April 18, 2008 - It didn't take long for the immensely addictive Guitar Hero titles to win over the hearts and fingers of a wide range of casual and hardcore gamers alike. However, considering much of the fun of the game revolves around totally rocking with a guitar controller peripheral, rumors of plans to bring the franchise to the DS spurred rampant speculation as to exactly how such a feat would be accomplished. With the official announcement of Guitar Hero: On Tour and a unique peripheral on its way soon, you can stop guessing and start saving up to get your hands on the real deal.

It appears the solution the developers finally arrived at for bringing the rock and roll experience to Nintendo's handheld could be just what fans have hoped for, only without the trademark guitar. Vicarious Visions, the development team that handled the Wii version of the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, is currently working on the game. While they considered using a guitar or mini-guitar attachment for the DS, they eventually settled on something smaller, simpler, and a little more basic to do the trick.

Obviously, playing Guitar Hero without the ubiquitous guitar controller just won't be quite the same. In an attempt to remedy this, the game will come bundled with a strange-looking peripheral called the Guitar Grip. Aside from the miniaturized versions of the familiar colored fret buttons, it shares little in common with the original guitar peripheral. The device plugs into the Game Body Advance cartridge slot and has four fret buttons - sorry, no fifth fret for virtuosos - to emulate the same rhythm gameplay experience of the original. Using a hand strap, you'll hold the DS in the palm of your hands like an open book with your fingers hovering over the keys located at the GBA cart slot opening.

The gameplay concept is on par with past Guitar Hero games - albeit in a diminutive and slightly pared-down form. From what we've seen it should be relatively easy to pick up and play on the DS without a long adjustment period, whether you've previously played the original games or not. As the song plays, colored notes will move down the fret board towards you on the left screen, and you'll strum a virtual guitar located on the touch screen while fingering the four fret keys to hit each note in time to the rhythm. You can use a stylus, but the package includes an oversized guitar pick-like thing, which can be stored in the Guitar Grip casing. Star power is activated by yelling something rock-tastic into the DS mic like "by the hammer of almighty Thor!," "let there be rock!" or "free bird!" If being an über-dork doesn't float your boat, you can always just blow into the thing to set it off. The Guitar Grip attachment will fit both the DS Lite and the original DS design, thanks to an adjustable element.

Based-on early screenshots, the in-game fret board designs aren't as elaborately detailed as the console versions, and some of the elements on the touch screen (like the score, star power, and applause meter) are also a little plain-looking. It's to be expected that some concessions would have to be made - reduced visuals and an alternative to the popular guitar controller among them - in order to get the game running properly on the DS. The rest of the 3D background visuals mimic the style of Guitar Hero III. Players can choose from different models of Gibson guitars to strum in the game, six characters to perform as (two of which are DS-exclusive), and you'll be shredding in five new unlockable venues. All told, the characters and environments look pretty good on the handheld. The majority of players will probably be more concerned about shredding notes than whining about the lack of HD. There's something to be said for being able to whip out some Guitar Hero wherever you go.

Most of the music tracks to be featured On Tour will be master recordings, and players will be rocking out with more than 25 songs in all. The five songs announced at this point include: "All the Small Things" by Blink-182, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, "Do What You Want" OK Go, "Spiderwebs" by No Doubt, and "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister. We'll be keeping a close eye on what other tunes are announced as the game gets closer to release, since the track list could very well make or break the title - especially since Guitar Hero on a the DS is quite different.

Playing solo offers the typical career mode as well as a quick play for short-and-sweet sessions. When playing with a friend wirelessly, you can pick from face off, pro face off, and co-op modes. The dueling mode has you firing off attacks to mess up opponents in was similar to GHIII. The idea of bringing the rock with you wherever you go is a major selling point for On Tour, but the delivery on the DS is still going to have to prove itself. Though different, will the handheld gameplay hold up to the challenge and fun of the console versions? We hope so.

By Nathan Meunier
CCC Staff Contributor