Guitar Quest takes a new approach to teaching music – it gamifies learning guitar in a very interesting way. The premise is to take guitar lessons, which are already incredibly helpful and structured to make sure you learn the guitar correctly and effectively, and then turn them into fun a sandbox of songs that you can play through.
The game features a huge catalogue of songs across genres and time periods that are unlocked by performing challenges, similar to how Guitar Hero works. The biggest difference is that you don’t need any dedicated peripherals to rock out, instead using the headset’s native optical hand tracking to let you shred with your own hands. The concept is very impressive, a true technical accomplishment that uses the power of virtual reality to do something that feels almost like magic.
You can also choose to use a custom controller, which will add a more traditional guitar shape and size, but the performance still relies on the same basic tracking technology – though recent improvements have made this much more reliable than at launch. There are some minor hiccups in the gameplay if you try to do particularly fast finger movements or strumming, but overall it’s a huge leap forward from what was available at launch.
After a short tutorial you can start to play through the catalogue of songs. The first few records are relatively simple and stick to straightforward rhythms, while the later ones introduce chord changes and more melodic finger shapes. The game does a good job of slowly ramping up difficulty, and the more you progress, the more rewards you’ll get for scoring high scores. You can also unlock more venues to play in, starting with a small bar and then moving on to arena-sized locations.
As with most rhythm games, the more you do well, the more points you’ll earn. These can then be spent on cosmetic guitar models – but the selection is underwhelming compared to other VR rhythm games like Beat Saber and Pistol Whip, and it feels like a missed opportunity to bring some more variety.
Anotherway has added a few other features to the game since launch. Higher difficulty levels will sometimes introduce a mid-track mini game, such as ‘cursed’ flaming notes that need to be hit perfectly, or a ring of ‘combo cubes’ that you must hit in order to boost your score. These are great additions, and again, push the experience closer to in style to classics like Guitar Hero.
It’s an incredible technical achievement and a very cool piece of gaming, but the gameplay still doesn’t quite live up to the high standards set by classics like Guitar Hero or Rock Band. If you’re willing to overlook the occasional hiccup, however, then you’ll find a fun and addictive virtual guitar experience that lets you play the hits from a huge range of artists with your own hands.
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