My leg is up in the air, my right hand is raised above my head, and I’m hopping around my basement all alone. This all leads me to believe that I need some curtains for those downstairs windows. In the heat of the moment though, it doesn’t seem to matter at all.

I am playing Guitar Hero and am head over heels. Wait, what?

What most wouldn’t do is take time to consider that head over heels makes no literal sense - after all head over heels is the normal posture. A version of the phrase originated in the 14th century as ‘heels over head’, which is really what we mean when we use it. The phrase evolved into head over heels much later as it was used in everyday speech without a great deal of thought.

Where was I? Yes, Guitar Hero. I’m…I’m heels over head. No, that’s lame. Let’s say enamored. That’ll work.

I’m a sucker for rhythm games. DDR, Amplitude, and Takio Drum Master to name a few. While these games are gold stars on my elementary school chart for good work, none of them give the true feeling of rocking. Yes, rocking.

After playing a song in Guitar Hero, you want to pump your fist. You want to point at the audience while you hold a long note with your left hand. You want to crowd surf while playing a solo. It’s great.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Wait, what?

Nitty gritty is a colloquial term for the real thing, the actual raw reality of the situation.

Whatever. The game comes with a guitar peripheral, which is what you use to play the game. On the guitar there are five colored fret buttons, a switch that you flick to strum, and a whammy bar.

The mechanics of the game require you to hold the correct fret button while you strum. This adds a layer of complexity that most rhythm games don’t have. Instead of pressing a shoulder button when a note appears, you must get both of your hands working at the same time. After the initial confusion of getting your hands to cooperate with each other, things start to work smoothly.

The songs are fantastic as well. My current favorite is Ziggy Stardust, but you Boston and Deep Purple fans won’t be let down either. In total, there are 45 tracks to play, and they all rock out pretty hard.

Not only do the tracks rock out, but they are massively fun to play. There is no downtime where you aren’t playing. In Karaoke Revolution, there are times that you’d stand around doing nothing while the guitar solo played in the background. In Guitar Hero, after you go through a couple of verse chorus verses, you get to strut your stuff in the fun and complex guitar solos. The songs are layed out like a good story. It builds to the guitar solo climax, and provides a resolution to that climax.

I can’t review multiplayer, as I’ve only played the game alone like a 13 year old with headgear. The one drawback to multiplayer is the need for a second guitar. You either need to buy a second copy of the game, or your friend needs to buy a copy. After showing off the game to friends, it’s not hard to see them picking up their own copies of the game. I predict less loneliness in the near future.

In conclusion, this is the ultimate rhythm game. You actually feel like you are playing the song, instead of just pressing buttons. It’s a thrill and adventure and you should go to Best Buy and insist that they do have it in their computer. They do. The guy in the games section just doesn’t know what he’s doing. Go ahead, ask for it. They most likely have it in back. You won’t be sorry.