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  (Screenshots from IGN.com) Quick Info Genre: Music/ Rythm Game Platform: PSP Developer: Koei UK Release Date: 29/09/2006 Best Price: £17.99 (Amazon.co.uk) Gitaroo Man was originally a PS2 game, released by Koei back in 2002. It was an innovative new game, with completely unique gameplay and a great graphical style to boot. But as always, the game was overlooked by both the media and the public. It suffered undeservingly small sales as people were too busy buying games such as Grand Theft Auto and FIFA. However, those who did buy it found themselves a fun, addictive and truly original gem. Hence, the second I heard this game was being re-released on PSP, four years after the original came out, I was excited to say the least.  The game revolves around playing a Gitaroo (an alien instrument, your's taking the form of a guitar), to defeat other musicians (read 'bad guys') and their Gitaroos to then obtain their Gitaroos, become the true Gitaroo Man and free the planet Gitaroo from the evil Zowie (don't worry, all of this will be explained later, I promise!) There are essentially three sections to each fight, first there is the Charge Mode. In Charge Mode, you build up your Health Bar by playing notes on the Gitaroo. Playing the Gitaroo involves moving the analouge thumbpad in the direction of the line on screen and following it, while pressing the Circle button where you see red blocks to play notes. It's not the best explanation, but hopefully, the screenshots will help you understand. Then there's the Attack Mode, where you, as the name implies, attack the opponent! This part is played in the same way Charge Mode is, only here, missing notes damages your health bar, and each note you get right takes away your opponent's health, rather than restore your's. Finally, there's the Defense Mode. As the name implies, it's time to defend yourself! As the opponent plays their Gitaroo, buttons will fly into the screen from four directions, and you have to hit the buttons when they reach the center of the screen to avoid taking damage from your opponent's attacks, rather Parappa the Rapper style! All of the battles in the game consist of a mixture of these three elements.  You play as U-1, a boy who has little self esteem and is commonly picked on by Kazu while he tries, and fails, to impress the girl of his dreams, Pico. However, little does he know that his dog Puma, holds the last Gitaroo, an ancient instrument from a far away planet that will transform the bashful U-1 into the great hero, Gitaroo Man! No sooner has U-1 been taught to play guitar by a talking dog while improvising with a tennis racket, he's confronted by his first opponent, Pampeus, a small red demon who appears to be nothing more than an infant, whose Gitaroo takes the form of an axe. Things get weirder, as after spaceships attack town and a giant bee tries to kill you in the woods, Puma pulls out a spaceship! Two more battles later and you arrive on Planet Gitaroo, the planet your Gitaroo is from, apparently. Here the people are suffering under the evil Zowie (who's a dead ringer for Kazu). It was his minions that attacked you earlier, and now it's your mission to defeat his minions,obtain the remaining Gitaroos to become the true Gitaroo Man, and then take on Zowie! And naturally, U-1 will have to overcome his lack of self confidence along the way. It's a fun trip. As I already mentioned, this game was previously released as a PS2 title four years ago. Naturally, a few changes have been made for the PSP version. First of all, the difficulty has been adjusted. The PSP version seems to be much more forgiving when itcomes to your timing. Where the PS2 version only accepted pin point precision on your button presses, the PSP version will be a little more leniant. However, this comes at a price, missing notes and taking hits from enemies now drains more of your health. Does this make the game easier, or harder? Well, some levels, especially the earlier ones, become extremely easy to complete when compared to their PS2 counterparts,however, others, such as Tainted Lovers and Resurrection, where you're guaranteed to take a few hits, become more difficult, as each hit takes far more of your health than it did before. There are a few changes with the songs themselves too, for example, the opening theme, Soft Machine, is now in English, as is the song for the second level, Flyin' to Your Heart (both were originally in Japanese). There's also the addition of Easy Mode, and the game makes use of the PSP's multiplayer capabilities with Duel and Duet Modes. In Duel Mode you take on a friend in one of the songs from the main game to see who's the better Gitaroo player, one player gets U-1's notes while the other plays that level's villain's notes.  In Duet Mode, you team up to take down new enemies exclusive to the PSP version. You're both playing different parts of the same songs, some of which is in harmony, and essentially sharing health too,so if one of you screws up, it's going to affect both of you! Gitaroo Man Lives is quite true to it's original PS2 version, and in myopinion actually manages to improve on it slightly. The difficulty changes mean that new players won't be scared off quite so easily. Once you've gotten used to how to play the game, you'll quickly get addicted to the songs, characters and style. Gitaroo Man truly is a great gaming experience and it's a shame so many people missed out on it last time. I strongly urge you to, if you have a PSP, buy Gitaroo Man Lives so that you don't miss out this time around. And if you don't have a PSP, you might want to consider trying to get the original Gitaroo Man on the PS2. 91% The only way to appreciate this game is to play it for yourself, so please, go and get it, or bug one of your friends who owns it. Copyrights All images and graphics are copyrights by their original artist and owner. Banner and various other original artwork by Majin Sam. Layout by Zanary.COM |
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