72: How to be a Guitar Hero

[The Escapist Staff]

"You know who Brownbag Johnson is. That's his wailing guitar in 'Cheat on the Church', the Graveyard BBQ song that won the first 'Be A Guitar Hero' contest. You know because you rocked it out: You shouted the words to its shrill opening sermon; you head-banged your way through the whining glory notes; you felt your fingers cramp and burn on those never-ending, face-melting riffs. Admit it: You played the shit out of that song. And every time you did, you felt like you were 18 feet tall with cajones the size of cantaloupes and throngs of adoring fans prostrating themselves at your bedroom slippers. Basically, you felt like you were Brownbag Johnson.
But when Brownbag Johnson played his own song, he felt more like you. 'Let's put it this way: Our bass player's little brother - who's only 8 years old - can kick my ass at it,' he laughs. "Even though I wrote the song, I'm not totally kicking ass at the game.'"

Lara Crigger discovers how guitar heroes become Guitar Heroes.

How to be a Guitar Hero

 

[sharp_as_a_cork]

On a tangent, just wanted to say that not haveing a PS2, I was deprived of the awsomeness that is GH...UNTIL, that is, I stubled on Frets on Fire for the PC... I've been hapiily making my wasy towards Carpel Tunnel Syndrome ever since (try using a PC keyboard instead of the controller and see for yourselves)

 

[Goofonian]

(try using a PC keyboard instead of the controller and see for yourselves)

Can't say that I see the appeal of playing a rhythm based games on a keyboard. Most of the fun in games like guitar hero and DDR comes from the fact that you are actually playing a guitar and actually dancing, in a matter of speaking. I mean, no one actually dances by moving their feet around in variations of four different positions and playing a guitar with one string and 5 frets would be the most pointless exercise around, but the sensations are similar.

Personally I reckon guitar hero's success can be attributed to the fact that the gameplay allows you to actually feel like your playing the song. As opposed to DDR where your just moving your feet randomly to the beat. Either way, you really don't get that by pressing the keys on a keyboard.