Hammer of the Gods!!

I woke up this morning exhausted. My head hurt, my hands hurt, my fingers have calluses on them and my knuckles were throbbing. No, I was not playing the knuckle shuffle yesterday.... I was playing Guitar Hero II for five hours last night.

The game came out yesterday and let's just say that I was determined to get it. I called Circuit City - located a half hour from my house on Monday afternoon - to see what time they would be getting it in on Tuesday. Then on Monday night, the anticipation grew and I researched the closest Circuit City store to my two Tuesday meetings in Philadelphia. The closest store was 2 miles off of Route 95 on my way home from Philadelphia. So I called the store at noon on Tuesday and they said only had a couple copies left. So, I suffered through a 2-hour long meeting and then another 1 1/2 hours of traffic before I reached the Circuit City. Did I mention that I called the store again 15 minutes before I got there just to see if they had copies left.

When I got there, they had MANY more than just a few copies. Bastards....So I picked it up and handed the cashier a $100 bill (which was actually from my January Hold Em tourney win in AC or a Xmas present, I can't figure which). I promptly received $4 in change from the cashier. Yes $4....

I bought the game home and I must say that it was amazing from beginning to end. The game comes with a replica of a Gibson Xplorer guitar used by the hair bands from the 1980s and includes 70+ songs from the likes of Van Halen, KISS, The Toadies and numerous other bands. Unfortunately there are no Led Zeppelin songs (which is where the Hammer of the Gods reference comes from in the blog title). I would have easily paidanother $50 for a game that had a few Zeppelin songs. Hopefully some songs will come out in the future XBox Live download.

Overall the game is a instrument version of Dance Dance Revolution, but instead of a dance mat you're playing with a guitar. During the game you have to follow and quickly execute various notes and chords that are played by the band. It really makes you feel that you are actually playing along with the music. For the past two days, when I've listened to songs on the radio, I'm visualizing what they would look like if they were in the game. Well, at least it's not me visually carjacker a Hummer after playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City!

It's a tough game and probably the most fun I've ever had playing a videogame. It's really something to see. I've even got my wife - who hates videogames more than America hates Osama Bin Laden - to play and actually enjoy the game.

Just an awesome game that I will be playing exclusively for a long time to come. Highly recommended!