The World On Eleven.

Through machinations I shall not begin to explain, I've ended with a borrowed copy of Guitar Hero for the PS2 for the last 36 hours.  And for most of those hours, I've had little numb patches on the tips of three fingers.  The challenge of my upcoming days off will be not playing the game until the arm falls off.

Now, I suck at rhythm games, no matter how much I like them in principle--Space Channel 5, Parappa The Rapper, Dance Dance Revolution, the six seconds I spent playing Amplitude--and Guitar Hero is really, at its heart, just a rhythm game... albeit one with a fancy peripheral and a clever attitude.  (In fact, I may have ended up playing Guitar Hero at precisely the right time, the night after School of Rock was shown on broadcast TV. Jack Black, with his hilariously enthused savoring of all things "rock," is the perfect unoffical muse of Guitar Hero and if there's one step the otherwise-savvy game misses, it's allowing the player to rock out with a chubby, hyperkinetic faux-Black avatar.  (Unless he's one of the two unlockable characters, but I don't think he is.)

What makes this game so much more enjoyable for klutzes like me is its play balance.  Guitar Hero has a variety of settings, from extremely easy to very hard, as well as components like a "star power" bar, that allow the desperate to battle their way through a song, and experience the joys of unlocking new songs, while still giving a sense of accomplishment (and finger blisters).  So far, replay comes from the desire to nail a song and not feel like one is completely wretched, but I admit that playing the opening chords of "Smoke On the Water" has an appeal all its own.  The game also compels by virtue its short playing time:  not only is it possible to play a round in four minutes, approximately the amount of time it takes for a spouse to check their makeup, but currently it's impossible to play for longer than twenty minutes at a time.  The last is particuarly helpful, as I found myself growing bored when I found myself doing at all well (and sometimes even when I wasn't).  Despite my recent appreciation for cock rock, I must still have enough of my new wave lyrics-dominated mindset to find the guitar solos in "Iron Man" as mindless as when I was in my teens. How mindless, and yet mindful, one has to be to make their way through even the lowest I.Q. Black Sabbath song!  I really wonder what becomes of one's mind after playing the stuff for a living.

I also wonder what I'm going to do with regard to this game--I'm not going to keep a loaner for months on end, but I can't buying it, either.  For some (probably those who can coax their friends and/or wives into playing), Guitar Hero is a no-brainer purchase. But for me, this game is the perfect rental (all the more frustrating that you can't rent it anywhere) and my brain looks forward to getting some work done soon.