Plastic Fantastic

Despite owning a real guitar (I hesitate to apply the term 'player' to myself) and being a keen video game player, I've never before combined the two.

I'd always looked upon the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games with a hint of skepticism. No real reason other than I just didn't see how following along to the little dots on the screen could be any fun. Each to their own and all that but I figured they just weren't for me.

That all changed when Guitar Hero: Metallica was released. Ok, technically it's not released here in Europe, but it's region free so I bought a copy from Canada a few weeks ago. I was always going to buy it, being the slightly obsessive Metallica fan that I am.

It's great!

They've somehow captured the feeling of being in the band and playing the instrument. It's tremendous fun. And, it's the only game I own where my wife and seven year old daughter can all play along with me and have everyone enjoy it. This is helped by the fact I bought the complete instrument set and now have two wireless guitars, wireless drum set and (another) USB mic. There's something special about my little girl singing "The Thing That Should Not Be" whilst I hammer away on a plastic guitar that makes me smile every time.

I suspect it's down to the music. Playing the World Tour version of the game is decidedly flat compared with the Metallica edition. (Apart for Living On A Prayer which has us all singing along as we play).

And as an added bonus, the game allows you to practice whilst it plays the backing track. I recorded that backing track via Garage Band, and it's fantastic for playing real guitar along to!

Rock on \m/