I don’t think we could have actually chosen a better title than this to use for our very first 24 Hours With feature.

Up until now, I’ve spent around 8 hours with the game, and not once have I ever felt like the experience was dropping off or my interest was lacking. In that time I’ve gone through the training sessions, completed the Easy mode, practiced loads of songs, started the Medium difficulty, and begun buying new outfits, guitars, songs and guitar paint jobs.

At its heart, Guitar Hero (GH) is basically a rhythm-action game, with a feck-off huge controller, but you knew that, right?! Ok, so the controller doesn’t match Dance Dance Revolution or it’s ilk from the arcade, but short of having a few grand in spare cash, a plastic Xplorer guitar will do me nicely.

Not only was I a complete newbie to GH, but rhythm-action games haven’t always been my thing. With the exception of Frequency way back on the PS2, I kind of never saw the point as it seemed like simply pressing buttons in time to the on-screen action. Well, it is here too, but to me this is different.

Paul will tell you how much he loves the game [I love this game! - Paul], hell he’s gone and bought GH 1 and 2 on PS2, then again with the new controller on Xbox 360. That fact alone should tell you how damn good this game is. On the flipside of it, if you are in any way shape or form a fan of rock music (I’m talking Kiss, My Chemical Romance, Rancid, Guns n Roses, Wolfmother at al), or have at any time in your life been known to bob around, air guitar in hand, this is the game for you.

GH virgins should head straight for the training section as that gives a gentle intro to how to actually ‘play’ the Gibson Xplorer replica. Using just three of the five string buttons it breaks you in with all the techniques to get you started on the Rock God ladder. Next you’ll be into the Easy difficulty level and the 35 songs you can play and unlock. Achievement points come along quite regularly at this point too, but once you hit Medium difficulty, you begin to earn money which allows you to buy more stuff from the store. However, the Achievements then begin to slow up as well.

The step up in difficulty essentially means that there are more notes for you to hit as expected, but the three string buttons you were using before now goes to four. Just that one extra button to use, suddenly makes the whole thing more challenging, and a damn sight more fun too. Relearning songs may sound a chore, but when you get it right, that first time, the feeling is superb!  Plus, learn a song really well, one you know well in reality and love, then play it in the career mode and nail every single note…

Put it this way, it reminded me why gaming can be so god damn fun!  Then my wife sees me playing it, heard how much I was banging on about the game before it came out (and I went on alot!) and picks it up herself.  If I wasn’t on it so much she’d be strumming away quite happily, but here’s the thing, she’s not even a fan of most of the tunes, or the musical genre, but really got into it!
So, just under ten hours in, and I’m still loving it!  Bring forth the rockage!!!

It’s only taken us a couple more months to come up with a something new for you guys to enjoy but finally we have an idea we all agree on. The name?

24 Hours With…

Most of you can work out exactly what it is, but for those of you reading this at some ungodly hour whilst stoned/drunk/suffering from insomnia/stopping by on your way to find free porn (yeah, we know some of you are :p) here’s the premise.

One of us, or more as in the case of our first subject, take some new techie/gaming related item we’ve just acquired, and give you lot our experiences in the first 24 hours of use. Easy innit!

The first 24 Hours With… was very nearly Phil’s mini-digger that he hired for the weekend. I know, gardening, on a Bank Holiday weekend, who’d have thunk it! Rock and roll aren’t we!?

Instead, we shall be road testing the game that both myself and Paul have gone on about on here, Guitar Hero II. First impressions of the initial few hours play will be posted up soon between us, Paul being the veteran Hero, and myself a n00b to the game. At least that is as soon as I can get the game back off my wife, seriously!! Watching her play Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana is quite a laugh though, but more on that soon.