Guitar Hero is EVIL!!!

OK, it may be a bit harsh to say Guitar Hero is evil. But, it is a way to easily lose a couple hours without realizing it.

See, just after Christmas, I got an "on sale" version of "Guitar Hero World Tour" (with the wireless guitar controller), for our Nintendo Wii system. Being a musician myself, I've always found the game a bit frustrating and challenging. The game does build some basic music skills, but overall the songs aren't played quite the same as reality. So, many musicians will stick their nose up at the game, but I thought it would still be something fun to have around the house.

After a couple weeks, I have found that the game can be quite fun, as long as you don't try to force the game to follow you. You need to treat the whole thing as a game, and simply follow what you are told. In that regard, it's almost like the old "Simon" game where you had to repeat exactly what was presented to you. Guitar Hero is basically a game of "follow the leader".

In the game, there is a "career" path that you can follow. This brings up sets of songs that you need to work through, and then you get an "encore" at the completion of the set. You may also get a "challenge" from a celebrity guitar player, like Zakk Wylde or Ted Nugent (these two are in the "World Tour" version).

Me and my wife are both having fun with the game, either with the career path or simply playing single songs. My wife is also getting a kick out of the various characters you can select for playing, and the outfits you can "buy" for them.

Last week, I saw the WalMart had a combo pack of "Guitar Hero 3" and "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" for $50. These both include different songs from the other "Guitar Hero" games, and the "Aerosmith" edition isn't all just Aerosmith songs (there are other songs included). This combo pack game did not include any guitar controller, but just the game discs. This was fine, since we only have the one controller anyway.

This leaves me with 3 different versions of the games to work through "career" paths. Each "set" can take up to 20-30 minutes to complete, depending upon the number of songs in the set, and encores. This translates into spending at least an hour on these games, and can take more if you are having fun.

One other thing that I didn't expect, was the optical illusion that gets created in the game. For those who don't know, the game is designed around watching a guitar fretboard, and color indicators will scroll by indicating what buttons and "strums" do go with on the guitar controller. These scroll by from top to bottom, like watching the road. Trouble is, after you go back to the screen without the movement, your eyes are still seeing a certain amount of movement in otherwise stationary images. This is kind of odd to experience, but it is just a symptom of watching the moving grid so closely for extended periods of time. There are other "optical illusion" examples on the internet, that can create similar experiences (I remember one where you stared at an image, and then looked at another which would appear to be moving gears, but actually were not).

Between trying to get through the Guitar Hero songs, and the snow this week, I've fallen behind on upgrading my Pro Tools software. I plan on doing the upgrade this weekend, and hope to not spend as much time with the Guitar Hero game. But, the stinking thing is addictive.

And that is why Guitar Hero is EVIL!!!