[life] Shredding hot licks
My gamer self is mostly moribund. Her thumbs have atrophied, her hand-eye coordination has diminished, and even a fine party game like MarioKart can hardly hold her attention long enough to complete a race.
But she has awakened. A game has called her name with irresistable and dulcet tones, summoning her to the living room, guiding her to pick up the controller, and whispering in the curved porches of her ears, "It's time to rock out."
That game is Guitar Hero.
GH rocks. It rocks hard, and it makes you believe that you can rock too. It says, "here, pick up this guitar. You and me, we are going to rock down the house." And then you do.
There's a great review at Dubious Quality that says pretty much everything I'd say about the game. Bill Harris is a fine, fine writer, in all the ways that I'm not, so I'll just let him talk about it.
I will say, however, that it has been a very long time since any game has held my attention like this. I will gladly sit on the couch next to Shawn and watch him play through pretty much anything, helpfully pointing out paths and objects that he seems to be missing. (The real wonder of this is that he doesn't mind me doing so.) But put the controller in my hand and I'll usually lose interest within twenty minutes. Not so with Guitar Hero. I love the big, stupid guitar shaped controller, I love the cheesy cartoony graphics and the cliched rock star posturing and the classic rock songs and the whole concept of star power, which is that if you have enough style you can make the audience forget that you suck.
And I love the finely tuned, sharply honed sense that I am, in fact, rocking out. This becomes more pronounced as you move into more difficult songs and harder modes, but it is present right from the very start, right from the first song in Easy Mode. You feel ridiculous, standing there with the little plastic guitar strung around your neck....and then you play that first note, and you feel badass.
It's a brilliant game. To those who made it possible for me to rock, I salute you.
But she has awakened. A game has called her name with irresistable and dulcet tones, summoning her to the living room, guiding her to pick up the controller, and whispering in the curved porches of her ears, "It's time to rock out."
That game is Guitar Hero.
GH rocks. It rocks hard, and it makes you believe that you can rock too. It says, "here, pick up this guitar. You and me, we are going to rock down the house." And then you do.
There's a great review at Dubious Quality that says pretty much everything I'd say about the game. Bill Harris is a fine, fine writer, in all the ways that I'm not, so I'll just let him talk about it.
I will say, however, that it has been a very long time since any game has held my attention like this. I will gladly sit on the couch next to Shawn and watch him play through pretty much anything, helpfully pointing out paths and objects that he seems to be missing. (The real wonder of this is that he doesn't mind me doing so.) But put the controller in my hand and I'll usually lose interest within twenty minutes. Not so with Guitar Hero. I love the big, stupid guitar shaped controller, I love the cheesy cartoony graphics and the cliched rock star posturing and the classic rock songs and the whole concept of star power, which is that if you have enough style you can make the audience forget that you suck.
And I love the finely tuned, sharply honed sense that I am, in fact, rocking out. This becomes more pronounced as you move into more difficult songs and harder modes, but it is present right from the very start, right from the first song in Easy Mode. You feel ridiculous, standing there with the little plastic guitar strung around your neck....and then you play that first note, and you feel badass.
It's a brilliant game. To those who made it possible for me to rock, I salute you.
posted by Karla Andrich at
7:47 PM
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