GamersTemple: "A lot of people are going to both very tough and extremely dismissive of Popstar Guitar, a new non-Guitar Hero/Rock Band music game exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, and at first glance, I can't say I'd disagree with those folks. After years of guitar-shaped special controllers, downloadable content, original music, master recordings and hundreds of millions of copies sold all over the world, it could be argued that Guitar Hero and Rock Band have not only found what works in a music game, but they've perfected it as well. A new contender to the guitar game scene, especially one that utilizes no special guitar controller, can seem like a bit of a joke, a cheap cash-in or both. But Popstar Guitar explores some interesting territory and even though nothing is pulled off with anywhere near the precision of the more popular music games, this game could still be right at home with the right kind of younger music fan.
I'm doing my best not to turn this into a dissertation or thesis on what makes these games and what doesn't, but to understand what is right (and mostly wrong) with Popstar Guitar, you need to look at the other two music games and what kind of voids they fill. The way I see it, the Rock Band games are like the "Now That's What I Call Music" compilation CDs, the Guitar Hero games are like cobbled together, no-one-has-ever-heard-of-this-stuff burned CDs stolen from a cooler older sibling's closet and Popstar Guitar is like the nails-on-a-chalkboard "Kidz Bop" CDs, that take top 40 hits and hand them to a chorus of eight-graders, to be sung with no bad or suggestive language."
