Guitar Praise puts Christian twist on rock music video games |
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Written by LAURIE STEVENS BERTKE, Chronicle Writer
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Friday, 28 November 2008 01:00 |
Rock and roll has moved out of the garage and into the living room with the emergence of popular music video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which are bound to show up on plenty of Christmas wish lists this year.
Now Digital Praise Inc., an independent developer and publisher of interactive Christian games, is introducing Guitar Praise, a family-friendly alternative for Christians concerned about the song lyrics and graphics in secular guitar video games.
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| High school senior Jon-Alan Shrewsbery, left, plays Guitar Praise as
high school juniors Stanley Shrewsbery and Juan Trevino and youth
minister Ray Kleeberger look on during a meeting of the Emmaus-North
Youth Group in Toledo. (Chronicle photo by Laurie Stevens Bertke) |
As avid fans of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, teenagers from the Emmaus-North Youth Group were more than happy to try this newest addition to the genre. Five high school students from the group — which serves the east Toledo parishes of Good Shepherd, St. Thomas Aquinas, Sacred Heart and St. Stephen — put Guitar Praise to the test during a recent meeting, taking turns rocking on the plastic guitar controller.
They needed no introduction to the premise of the game, which draws heavily from its mainstream counterparts: players press the fret buttons and strum on a guitar controller to hit color-coded notes scrolling on screen as they ìperformî a song. Each song has four difficulty levels, and successful performances unlock new songs in the game.
They can play solo, or if they have a second guitar they can compete for the best score or perform a song with a friend.
What sets Guitar Praise apart is its exclusively Christian rock set list, with 52 songs by popular artists like Chris Tomlin, tobyMac, Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Reliant K, Flyleaf and Whitecross.
After about an hour of play, members of the Emmaus-North Youth Group gave the game and its music selection high marks.
"I think it’s really cool. I like how they take the style of such a popular game and apply a Christian message to it," says Stanley Shrewsberry, a junior at Toledo Early College High School, as he watches one of his friends play.
The teens find the inclusion of a song timer — which they did not see in other guitar games — helpful during game play, and they also say they liked seeing the lyrics displayed onscreen.
Tom Bean, president and CEO of Digital Praise Inc., says in a press release that including the lyrics "reinforces the positive messages present in Guitar Praise’s roster of songs, and allows everyone to take part in the game."
One notable way Guitar Praise technically differs from the competition is that it plays on a computer instead of a video game console. While this makes it accessible to families that don’t own a video game console, it may be less appealing to people who enjoy gathering around a larger television screen with their friends to play other music games.
Still, the wireless guitar controller included with Guitar Praise works well, and there are ways to overcome the limited size of a computer screen. At the Emmaus-North Youth Group, teens connected a laptop to a projector to play the game on a big screen.
Guitar Praise lacks the sophisticated graphics and animations seen in other guitar games, but keeps the essential play features of the genre intact. It also adds some nice twists, like a friendly announcer who offers words of encouragement after every song regardless of whether the player did or did not "complete" the song. This is a departure from the secular games where a player who can’t keep up with the notes "fails" the song and gets booed off stage.
There is sure to be a niche for Guitar Praise in the $1 billion guitar game segment this holiday season, especially among parents and youth ministers looking for a wholesome alternative to some of the secular video games on the market.
Guitar Praise supports both Windows and Mac personal computers, and includes one USB-compatible guitar controller with the game software. The game retails for $99.95 at Christian stores and other mainstream retailers or at Amazon.com or www.guitarpraise.com.
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Last Updated on Friday, 23 January 2009 09:47 |
