Guitar Mania Guitar Peripheral

Jul 13, 2006

Few games have gotten us out of our comfy desk chairs with as much enthusiasm at GameSpy HQ as Guitar Hero. It's competitive, the music is great, and there's nothing quite like the feeling of being in the zone while nailing a difficult solo. So it's easy to see how excited we were to try out an upcoming release from third-party peripheral manufacturers The Ant Commandos: the Guitar Mania controller.

The controller will be released in three different versions, all available for purchase in retail stores on July 15. The low-end model, or entry level guitar is named the Shredder, a wired controller in a similar shape to the standard RedOctane controllers that Guitar Hero fans are used to. The mid-range model is the Rocking V, in the shape of a Flying V guitar. The high-end model that we got to play with is the Freedom V, the most exciting release for current fans of the game who already own two guitars, as it's the first wireless guitar peripheral on the market.

At first glance, you'll fall in love with the metallic coat of fireball red paint (or blue, if that's preferred) on the guitar. These are very nice looking controllers, but our resident Guitar Hero experts had a few reservations once they got their hands on it. We had problems putting in the four AA batteries for the guitar, as the screwdriver included in the box didn't match the screws on the guitar's back panel. We eventually found a screwdriver that fit, but this was pretty annoying.

The strap included with the guitar came off far too easily, due to the imitation leather being softer than that used for the RedOctane straps. The hole cut out on these new straps doesn't hold firm enough under the rigors of enthused rock-god wailing. The Flying V shape, while being one of the guitar's selling points, isn't as natural as the classic shape either, and feels awkward after months of gameplay with the traditional guitars. The fret buttons and strum bar are responsive enough, but they have a squishier feel to them than the RedOctane guitars. They thus felt broken in, which could be a good or bad thing, depending on personal taste.

The biggest problem we found with the guitar was the tilt sensor, used in Guitar Hero and the upcoming Guitar Hero II to activate star power. The guitar didn't respond well to lifting the neck of the guitar vertically in order to activate star power, failing to register this movement more times than not. The included instruction sheet gave us the impression that this was a known issue.

The instructions state, "Tilt Sensor: Located inside the casing at the base of the neck. It is used to activate the Star Power. To activate, tilt the neck of the controller up or down. OR SHAKE THE CONTROLLER." Shake the controller? Okay, that's different.

Shaking the controller does work better, but is nearly impossible to jerk the controller to activate star power during hard sequences of the game without throwing you off your rhythm, resulting in breaking that all-important x4 multiplier.

One way in which these controllers improve upon the RedOctane guitar design is the start and select buttons. The select button can be used to activate star power, and is often the preferred method of doing so in higher levels of play. In light of this, the TAC guitar has a recessed start button, while the select button is more prominent, making it much easier to activate without accidentally pausing the game.

The wireless functionality was more than competent, and we were able to play on our big screen from a distance of about twenty feet without a drop in signal or performance. The documentation states that the wireless signal works out to a range of 100 feet, so range should never be an issue for passing the guitars around during your next Guitar Hero party.

Our play testing of the TAC Wireless Freedom V guitar resulted in mild disappointment. The RedOctane guitars are more functional, and are your best bet for competitive, hassle-free gameplay. While we wish that we could get wireless versions of the standard guitar, at the moment we're still stuck with annoying controller cables. If you can deal with the faulty star power implementation, and the assorted other design issues, then the wireless functionality is a huge bonus, and may well be worth the investment. For more information, you can visit the company website at The Ant Commandos.