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Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits Family DS Intermediate Activision Vicarious Visions Rated E for EVERYONE by the ESRB

Guitar Hero Still Hitting The Road

By: Kelly Adams
GiN Product Reviewer

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Modern Hits is the third Guitar Hero On Tour game for the Nintendo DS. The game includes, like the previous ones, the Guitar Grip and pick stylus, but they are only compatible with the DS and DS lite not the DSi.

The Guitar Grip plugs into the GBA slot and has buttons like the neck of a guitar game controller. The buttons are smaller and thinner which works well with small hands.

For those not familiar with the series, the top screen shows you the note highway and the bottom is the strings of the guitar to strum. We are treated to 28 master tracks all hits from the last five to seven years. All songs are unlocked in quickplay so no beating career mode first and career mode added a new feature.

You will choose your path to stardom. This non-linear career mode lets you select from Headline, Opening, and Fan Request songs and you are able to bounce back and forth from those options.

In Fan Request you will be asked by your fans to play certain songs on lead/rhythm/bass and with certain restrictions and requirements. Beating fan requests will unlock new venues. You will track your requests through an in game PDA.

When you complete a song in Opening or Headline mode fan requests for that song will become available. You will have to complete the song requests to beat the venue. This translates into playing the same songs over and over again.

Modern Hits has two wireless multiplayer modes for you to play with a friend. If they have this version of the game then you can battle, but if they have one of the other On Tour games, song sharing will allow you to still play. You can create playlists with songs from this or any of the previous On Tour games and this gives you access to over 75 songs.

Modern Hits has a great track list including hits from Wolfmother, AFI, Evanescence, and Weezer.

The game play did become frustrating at times. It was not registering my strums all the time and this made hitting some of the fan requests difficult. The fret buttons worked just fine but hand cramps are frequent. Some of the fret combinations on particular songs will make your hand seize up which is not fun and bloody hurts. I could only play for about 10 to 15 minutes before having to take a break and work out the cramp and get feeling back into my fingers.

The graphics are better than the previous two and the career mode has more to it. Basically, if you were a fan of the first two (On Tour and Decades) then you will enjoy Modern Hits too.

Editor's Note: Game Reviewed With A Nintendo DS.

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