Guitar Praise | "Guitar Hero"-type Game With A Christian Twist

I was nervous when I read about Guitar Praise from Digital Praise (DP). DP's history of games has been touted heavily to the Christian youth market with games like Dance Praise (Dance Dance Revolution for Christians), Adventures in Odyssey and various VeggieTales games. Naturally as a self-proclaimed hardcore gamer I thought that I probably would find no enjoyment in one of their titles. I was, however, wrong.

The beauty of Guitar Praise is its simplicity. In spirit it's Guitar Hero but digging deeper it's much more. As a Christian, the content alone should be enough for hardcore gamers and casuals to enjoy. The songs are all by Christian bands like Switchfoot, Skillet, Flyleaf or Chris Tomlin. The game allows for 2 players to play against each other (if they both have a guitar) and the lyrics are displayed as the song plays so that others watching can sing along.

In essence the game is perfect for any youth group event but fun enough that it can be enjoyed by any music game enthusiast. It truly is refreshing to play guitar to positive uplifting music and parents should be fast on the ball to buy this game. The game requirements for the PC are also pretty minimal so you shouldn't have much problem setting it up on your computer.

I plan on taking Guitar Praise to my next youth group event with my laptop to give the kids something to enjoy before we start our lesson. This game is very, no, highly recommended for gamers of all ages and preferences. If you are involved with the youth in any way with your church and you want to give them an alternative to an already awesome genre of video games than Guitar Praise is for you.

The game comes with a guitar similarly crafted to the Rock Band guitar but hey it's wireless! The major difference with the game play is instead of circles or rectangles dropping down the note bar there are triangles and some of them spin. If you play the note on the exact timing spin you get a bonus.

Not all of the songs are available at the start either, you must work your way up the ladder to earn newer and harder songs. I am not much of a Guitar Hero professional but I did find some of the songs pretty easy to play on the Hard difficulty.

Overall this game is a MUST BUY, it's a wonderful rendition of a game from a Christian perspective and with this community it sure is a welcomed asset. Thank you Digital Praise!

Buy/Rent/Skip: MUST BUY!

Unparalleled Game Play
Play custom Lead and Bass notes for each song by following the notes that stream down the screen. If you hit the notes correctly, you will hear your instrument playing along with the song. You start with one Lead guitar and then earn talent points to trade in for your first Bass guitar.

Jump right in and play. The game remembers all of the settings that were being used in its last session. When you return to the game, you can quickly pick up where you left off.

Choose from four levels of difficulty per song. They are Easy (one star), Medium (two stars), Hard (three starts) and Expert (four stars). You can change the difficulty levels as you wish. As you advance through the game, you unlock the songs for each level.

As you improve, the target zone gets smaller. The target zone is represented by the five colored triangles at the bottom of the screen. The falling notes should be "played" when they cross over the target zone. The target zone for Easy and Medium is larger and easier to hit than the target zone for Hard and Expert.

Falling Notes appear as singles, chords and hold notes. The notes get more complicated as the levels increase. A chord is 2-4 single notes played together. Hold notes are elongated single notes or chords which are played by holding down the corresponding fret buttons for the period that it takes the note to pass over the Target Zone.

Quick Notes occur at the higher levels (mostly Expert Lead Guitar). These notes have a white border around them and may be played by merely pressing the corresponding fret buttons. They need not be strummed.

Duel mode lets two players compete against each other. Each player can choose their guitar and level of difficulty to play.

Each player can control their own volume. The volume for the guitar you are playing may be adjusted during a performance by pressing the silver buttons on your guitar located just above the Whammy Bar. You may also adjust these volumes backstage or use the keyboard during a performance to change the volume of the background music and vocals.

Onscreen lyrics emphasize Christian themes. The lyrics may be turned on or off from backstage. During a solo game, the lyrics will appear on the right side of the screen. When two players are performing, the lyrics will appear down the middle of the screen.

Unlock new songs in sets of five as you play. When you first start the game only five songs will be available to play. When you complete any three of these songs, the next set of five songs will be available for you to play. You must unlock the songs on each level of difficulty. There are a total of 52 songs in the game plus a warm up song in the first set.

Easily identify completed songs and who has highest score. The Song Selection screen will quickly tell you which songs you have completed with which instruments, the highest score per song, and who has earned the highest score per song.

Easily add more songs in the future. The Playlist Selection section will let you play new songs that may be added to your game with future expansion packs.

Sort songs five different ways. Sort by Artist, Sort by Song Title, Sort by CD Title, Sort by Set, and Sort by Song Pack

Talent Points let you earn new guitars with cool sounds and effects. You start the game with only a Lead guitar. There are five more guitars available to you backstage --three Lead Guitars and two Bass Guitars, each with its own unique sound. You earn Talent Points the first time you complete a song with each type of guitar (Lead and Bass). The harder the level the more Talent Points you will earn for completing the song. When you trade in your Talent Points for a guitar, the new guitar will appear in the guitar selection room.

Record high scores per song so you'll know who's on top. The game will tell you if you've made it into the Hall of Fame or if the score was a personal best. It will also record your highest score per song, per level, per instrument.

Create an unlimited number of profiles. The number of profiles that you can create in Guitar Praise is limited only by the free space available on your hard drive.

Post high scores online and see how you rank. When you complete a song you can check your ranking against other players online by pressing a specified fret button on the guitar controller (provided you have an internet connection).

Marquee Lights let you know how you're doing. At the start of a song, the red marquee lights are half on and half off. When you play notes correctly, more marquee lights turn on. When you miss notes, marquee lights turn off. If the last marquee light turns off, your song will end and you will not get credit for completing the song. This feature can be turned off backstage.

Play left or right handed. Select this option to switch the graphics during a performance to allow a player to use their guitar as a left handed or a right handed guitar.

The Multiplier increases your score during long combos. Every time you correctly hit a note, the score for that note is multiplied by the Multiplier before it is added into your total score. For every 25 correct hits you get in a row, your multiplier will increase by 1. So if you have a combo string of 75 hits in a row your scores will be quadrupled.

Spinners help you gain more points. The Spinner is a falling note that is spinning as it falls. Spinners appear in groups, and if you miss any of the Spinners in a group, the remaining Spinners in that group revert to normal falling notes. If the last Spinner in a group is successfully hit, it flies up, off the screen, and you are awarded a Spinner Bonus. You may hold up to four Spinner Bonuses at a time. Activate your Spinner Bonus by tilting your guitar. This causes your Multiplier to double and your score will increase.

Power Duel Mode sends surprises to mess with your opponent. Power Duel mode is similar to Duel Mode except that the Spinner Bonuses are replaced by PowerUps. The PowerUps can be used to get an advantage over your opponent. There are 7 PowerUps:

Invisibility - causes your opponent's target zone to disappear
Minus - causes your opponent's play to subtract from his/her score
Speed - causes your opponent's notes to fall faster
Smoke - causes a cloud of smoke to hide your opponent's target zone
Broken Fret - causes one of your opponent's frets to break, it must be pressed several times to be repaired
Whammy - causes your opponent's fret buttons to stop working until they press their Whammy Bar several times
Blast - takes away all PowerUp from your opponent

Windows:
Windows VISTA or XP * 1 GHZ processor * 650 MB available hard disk space * 32 MB 3-D video card * Windows XP 512 MB RAM * Vista 1 GB RAM
One available USB port * USB compatible guitar controller (included)

Mac OS:
Mac OS X v.10.3 or later * 1 GHZ processor * 650 MB available hard disk space * 512 MB RAM
One available USB port * USB compatible guitar controller (included)