Smooooke on the waaater... fire in the sky
So I got a chance to play Guitar Hero at Best Buy yesterday. It reminded me of why I don't play the guitar for real. My hands just don't move fast enough. I'm sure with practice I could get faster, but I don't even have a guitar to practice with.
I can get through most of the easiest song on the easy-medium level. It's very difficult for me to focus on two things at once, let alone strumming, hitting buttons, and watching the screen so I know what buttons come next. I felt like I was very bad at it until I watched some other people playing. It made me realize that, on my first go through, I had actually completed a song. Nobody else could, even on the easiest levels.
Of course, now I want to buy it. I don't think it would be as cool at home though. In the store, people might stop and watch... if I stop playing, someone else can pick it up and play, and I can watch them and cheer them on.. that's what the game is all about, I think. At home, all I'll get is a "Turn that down!" from my wife. That's why I don't own Amplitude or Frequency. What's the point of being able to do cool stuff like that if nobody cares? Strategy games, people will read about what you did, right here on JoeUser.com. I could post about GalCiv, or Europa Universalis, and make little stories up about it, and it would go wonderfully. But if I beat the hardest song on the hardest difficulty level, I could only say that about it. And everyone else would just say, "Yeah, so did I, so what?" There's no variability.
That's why I love strategy games. But that's not what this article is about.
So, because I love the arcade atmosphere in Best Buy, I'll probably go back and play some more. When they stop demoing it, I might buy it. But for now, I think I'll pick up Gal Civ 2. Because it's better than GalCiv and it'll be worthless to play it when I could be playing so much better.