Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades is the follow up to the popular Guitar Hero series, and is once again ready to enthrall you with some interesting stuff. The interesting thing behind the selection of the title ‘Decades’ is that the games basically hinges on the songs of the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s,, which you will to an extent find peculiar, especially considering that every other game of the series had such songs in one form or the other. The game’s setup is such that you have to play at least four songs from each decade chronologically, with the added provision of a fifth one.

I fell it is my prerogative to caution you before hand that as is the case with every game that’s based on music, there are songs that you will find difficult to stand. It also depends on your taste what kind of music you like, be it rock, classical, pop or something else. A few of the songs featured are Buddy Holly by Weezer, and You give love a bad name by Bon Jovi. The most irritating part however is that, the same songs appear in multiple game versions.

Moving on to the game play, it is still very much the same, which is not an issue considering that the original game play was quite exciting. The characters are also practically the same and they leap around similar backgrounds that were observed in the earlier version. However, the Guitar Hero: Decades takes a U-turn, and for the worse at that, as the game appears to be ridiculously difficult, to the extent that you will find it to be a total waste of your valuable time and energy. The original version was also difficult; especially since the songs became more difficult as the game progressed. There is no respite with the new version as difficulty seems to the only corner stone of this game.

The only saving grace of this crass title is its multiplayer section feature that brings some semblance of respite to the poor gamer. The players can also swap play lists, and you also have the scope of getting all sorts of additional songs as the series continues.

Nintendo DS Lite is an incredible combination of technology and entertainment. After reaching unparalleled heights of success on other consoles, the extremely popular Guitar Hero has now made its way to the DS Lite. Guitar Hero is a game which lets you play the guitar on screen just like a real guitar. It is controlled by a wraparound controller, which gets attached to the back of DS Lite from outside. This is done to make it feel like you are actually playing a real guitar. It also has a hand strap to make sure you don’t accidentally drop your prized DS Lite while playing.

The game has already had amazing success on the PS2, PS3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360. There were some concerns whether a handheld would be able to effectively implement the unique controlling system, but the DS Lite version easily quells any doubts. This wraparound attached to the DS Lite makes you hold it like a book. You hit the four frets with your left hand fingers while strumming the touchscreen on the right. It will practically feel as if you are really strumming on an actual guitar. However, because the buttons on the wraparound cannot be played with your right hand, any left handers will have to learn to play right handed or face disappointment. So play the music aloud, dance and feel like a rock star. Just don’t drop the DS Lite while you are hitting the notes.

Guitar Hero: On tour is one of those games that is on the “Top Expectations” list and has taken a painstaking 20 prototypes to get right. The hugely popular game is now being made to be played on Nintendo Ds lite with an all new Guitar-rip attachment that is going to be shipped along with the package. This is to give you an ergonomic and comfortable gaming experience since the attachment fits into the advance slot and is curved so as to make your fingers reach out for the buttons easily.

Although the game is a good few months away from its scheduled release on June 22nd, 2008, the talk is already on.

According to gamespot.com which seems to have gotten its hands onto a prototype, the “On Tour” promises an authentic Guitar Hero experience. It is expected to come loaded with more than twenty-five numbers but only about 5 tunes have been officially announced so far ( courtesy: gamespot.com)

“Do What You Want”–OK Go
“All the Small Things”–blink-182
“Spiderwebs”–No Doubt
“Are You Gonna Be My Girl”–Jet
“We’re Not Gonna Take It”–Twisted Sister

There is a strong possibility that most of the game’s music tracks will be master tracks, however. You could look to play against your friends by competing for scores; grab some power-ups that can be used against your opponent like throwing bombs on your opponents or using the power-up to break the strings of your opponent’s guitar.