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Review - Guitar Hero On Tour Decades

THE FACTS: Guitar Hero On Tour Decades
DS | Activision | Multi-card multiplayer 1-2 | Mic supported | Guitar Hero Guitar Grip Required to play | Out Now | RRP £29.99 (£39.99 with grip controller)

Guitar Hero On Tour wasn't the most successful game in the franchise; in fact, it was far from it. Despite being a pretty good experience to say it's on your DS, there were so many little tweaks that could have been improved that it didn't feel like a proper Guitar Hero title. This game is very similar in terms of gameplay, but thankfully, many of the tweaks from the previous game have been ironed out.

    The game is played by selecting colours on the fret controller, and then sliding or tapping on the touch screen to play that colour note, in time with the beats as they arrive at their designated position at the bottom of the screen. This all works the same as the last game, with only presentational differences (the star power bar is now shaped like a microphone and the rock meter is more attractive) changing in this sequel.

    There are a few more improvements as well. The controls in the guitar duel mode are more functional than before (they always register this time, rather than only registering on a certain part of the screen), there are a couple more unlockable tracks, your progress in harder difficulties is also reflected in the lower difficulty modes, and most importantly, the song list (which includes songs from the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's and "modern" genres) is much better.

    Sadly, if you've got Guitar Hero World Tour, several of the songs will be familiar, but nonetheless, it seems a lot less like Activision is only trying to appeal to the casual, child and female audience. This is reinforced with the harder difficulty level which requires more skill than before, with super fast streams of ever changing notes.

    In another new addition to the sequel, this game can also be connected to the original On Tour if you have a friend with that version, and you can seamlessly stream songs between either version to play, meaning that you can have up to 54 songs at the ready, giving players the chance to choose a song if they do (for some reason) prefer the first track list, which is a very nice (and well done) touch.

    This has been improved on in loads of different ways, and feels more as though it is being aimed at core rockers, rather than pop wannabes. Because of this, this is the game you should look out for out of the two, but watch out for the grip controller, which is exactly the same as before and won't be to everyones comfort (although the score you see below is based on the game, and doesn't include the guitar grip controller).

Final Score
24/30
Very Good
Gameplay 8
Very well done for a shrunk down version of the game, with the odd tweaks making it all the more playable
Presentation 9
A much better tracklist than before, with some pretty decent visuals as well
Enjoyment 4
You won't find yourself bored by the difficulty, and you'll often end up singing along without realising
Other 3
The extra features and unlockable songs make this a bit longer than before, even though there's still no wi-fi features


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How we rate games: EXPLAINED