I was lucky enough to run into a Guitar Hero Arcade at my local movie cinema, and I’ll tell you what…. It was far from a perfect experience. The cost, setlist, and gameplay were all sub par.

At a dollar a song I’d say it’s slightly over priced, which wouldn’t be too bad since all arcade plays are over priced these days. The problem was in the game itself. The setlist lacked any new songs that I found, and on top of that there were “premium songs” that require another dollar to play. **MAJOR RIP OFF ALERT** Notice to Activision: Please stop ripping people off, we don’t like it. There is nothing that could make me boycott Modern Warfare 2 but I’d gladly boycott all the rest of your releases I swear!

As far as gameplay goes it was business as usual, minus the whammy bar which was obviouisly removed from the arcade version due to durability issues. Speaking of which, the guitars seemed horribly durable. So much so that they were actually uncomfortably heavy for the two females that were playing the game when I walked up to it. I myself had no trouble with it however.

The biggest problem I had with the game was the lag. Someone explain to me why there would be audio/video lag in a pre-built arcade game because I really don’t understand. You put the tv screen in there and you hook up the guitars. Doesn’t that mean you’d know exactly what to set the lag calibration to? Major misstep here guys.

Overall I think it’s great that they’re bringing Guitar Hero to the arcade… If only because I truly rock at it and love opportunities to show off in public. Sadly though, this first attempt just really isn’t good enough in my opinion.

Try again

Now give me a little slack when I say I haven’t played that much of this game and when I say much already I have put in at least 6-7 hours. This game is huge and has the potential to be massive. I am not even to the point where I’ve messed with the level creator because of all the items you can unlock in the single player and co-op modes.

After being delayed because of some questionable lyrics in the soundtrack the game is up and running at full speed. User made levels have already begun to flood the Internet community and they are pushing the game to the limits. My first impression of the game was that this could be great in the minds of some art genius. Boy was I wrong, this game is fun for all types of gamers. The platform elements are great, the co-op is a blast and the level creator will blow your mind with how in depth it is.

If you are one of the few and proud PS3 owners make sure you get out there and pick this game up. Taking part in this experience will not only astound you but help build the game up larger then any one before. And who knows you may see me online and we can get down with some great platforming fun.