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Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades is a music video game for the Nintendo DS based on the Guitar Hero series and a follow-up to Guitar Hero: On Tour. The game is developed by Vicarious Visions and published by RedOctane and Activision It was announced at Nintendo's 2008 E3 Conference and was released in November 2008 in Europe and North America.

The game shares the same gameplay as with On Tour, and uses a "Guitar Grip", either bundled with the game or from the first game, to provide a similar guitar controller interface as with the console-based versions of Guitar Hero. Reflecting on its name, the game's region-specific soundtrack contains 28 songs arranged in "decades" (such as "1970s" or "Modern"). Decades uses the DS's local wireless capabilities to let users share songs between On Tour and On Tour: Decades in competitive modes.

Decades received a lukewarm reception, citing many of the same issues in relation to the Guitar Grip and sound quality from the first game. Reviewers felt the game was more an expansion pack than a full title on its own.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Decades remains primarily unchanged from On Tour. The core game is a score attack music game, in which the player must attempt the notes of a guitar track of various rock songs. The game uses a "Guitar Grip", either as bundled with the game or from On Tour, that is inserted into the Game Boy Advance slot of a Nintendo DS or DS Lite; the peripheral is incompatible with the Nintendo DSi. The Grip provides four buttons, and the player "strums" by using a guitar pick-shaped stylus on the touch screen. The strumming detection has been improved in response to complaints from the first game.

Decades provides an improved career mode that a player can follow for either lead guitar or bass/rhythm guitar, as well as a "Guitar Duel" career mode. Both careers will present songs in reverse chronological order, starting with Modern hits and ending with classic rock songs.

Decades can be played with another player over the DS's local wireless capabilities. Additionally, a Decades player can play with another player using On Tour, allowing any song from either setlist to be selected.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack is considered "a trek through time" by IGN, featuring sets of five songs out of a total of twenty-eight tracks. Each set focuses on a specific era of rock music, including two called "2000s" and "Modern". Each set has a specialized venue for the era. All songs are master recordings as opposed to cover versions.

The full setlist for the game is listed below. The set lists are different for the North American release, the UK release and the European release, with seven songs in each being exclusive to the respective version.

Reception

The game has received somewhat positive reviews, noting that the game, released only a short time after the original On Tour, felt more like an expansion pack than a new title. Critics noted that there was no change in the hardware design and the gameplay mechanics, such that the same issues with hand-cramping and the inability to keep the DS steady while playing still persisted in Decades. Reviewers did praise the compatibility with the previous On Tour title, the improved touch screen interface, and the ability to play competitively with other users regardless of which version of the game they possessed.

The tracklist was considered to be well-rounded; IGN explained the game's tracklist "starts out bad but starts getting more enjoyable as you unlock the earlier decades, but that might just be my tastes in classic rock sneaking in there". However, reviewers also noted that with the songs presented in chronological order, the difficulty curve presented in other Guitar Hero games is not present. The poor audio quality of the songs, a problem that was also noted with On Tour, was also found to persist in this sequel.

Guitar Hero: On Tour was a nominee for both Best Music/Rhythm Game and Best Use of Sound for the Nintendo DS in IGN's 2008 video game awards.

Commercial launch

Like the Guitar Hero World Tour commercials, a celebrity is featured on the commercials. The Guitar Hero On Tour Decades commercial launched around late November 2008 featuring Corbin Bleu dancing around a living room playing the game. The theme is the same as the World Tour ads, where the faux Bleu is imitating the dancing scene from Risky Business.

References

1. http://www.game.co.uk/DS/Action/~r335943/Guitar-Hero-On-Tour-Decades-Software-Only/ Game.co.uk
2. ^ Faylor, Chris (2008-10-06). "Guitar Hero DS Decades Arrives November 16". Shacknews. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
3. ^ Hinkle, David (2008-10-17). "Vicarious Visions talks Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades". DS Fanboy. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
4. ^ Harris, Craig (2008-11-17). "Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades". IGN. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
5. ^ Shau, Austin (2008-11-25). "Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades". Gamespot. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
6. ^ Harris, Craig (2008-08-14). "Guitar Hero: On Tour -- Decades Preview". IGN. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
7. ^ Fahey, Mike (2008-10-29). "Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades Full Track List". Kotaku. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
8. "Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
9. "Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (ds: 2008)". MetaCritic. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
10. ^ Haywald, Justin (2008-11-17). "Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades". 1UP. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
11. "IGN DS: Best Music/Rhythm Game 2008". IGN.com. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
12. "IGN DS: Best Use of Sound 2008". IGN.com. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2008-12-19.

External links

• Official Guitar Hero: On Tour site

• 2008 video games
• Guitar Hero
• Nintendo DS games
• Nintendo DS-only games