Since it debuted on the DS not even a year ago, the Guitar Hero On Tour series has been a hugely successful one, posting huge sales numbers for a DS game and winning over legions of fans with its portable gameplay that allows gamers to take their Guitar Hero rocking on the go. Utilizing a proprietary peripheral that closely emulates the experience of the console game, Guitar Hero On Tour has been a huge hit among rhythm game fans. Therefore, it’s really no surprise that the series is already on its third iteration, Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits.

Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits offers up some nice gameplay updates over its two predecessors, including a whole new setlist, and a new Fan Request mode that allows you to play through some mission-based songs for more fans. The game does a pretty good job of carrying the series’ development philosophy, but doesn’t really bring a lot new to the formula. The game’s mechanics haven’t been changed, and depending on how much you enjoy the series, that can be a good thing or a really bad thing.

The Fan Request feature is the biggest new addition to the On Tour formula. Once a player has completed a song in the career mode, they are then able to complete a series of difficult challenges in order to further gain more fans and prestige. Each song has three different Fan Request missions, a Guitar one, a Bass (or Rhythm Guitar) one, and a Duel one. Each one has its own victory requirements that get more difficult as you progress, requiring you to get a certain note streak, percentage, and so on in order to win.

The game’s set list is as follows:

• 12 Stones - “Adrenalin”

• AFI - “Miss Murder”

• Angels & Airwaves - “Call to Arms”

• Atreyu - “Falling Down”

• Black Tide - “Shockwave”

• Coldplay - “Violet Hill”

• Endeverafter - “I Wanna Be Your Man”

• Evanescence - “Sweet Sacrifice”

• Fall Out Boy - “This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race”

• Finger Eleven - “Paralyzer”

• Foo Fighters - “All My Life”

• Franz Ferdinand - “The Fallen”

• Kaiser Chiefs - “Ruby”

• Lenny Kravitz - “Where Are We Runnin'?”

• Modest Mouse - “Dashboard”

• Phantom Planet - “Do The Panic”

• Sum 41 - “Still Waiting”

• Tenacious D - “The Metal”

• The Bravery - “Unconditional”

• The Donnas - “What Do I Have to Do”

• The Duke Spirit - “Lassoo”

• The Fratellis - “Chelsea Dagger”

• The Kooks - “Always Where I Need to Be”

• The Offspring - “Half-Truism”

• The Strokes - “Reptilia”

• Weezer - “Everybody Get Dangerous”

• Wolfmother - “Dimension”

• Yellowcard - “Lights and Sounds”

Presenting a varied blend of recent tracks from a variety of genres, including metal, rock, pop, and punk, the game’s tracklist may be set in the modern era, but still offers a compelling blend of tracks that any Guitar Hero fan should be able to enjoy. Additionally, one of the coolest features from the previous Guitar Hero On Tour game Decades, the ability to jam to songs from other On Tour game’s setlist with your friends is back, essentially allowing you to play with other On Tour games and have all of the tracks from both games available.

Unfortunately, the problems that plagued the first two games also rear their ugly heads this time around. The grip peripheral is still slightly unwieldy, meaning that gamers with banana fingers (like myself) will find themselves cramping up during even short play sessions. Additionally, the strumming mechanic isn’t as responsive as it should be, and players will find themselves missing notes or even bombing entire sections that would otherwise be easy to nail, which can be very frustrating.

If you’ve played Guitar Hero On Tour before, then you know what to expect from the graphics. The game’s characters and presentation look on par with the other iterations of the series, and the note highways move solidly without any slowdown mucking up tracks.

Soundwise, the game has a varied list of tracks, but unfortunately has the same sound problems that plagued the first two games. The tracks have a compressed tinny sound to them, even when running through a pair of headphones.

Ultimately, if you are already a fan of the Guitar Hero On Tour and its mechanics and want to check out more songs from the modern music era, then Modern Hits is a game for you. However, if you haven’t quite been won over by the DS franchise’s gameplay, then Modern Hits isn’t likely to win you over.

Gameplay: 7.0
The basics of the gameplay haven’t been changed, as the title has simply received a new gameplay feature and new songs. The Fan Request mode is a welcome addition to change up the career mode a bit, but the problems that plagued the previous two games are still around.

Graphics: 8.0
The graphics look mostly the same as previous titles, and still fairly solid.

Sound: 7.0
While the varied soundtrack is pretty good, the sound quality isn’t great, sounding tinny and compressed.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 7.0
Aside from the new Fan Request feature, this is basically a pretty modest expansion of the first two games, without much in the way of improvements.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Same multiplayer features as before, including the great song exchange element of the previous game.

Overall: 7.0
Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits offers an interesting new gameplay feature with Fan Requests and a new tracklist. However, the game’s fundamentals are still exactly the same, meaning that if you aren’t a fan of the On Tour mechanics yet, then this one won’t change your mind.