Thoughts on Guitar Hero

I think my policy for blogging about my video games is going to be that I'm not going to write about a game until I've beaten it on at least one of its difficulty settings. By this definition, my list of "beaten" games thus far looks like this:

1. Guitar Hero III (Easy and Medium Career Modes)
2. BioShock (Easy)
3. Alien Hominid HD (Easy)
4. Call of Duty 2 (Regular)

You might then notice that I have yet to really devote a post to Guitar Hero, which is mostly due to the fact that there's no real story involved in the game and that the game feels like it's really more about developing your skills rather than "beating" it. That said, a few bulleted thoughts on the game thus far wouldn't hurt...

- I feel I'm MUCH more likely to develop carpal-tunnel syndrome from this than a real guitar, despite the fact that I use the strap for support
- the game is often so mindless that I find my mind wandering to random people I've crossed paths with, wondering how they would react to/feel about the game
- hammer-ons and pull-offs aren't handled as well as I would like
- while some of the songs on the Bonus list are really cool, some of them REALLY suck hard (especially "Avalancha" and "Down 'N Dirty")
- there are too many achievements that require you to play Co-Op
- I still don't understand the HUD entirely (they really should explain this and the Star Power system a lot better)
- I can't wait for Guitar Hero: World Tour to come out, although I think I'm going to pass on everything but the guitar controller...