button pressing of games like Parappa the Rapper. In other segments, you defend against your opponent's attacks by pressing the right button as they hit the center dot. Mix the two segments together, and you got a royal battle of instruments.

Music: 10. Holy cow. This music rocks. Not content to stick with quirky music ala DDR or Um Jammer Lammy and friends, Gitaroo Man pulls out all the stops. You've got J pop, hard rock, techno, reggae, spanish influenced, and ballad. The music is full and rich, and the guitars sound loud and authentic. Jam to your heart's content. In my opinion, Gitaroo Man contains some of the finest music in the rhythm genre and also one of the most heartwarming ballads the moves me to tears everytime.

Graphics: 7. Eeek! Blocky heads and painted on mouths! The graphics in Gitaroo Man are refreshingly clean but decidedly simple and not worthy of PS2. This may be to give the game a simple, cartoony look, but when you realize that the audience in stage 11 is nothing but a cube with people painted on its sides, there's something wrong with the world. But who cares when the game is this fun to play?

Replayability: 8. Unlike the other "Simon says" rhythm games, Gitaroo Man occasionally mixes up its songs' patterns. How cool is that?

Difficulty: 9. This one will either enthrall you or frustrate you. Or more likely both. Passing the normal game is easy enough after some practice, but once you beat that and unlock the "Master" mode, many might start to balk. The difficulty level of each stage rockets up considerably from the normal game's counterpart stages. The songs are the same, but now there are many more button presses, many more complexitites. It almost feels like your playing a guitar for real. Some of the notes come in so fast, that you'll probably be flailing at the buttons with your thumbs, desperately trying to figure out the timing. Even if you're not the frantic type, most likely your thumb muscles will start to fatigue and slow down long before the sequence stops its relentless assault and gives you a breather. I'm all for a challenge in video games if it seems like persistence and trying different approaches will yield results, but this game seems unforgiving. Rhythm games require great skill, but instead of following onscreen instructions or getting visual cues like the flashing beats of DDR, here you must spend considerable time to suss out how each button press equates to a music sequence, time which the average gamer may not be willing to spend. And because the game mixes up its music each time you play, memorization isn't always reliable. So to most, it's just you, your eyeballs and thumbs, and your reflexes. Fun turns to dismay as you realize you tried your best on a sequence but didn't do any noticeable damage to your foe. Apparently near perfection is the key. Or luck. If you're like me, you may be tempted to give up long before you finish the game. A lot of good games are challenging. But not everything that's challenging is good.

Overall: Even though it seems like my scores don't average out to the score I give this game, my reviewer's tilt gives this a 7, due to the difficulty level, graphics, and the fact that at its heart it's just a rhythm and music game, a genre with a very shallow niche. However, it's still a good game, head and shoulders above most of the other "Simon says" games. Its music sticks with you, and this is probably the only music game where a song reduced me to tears. Usually emotional response is relegated to games like RPGs. And the gameplay is among the most inspired I've seen in the rhythm and music genre. Even if you don't see the game through to the end, you'll probably still dig this one in spurts.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/23/04