Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. more...

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It features a guitar-shaped peripheral (resembling a miniature Gibson SG) as the primary controller to simulate the playing of an electric guitar. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in Australia.

Although it is similar to Konami's Guitar Freaks, Guitar Hero's gameplay and look are somewhat different. Guitar Hero has won many awards from major video game publications and its success spawned the 2006 sequel, Guitar Hero II.

Gameplay

Guitar controller

Guitar Hero is played using the included Mini Gibson SG controller, although a standard PlayStation 2 DualShock controller may be substituted. RedOctane and Guitar Mania have also released wireless versions of the guitar controller. In addition to the standard start and select buttons, the guitar controller has five colored \"fret buttons\" on its neck (green, red, yellow, blue, and orange in descending order), a \"strum bar,\" and a whammy bar. Each song is presented on a set of five columns that scroll constantly towards the player. The five columns correspond to the five fret buttons and appropriately colored notes appear in these columns. Left-handed players can play the guitar upside down and choose the \"Lefty-Flip\" option, which will mirror the notes appropriately. To play a note, the player must hold the correct fret button and press the strum bar. If the player misses a note by strumming early or late or not at all, a three-stage \"Rock Meter\" will decrease. The Rock Meter is an indication of how well the player is performing and the crowd's general opinion of the set. The meter's stages are colored red, yellow, and green, in order of ascending success. If the meter goes too far into the red, it will begin to blink red as a means of warning. If the meter is totally depleted, the player will fail the song. The meter can be restored little by little by playing notes correctly.

There are several variations on this concept. Long notes require an initial strum followed by a continued depression of the fret button as long as the note lasts. Chords involve pressing two fret buttons at a time. Additionally, Guitar Hero supports common guitar concepts such as the hammer-on and the pull-off.

An additional feature is Star Power. Star Power is activated by tilting the guitar controller upward, or by pressing the select button. Star Power is accumulated from either successfully playing sequences of special Star Notes or using the whammy bar on long Star Notes. Playing a Star Note sequence correctly will reward the player with a 25% Star Power bonus. If even one note is missed in these sequences, the remaining notes in the sequence will revert to regular notes and the player will not get a Star Power bonus. If a Star Note is a long note, the player can use the whammy bar to extract Star Power from it. However, the player must constantly move the bar to get a bonus, and cannot simply hold it down. The primary use of Star Power is to temporarily double the points each note is worth, but because it restores roughly triple the normal amount recovered on the Rock Meter with each correctly played note during its duration, it can also be used to tackle especially difficult sections of a song to avoid failure, giving Star Power a unique strategic element. In addition to the aforementioned, Star Power temporarily turns all notes on the screen a shining blue for its duration.

Read more at Wikipedia.org