Guitarists of both the real and air variety have reason to rejoice – they now have a video game they can play and enjoy regardless of talent and musical ability. Guitar Hero, published by Take Two Interactive, is destined to become the biggest obsession and most enjoyable party game since Dance Dance Revolution. The game comes with a mini Gibson SG guitar that has five different-colored “fret buttons,” a “strum bar” and a “whammy bar” that you will use to prove how hard you actually rock once you get the song down.

Guitar Hero Published by: Take Two Interactive Available on: Playstation 2 Genre Music Stater rating: ****½

The song list features 47 songs, which are all covered by various bands, from classic rock artists such as Cream and Jimi Hendrix to current rock bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Sum 41, to metal bands Pantera and Helmet.

The game plays like a Dance Dance Revolution for those that want to rock out instead of move their feet on squares to repetitive dance music. The player must match the colors on the screen with the ones on their guitar as they appear on-screen while they maintain a steady rhythm. This may not sound as fun on paper, but once you get the hang of it, it is a blast.

The game has the four usual difficulty settings: Easy, medium, hard and expert. Sometimes the easy and medium settings are almost too easy while the hard and expert settings may make the person playing want to smash his/her guitar Tom Morello style. But the further you progress in the game, the more fun it gets.

Songs like “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand and “No One Knows” by Queens of the Stone Age are repetitive enough that it can give you some time to show off to others by tipping back your guitar or lifting it up rock-star style and truly impress your friends (or at least yourself). Other songs such as Black Sabbath’s “Bark At The Moon” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Music” will require more time to master all the riffs, solos and frets that will have you screaming at your television for hours.

What makes this a great party game is that when the player challenges others to a adrenaline-pumping guitar duel, it isn’t just two players playing the exact same thing. Instead, it gives each player a chance to show off or screw up by trading off guitar riffs and solos.

This game isn’t for those who are ashamed of messing up in front of other people. But once you get the hang of it, it will give gamers the most fun they’ve had since the dawn of Halo.

Contact ALL correspondent Andrew Gaug at [email protected].