“Extra, extra, read all about the best burgers in town from all around, people from around world come and get it; the line goes around like a merry go round”

That hopefully has caught your attention. Some of you gaming geeks out there will recognise these lyrics from the popular cult game, Parapper the Rapper 2. You should also remember that Parappa is a rhythm game. The Parappa series gained a cult following which I am secretly a member of so it only seems fit that I am reviewing a game that has just as big a following. The game I am talking about is… Gitaroo man, Publisher Koei’s first foray into the Rhythm game genre.

The story is centred around a shallow nob-head who calls himself U-1, a translation from the original Japanese name, Yu-ichi. The plot involves guitars that save the world, a love triangle, a mad bastard hell bent on world-domination… you get the picture. Also there’s an archetypical “cute” sidekick animal, with an annoying voice (Which is strangely reminiscent of Inspector Gadget’s - Ed), helping/hindering you along the way.

First impressions are good, with a wacky intro the sort you’d expect from a game strictly aimed at the Japanese market, similar to the like of Parappa, Um Jammer Lammy (which came from the creators of Parappa) and We love Katamari. The style is similar to Parappa, with a more Anime/Manga advertising edge. The game throws you straight in at deep end with a brief tutorial, then pack your bags and off to your first opponent.

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This one’s definitely worth a read, and might just inspire you to break out some of the older titles from your Pile of No Shame. While we may not all agree with every choice, it’s fun and interesting to read through the article anyway.

The Story:
In the world of Grim Fandango, death is just the beginning of a very long journey into the afterlife. Nice folks get a lickety-split train ticket that gets them to the afterlife in only four minutes. Some take a boat, or drive. The worst sinners have to go on foot, a journey which takes four years - maybe even longer if you have to stop and get a job for awhile. As Manny Calavera, you’re a Grim Reaper - one of the travel agents who help people on that journey. And you’ve got some rough years ahead of you.

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If you didn’t know this, then let us tell you now that Namco Museum, recently released on the DS, has the very brilliant Pac-man Vs. Originally released as a freebie with R:Racing on the GameCube, the few people that bought it probably played it more than the driving game - although only after unlocking the shower scene - it was at the time in doubt if it was ever going to be released in the UK. I have seen this pack for the princely sum of £25 minus a penny and it contains some other games as well. What? You think I should? But who cares? Its worth the money by itself.

OK. OK. You also get Pac-Man (probably the original - no bad thing as it’s timeless and everything), The Tower Of Druaga (played it on MAME and I think its slow and not very good. In fact I always thought it was the name of another game, Dragon Buster, which is ace), Mappy (good platform bouncy game), Dig Dug II (if I have played this I don’t remember what the difference is between this and the first one. Speaking of the first one, whenever I played it on my mate’s 2600 I was always wanting to play Mr. Do on his Dragon 32 instead) plus shoot-em-up lovelies Galaga, Galaxians and Xevious (the latter being a particular fave of mine. And no, Nintendo, I wasn’t going to spend a tenner on it for my GBA, as much as I like it).

So there you have it; one rare as rockin’ horse-shit brill game with 7 freebies. Nice!

Rez is an interesting blend of rhythm, on rails shooting and trippy graphics. It was released by Sega of Europe in 2002 and has just received a re-release on the Xbox Live Arcade.

The father of this unique game is Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who also created Lumines and Space Channel 5.

Hit the post-break for our Replay retrospective review. Read more »