Amazing.
This was the first Guitar Hero game for me, and i am really glad I tried it out. Its all the fun of a rhythm based game like DDR but you feel was less stupid playing it, and the music is way better.
The graphics are surprisingly solid, especially considering that a game like this doesn't really need any. Everything is shiny/flashy, and the light shows and smoke effects are pretty cool, giving off that rock star look. The audience is actually pretty well animated, better than crowds usually are in games. The visual design is pretty good, it reminds me of what a high school guy's math notebook looks like, but brought to life. Just an overall good look for this kind of game.
The music is obviously the highlight of this game, and the developers really made some good choices. They have music from just about every rock genre, so there should be something there for everybody. They have some really popular stuff, as well as plenty of songs I'm sure very few people have heard of. Some of my favorites are Thunderhorse by Dethklok, Trogdor by Strongbad, Jordan by Buckethead, Psychobilly Freakout by Reverend Horton Heat, and Misirlou by Dick Dale, but I really enjoy nearly every song included. Not all of the songs are the genuine versions from the artists themselves, a lot of them are covers, but they are done really well and its barely noticeable unless you just finished listening to the real version.
While the music is the highlight, the game-play is a close runner up. Its surprisingly fun and addictive. The controller is pretty well constructed and very responsive. The difficulties are pretty well set, easy is good for getting started out, but quickly becomes way too easy, medium is a good step up and my favorite difficulty, hard starts getting pretty difficult, and expert is next to impossible unless you play the game religiously. Most people should be able to obtain a pretty good grasp on the medium difficulty within a couple days of play. They give you a selection of rockers, each representing their own genre of rock, but you can also unlock some with the money you make playing gigs. My favorite unlock-able character is the Grim Ripper. There's also a bunch of guitars you can unlock as well.
It really is a great game that brings some much needed change to gaming. If you love rock music, or rhythm based games, you should give this a try, I think you'd really like it.
