Guitar Freaks V & Drummania V PS2

[Nisa]

Got this from Yesasia the other day along with the official Konami Drummania controller but only had a chance to play the Drummania part properly tonight.

It's not the most beginner friendly music game as I learned when playing the arcade version in the London Torocadero last year however once you get used to the controller the game quickly becomes a lot of fun. The music is pretty varied with everything from anime opening tunes including Wild Challenger from Bobobo and proper heavy stuff like Dillinger Escape Plan, there's just under 70 songs all in which I think is the highest number of any GFDM CS release so far.

The controller itself was never going to be anything like the proper Yamaha drum kit that's attached to the arcade cabinet so arcade purists may balk at it especially the rather crappy foam bass pedal however once you accept this the controller really isn't as bad as some have made it out to be, much like the standard popn' music controller it may not be up to arcade standard but that doesn't stop it from being fun to play with (the really dedicated types can plug in a Yamaha DTX drumkit if they want true arcade authenticity anyway).

I'd highly recommend it to folks that liked Guitar Hero and other games in the whole Bemani/Rythmn Action genre.

[IanE]

Dillinger are in there?! How much was it in total? Very tempted.

[Nisa]

The game + drum controller came to roughly 95 quid,the game itself was 36 quid Yesasia upgraded the shipping to DHL for nowt as well, if you're buying it for Guitar Freaks rather than Drummania then the guitar controller is a fair bit cheaper.

The Dillinger Escape Plan track is Panasonic Youth and unlike some of the other licensed tunes has the proper band recording as well as the proper music video, it's also the only song from a western band in the game, the rest of the licensed stuff is mainly J-Rock like N.G.S. by Asian Kung Fu Generation.

The full song list including unlockables is here http://www.goku2.com/sp/detail/cs-gfdmv.html

[IanE]

Wait, is this two games in one? Or, can you use the guitar from Guitar Freaks in both games? I'm confused!

[Darwock]

GF & DM have been combined since GF 3 & DM 2... so yes it's two games in one (but only if you have both controllers)

[phillai]

I'll be getting this to kinda complete my PS2 Bemani collection.
One question... Does this have the 3 player mode (2 guitars and drum) like the other two games?

[Nisa]

Yup, session mode is still in there, it's pretty cool that you can have one guitar play the bass notes meaning if you get 3 people playing you've pretty much got yourself a full band, you just need to convince someone to do the singing

I really want to pick up the official guitar controller, my mate has one of those 3rd party topway jobs which is absolutely cack as it's almost impossible to strum upwards on it making it impossible to clear the harder songs. I'll probably end up buying the arcade style controller by Konami at some point like I did with Beatmania & Popn'music but the price tag on it is pretty hefty.

[canuhavebabies]

I received my game, guitar and drum controllers.

Only had a 10 minute game last night at 3am, but guitar freaks is no good with the sound on low, so i'll play it properlly today.

Pretty much is the same layout as the previous guitar freaks, but this time has many more songs!

The drummania controller doesnt have a stand, like the first release!. The original stand was very heavy though which probally cost online retailers a arm and a leg to deliver (it did for me when i sold it on ebay)

So apart from the loss of the drum stand, everything looks good!

[Darwock]

The drummania controller doesnt have a stand, like the first release!. The original stand was very heavy though which probally cost online retailers a arm and a leg to deliver (it did for me when i sold it on ebay)

Whaaaaat? I'm yanking mine off the sales thread then, no way am I parting with it now.

[canuhavebabies]

Good call! i sold mine a few months ago, because i wanted a minty mint box, wish i never now!

[Nisa]

Yeah I forgot to mention that, I'm using the good old ironing board trick, looks stupid but does the job just fine.

[phillai]

That's crap that! I will never part with my 1st gen Drummania keyboard!

Nisa, is the AC Guitar Freaks controller out to buy now in Japan?
I take it you need to kinda pre-order for it, right?

[IanE]

Do you need the drum stand? Seems a bit odd if you do.

[Nisa]

You don't need a specific stand, just something to sit the controller on top of like this,


The Guitar Freaks arcade style controller isn't out for another month or two, you can see pictures of it here http://www.konamistyle.jp/customfact...csc/index.html, Playasia are taking preorders for about 200 quid for it which is cheaper than other ASC controllers that Konami have released but it's still bloody expensive (I could buy a real guitar for that kind of money).

It also looks like Konami have started thinking about the next console release already, they're doing a survey to find out which version had the visual style that fans liked the best as well as their top 3 songs from previous versions they'd like to see come back for a new console version including licensed stuff. Despite having a decent number of songs quite a few people rightly criticised Konami for the lack of older songs on GFDM V considering that it's the first game in the series to appear on PS2 since GF4th/DM3rd, it appears this survey could be for a "Greatest Hits" version featuring songs that havent made it to a home version yet.

If you can work your way around the Japanese text you can vote here http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/gfdmv/enq/

[Darwock]

as well as their top 3 songs from previous versions they'd like to see come back for a new console version including licensed stuff.

I know this refers to songs from DM 4 up to 11 or whatever, but any ultimate version has GOT to include "Haru ~Spring~" and "Koi no Dial 6700"... superb stuff!