Guitar Hero: World Tour – 2 months later…
So, it’s been 2 months since I got GH:WT. I’ve already posted my initial 3 part review of it. But now, 2 months down the line, I just want to return to some areas I may have missed.
Firstly, the guitar experience is simply incredible, anyone who has played GH III and not World Tour is severely missing out. Not only is the choice of songs greater, but they are more challenging to complete. Not more challenging in the sense that Dragonforce is challenging because of its pure speed and has the record for most hammer-ons/min. But more challenging because of the tap solos and the touch-sensitive bar (which is pretty useless) which are cleverly integrated. There are also additions in the way the buttons can be pressed, which is more realistic than before. For example, during some songs, you have to hold one button down while playing on several other ones. This leads to a greater variety of skills that are needed and makes the game a lot more interesting and less repetitive for guitar players.
The drum kit has yet to be replaced. The shop (HMV) has agreed to replace it when they have stock in, but this was over a month ago. While not having a green pad is not much of an issue during medium and easy level. Hard makes much more use of it and I feel a lot more pissed off about not having it. Whether HMV have yet to get more stock is down to a simple lack of demand, or failure of supply. It would be nice if they got off their asses and just brought me one, I may just have to buy the set again, swap out the broken component and then return it and get my money back.
Finally, band play has not lost any of its charm, in fact, like whisky and fine wine, time has simply improved it. It is surprisingly much more satisfying to be able to play with the whole band on hard/expert than having a large variety. Working together more effectively also sees a larger score being awarded.
Downloads have improved, there is a much larger range and more decent songs available for purchase and even some good ones available for free. It does feel that some of these downloaded songs are simply not made to the same quality as those included in the game, they seem rushed. Some songs, while excellent songs ot listen to, just don’t work that well in Guitar Hero, either the beat is wrong or the genre, but there is some reason it just doesn’t feel ‘right.’
Overall, GH:WT has still managed to captivate me and others. It is still prime choice of party game, something which a lot of people enjoy and is easily accessable by even the most musically challenged. I can’t really compare GH:WT to Rock Band 2, since over here in Europe we have to wait until the 27th to get out hands on it (Why is it taking the them so bloody long to get it here?). I’ll be sure to write up a review and comparison as soon as I have gotten my greasy mitts on it.
Retrospection – Theme Hospital
Recently, a flat mate of mine installed the classic Theme Hospital on his laptop and started playing it just as I walked in from an entertaining 2 hour lecture on Supply Chain Management. Suddenly I remembered the hours I used to waste playing this game on the Playstation and wanted to play it again, so I took the install disk and tried to install it on my laptop, but surprise, surprise, Vista caused massive problems preventing me from playing it and reliving those days of watching Bloated Head being popped with a pin like a small child’s balloon.
This is when I realised that I could get the game over the PSN and wasted no time in buying (for the low price of £3.49), downloading and installing the game. The game was identical to the classic on Playstation, you couldn’t tell it was a port minus the fact I was playing on an HDTV with a PS3 connected to it, instead of a spare 14″ TV in the back room covered in dust.
For those of you who have never experienced Theme Hospital, the concept is simple, build and run your own hospital against other hospitals in the local area. You need to diagnose the patient, research the condition, let them start a puking contest with all the other patients in the entrance hall and then send them off to be cured, usually in a clinic room, operating theatre or psychiatrists office. You had to hire and train the right staff too, to keep them happy and keep the whole operation running smoothly whilst earning a profit. It also features some heavily stereotypical representation of characters and hilarious methods of treatment for patients, such as electrocuting one patient with a certain condition, to make them lose all the superficial body hair they have grown as a result of their condition. There is plenty of comedy to be found if you look for it, for example, the King Complex, where the patient looks like Elvis and even baldness can be cured.
Some would say that Theme Hospital is a rather tough game and when coming to the final levels of the game, this is very true, seeing as a lot can go wrong very quickly and before you know it, your getting kicked out of the door. Especially the last two hospitals, they can be considered a real pain in the ass to do well and needed a lot of micromanagement to get done, but it was always satisfying to just sit back and watch everything flow well, that is until an emergency happens with 12 patients coming in with slack tongue or some other condition that needs it’s own independent treatment room.
Whilst playing this port has been great fun, what I would really like to see is a sequel, as long as it’s done right, they maintain the current sense of humour and make sure they keep all the wacky-ness of before, it could be a great game, it really deserves a graphical overhaul. Just the only problem with sequels is that if it fails, it can tarnish the reputation of the original game and that is something I would like to avoid. Though I doubt this would happened, as Bullfrog Productions is now simply a cog in the EA machine, so the chances of a sequel by them is unlikely.
I suggest that if you do have a PS3 and fancy playing some classic Playstation games, may I suggest this one. It’s cheap to buy, you can even play it on your PSP and will give you quite a few hours of gameplay. It’s combination of strategy and style is something I have yet to see again and is perfect for the gamer with no reaction times, but still wants a real challenge and a bit of a laugh on the side. Who knew hospital management could be so difficult, yet so fulfilling and hilarious at the same time.
