Remember the original Guitar Hero? It shipped with a guitar-shaped controller that you actually had to plug into the PlayStation 2. You could rock out, sure, but if you rocked out too hard, you'd yank the controller from the socket. Or worse, you'd yank your entire PlayStation 2 off the shelf.

Flash forward several years. Forget the guitar-shaped controller, forget the plug, and best of all, forget the PS2. Now you can take Guitar Hero whenever you go, thanks to Guitar Hero On Tour.

Of course, you'll need a Nintendo DS to play the game. And you'll probably also want to use headphones for the best sound quality. Otherwise, everything you need to rock out on the go is included with the game.

So how does it work? You plug the specially designed Guitar Hero On Tour controller into the wider Game Boy cartridge slot on your DS. Slip your hand into the wrist strap, tighten it up, and then let your fingers find the familiar colored buttons. The controller leaves off the orange button—which is no doubt a relief to more casual Guitar Hero fans. (We could never quite get our fingers all the way over there anyway, so we won't be missing it.)

Once you fire up the game, you'll find what's basically the traditional Guitar Hero experience. (Activision wisely didn't mess with their formula.) In other words, you'll find a series of increasingly challenging set lists to shred through.

The music is a nice mix of old and new. Tracks from Blink-182, Freezepop, and Maroon 5 seem right at home next to old-school songs from artists like Pat Benetar and the Stray Cats.

The other cool aspect of the game is the touch-sensitive guitar pick. Housed inside a tiny slot on the controller, the pick is "strummed" on the DS touch screen in time with the notes. If you want to max out your score, you'll also need to work the touch-sensitive whammy bar whenever you come across those longer notes (called "sustains").

Overall, the coolest aspect of the game is that it's a full-fledged Guitar Hero experience—one that's every bit as good as the one you'll find on home consoles. Verdict: Buy it.

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