Guitar Hero World Tour

It’s taken the world by storm, and now it’s on the Wii. Owners of Nintendo’s tiny white console can join in the rocking guitar fun with Guitar Hero: World Tour.

Never played a Guitar Hero game before? Here’s how it works: the game is bundled with a big list of rock songs, and you have to play along to the music, hitting the right notes in time with the music by following on-screen prompts.

To make it more lifelike you use a replica guitar. On the neck are five coloured buttons that correspond with the on-screen symbols, and a switch in place of strings. As the notes appear on screen you’ve got to hit the button and strum the guitar, playing along like a real rock star.

Getting a sequence of perfect notes gives bonuses to the final score, with the aim being to get maximum points and 100% of the notes.

The big difference with World Tour over the previous Guitar Hero games is the option for up to three friends to join you, creating your very own rock band. You can buy the game with a drum kit, guitar and microphone, and also add a bass complete to make the experience complete.

Legends of Rock is a deceptively tough game. On the easy difficulty levels and slower songs the pace is fairly sedentary and allows you to get into the rhythm, as it were. But it gets very hard very quickly after that and you’ll need some serious dexterity and skill to survive the hardest songs.

This can make it a very frustrating experience, particularly for older or younger players, and unless you’re interested in a fast moving rhythm game where it helps to memorise the notes on every song to hit that high score, you might be better off with something a little more thoughtful.

But for those of you who can keep up with Guitar Hero’s pace, Legends of Rock is rollicking good fun. Playing along to the songs you really do feel like you’re on stage, and it’s a great feeling when you string together a combo and get a near-perfect score. You really do need to find a group of friends to play with, though, because when played solo it’s just more of the same.