Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades Review - DS

6.5

Gameplay: 5
Graphics: 6
Audio: 8
Multiplayer: 6
Innovation: 3

Introduction

When Guitar Hero: On Tour hit DS last year, I can’t claim to have been much of a fan. The controls were unwieldy and actually caused pain after a short period of time. The pop-filled track list could have used more classics, and there were a few quirks in game design that discouraged you from replaying through the songs by yourself. So, what has changed?

Gameplay

Hardware-wise, it’s the same as before. You get a grip in the package that can be fitted to DS Phat and DS Lite systems (though you’ll need a screwdriver for the former), a set of stickers for customisation, and the guitar pick-shaped stylus. It felt like the grip fit more loosely into the GBA slot this time around, but I don’t know if that’s just my playing style or the way I attached the DS Phat adapter.

The big problem last time was that it was just uncomfortable to use. This time around, besides the fifteen minute gameplay session warning that greets you when booting the game, it also suggests looping just your thumb through the strap and leaving your fingers on the outside, rather than the other way around.

It was an immediate improvement. Right from the get-go I felt more comfortable. The strap prevented your fingers from moving freely, but this way you have the perfect balance between stabilisation and mobility. Of course, you could do this on the first game too – but they didn’t tell you to. In fact, they specifically told you to ensure the strap was “secure around your hand”. Anyway, that’s a massive step up from the original title – of course, it still hurts after about an hour, but that’s about four times better than previously.

There have been a few game design tweaks as well. If you choose to kick things off at the hard difficulty because you’re a pro, you don’t have to go back and play through the earlier difficulty levels. You unlock the cash from the lower tiers when you beat a song. Still, the game is still not exactly tough. With just the four keys to play with, Vicarious Visions couldn’t throw in the difficult finger shifting required on the console versions. I cruised through the hard setting, and expert just throws trickier chords at you. The hardest parts are the really fast streams of notes, but as with last time, I couldn’t help but feel like the game wasn’t picking up my strums all the time – it wasn’t me messing up.

The other hardware issue with both games was that the screen you’re watching is on the input device you’re using to control the action. When you’re strumming and pressing keys at the same time, the DS is going to wobble all over the place. This generally means it will catch some sort of light source and reflect it back into your eyes, or make it harder to judge where the notes are positioned.

Multiplayer

In a nice bit of future proofing, ...