'Guitar Praise' Hits Stores
The Christian alternative to the highly popular video game "Guitar Hero" hit stores Thursday and promises to have guitarists of all levels "rockin' with the best while praising the Lord!"
Developed by Digital Praise, "Guitar Praise" is the Christian software company's latest effort to take popular styles of games and infuse them with more positive and encouraging content. Their last smash project was the "DDR"-style game "Dance Praise," which has been highly popular and acclaimed among Christian communities.
While some critics – mostly secular – had their reservations about the latest Christian "knock-off," so far, the reviews are turning up mostly positive, even in the mainstream entertainment industry.
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"Guitar Praise is a great game that didn't disappoint me in the least," expressed Kevin Max of CMSpin in his review of the game. "It is wonderful to finally be able to play a game like this to the music I enjoy. It is a very addicting game."
MTV blogger Tracey John, meanwhile, said the game is "no doubt a slick and surprisingly competent 'Guitar Hero' knock-off aimed at the game-playing Christian market."
"Digital Praise seems to embrace that fact instead of trying to re-invent the music game genre," she added.
More than creating a game that is fun to play, Digital Praise's aim has been to develop products with a positive focus or allow gamers to have a positive experience.
"There are a number of games that are out in the marketplace, and some of them have been derided for their content as being inappropriate for kids or inappropriate in general," Digital Praise CEO Tom Bean told MTV Multiplayer in a recent interview. Multiplayer is a blog built by MTV News and MTV Games for gamers who play everything from "Halo 3" to "Desktop Tower Defense."
The secular "Guitar Hero," for example, is extremely popular and has sold over 21 million units, earning over $1 billion. It has also become a cultural phenomenon, making many appearances in popular culture.
But for Christians and conservatives, the game does have a number of turn-offs, including scantily clad cartoon female guitarists and songs like "Cheat on the Church, "Cowboys from Hell," or "The Number of the Beast."
"People love the console guitar games on the market, but many would like more family-friendly songs and graphics," Bean explained in a news release announcing the release of "Guitar Praise."
The CEO said "Guitar Praise" was created in response to its gaming fans.
They "started e-mailing us and writing us and calling us and asking us to create a game that they could play along with using a guitar," Bean told FoxNews.com.
The result was a game that features 52 tracks from the Christian rock world, combining today's most popular hits with classics from the 80s and 90s.
Like "Guitar Hero," "Guitar Praise" requires players to hit the correct notes on their guitar controller as each song plays. As players shred through their guitar solos, "Guitar Praise" records high scores per song and unlocks new songs – in sets of five – along the way. By tilting the guitar, players can activate spinner bonuses. And as they increase their skills, players can earn new onscreen guitars with richer sounds and different effects.
The game also allows either one player to perform in solo mode, or two players to compete for the better lead guitar score. With a second guitar, players can jam at the same time – both on lead guitar, or one on lead and the other on bass. The game's Power Duel mode also lets players send "surprises" that impact their opponent's play.
"Guitar Praise" supports both Windows and Mac personal computers and includes one wireless guitar controller, a USB wireless adapter, plus the game CD-ROM.
Unlike "Guitar Hero," however, "Guitar Praise" is not available on Xbox, Wii, nor PlayStation.
Christian artists whose songs are featured in "Guitar Praise" include Flyleaf, Skillet, Stellar Kart, tobyMac, Newsboys, Petra, 12 Stones, Spoken, Whitecross, Thousand Foot Krutch, Paul Baloche, David Crowder, Red, and many others.
