Get Better Gear!
- Madden NFL 10: The Grizzled Veteran from Electronic Arts, US$9.99
- NFL 2010: Rookie of the Year from Gameloft, US$2.99
- UNIEA Intrecciato, U-Pouch and U-Hip Pop iPhone Cases from UNIEA, $34.95, $22.95, $29.95
- Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Sound Amplified Cradle for iPhone from Kensington, $39.99
- SigFx Energy iPhone Case Contains Smart Battery from SigFx Energy, US$69.95
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- Alanis Morissette
- Ten years after the original release, comes the traditional celebratory acoustic re-recording. The album has held up remarkably well. While it is not as meaningful to me as it was when I was sixteen,
- Rush
- We all know it, right? Well, ya just gotta have it. 2112 finally showed Rush out on their own, doing their own thing, and doing it well, IMHO.
- David Bowie
- It must be a lonely place to be considered David Bowie's worst album by just about everyone, including the artist himself. As the last album before Bowie "rebooted" and formed the band Tin Machine, "N
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
- U2
U2's latest entry is a mostly underwhelming collection of songs that does very little to sound any different from its equally pedestrian predecessor, 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind." While
- Chicago
For those of you who don't know, Chicago didn't always suck, and everyone in the band didn't always play a keyboard. When the band started off they were pioneers of rock and jazz fusion, and guita
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
In-Depth Review
Guitar Rock Tour
Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 5:20 AM - by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Given the raging success of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, I'm not surprised by the appearance of a game called Guitar Rock Tour. While it sounds like a lame rip-off in the vein of Puck-Man, however, it's actually an enjoyable game that kept me entertained.
I prefer Guitar Hero's little plastic instrument, but Guitar Rock Tour's use of the touchscreen does the job: tap the buttons at the bottom of the screen as the notes cascade toward you, with the option of sliding your finger across to hit those that are close together. It's akin to getting used to two-thumbed typing on your iPhone, but you'll get the hang of it.
The 3D graphics are solid; they're certainly within the range of what you can expect from the iPhone, which is around the era of the first Playstation. The songs include "Message in a Bottle" (The Police), "Heart-Shaped Box" (Nirvana), "Smoke on the Water" (Deep Purple), and many other recognizable tunes, although they're all played by cover bands. I suppose that makes the royalties cheaper. You can play either guitar or drums, with three levels of difficulty, although I preferred guitar; the drums only have two buttons to press, so it gets repetitive after a while. Those of you with great dexterity will have your work cut out for you, since the curve gets steep with the higher difficulty settings.

If that meter on the left hits the skull, your concert ends
As in Guitar Hero, you can accumulate special power that gives you extra points, or even clears out the notes on the screen, when invoked. It's a little clumsier to activate, though, because you have to move a thumb away to flip a switch, rather than simply tilting your plastic guitar. And since it's all touchscreen-based, if you don't flick it just right, you can wind up losing precious points as notes pass by while fumbling for it.
You can play either a quick song or go on tour; you'll need to do the latter if you want to unlock all of the tunes. The storyline in tour mode is only slightly more insipid than the stories in the Guitar Hero games, where at least the developers eschewed the silly, on-the-nose dialogue found here. But storylines are way down the priority list when reviewing games like this one.

Drums aren't as much fun
Earlier versions of Guitar Rock Tour had a tendency to crash more than they should. Having to reset your iPhone just to play was a pain, but a recent update seems to have fixed those stability problems. Some of the reviews on the App Store complain about long load times, but that's to be expected in a game like this one, where there's a lot more complexity than in, say, Tetris.
Overall, Guitar Rock Tour typifies what's great about the App Store: A great game with long-term replay value for a reasonable price. You can't go wrong there.
Just The Facts
Pros:
Great graphics and sound
Good replay value and challenging difficulty curve
Cons:
Drums are pointless, since guitar is more fun
Songs are covers
Recent Headlines
- EA Publishes Original Monopoly for iPhone
- New iPhone Games: Secret of the Lost Cavern Ep 1, New DJ Nights, More
- Musée du Louvre, Art Lite, SketchBook Mobile X and More.
- GelaSkins Intros Tim Burton, Bettie Page, WETA iPhone Skins
- iPhone Gets the Green Light in South Korea
- Qualcomm Hopes to Get In On the iPhone Action
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Lands at App Store

















Post Your Comments