Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

I recently had the opportunity to play with Seven45 Studio’s upcoming game Power Gig: Rise of the Six String at PAX 2010. I appreciate their attempt at bringing realism to the genre of plastic instrument games (or, if you prefer, rhythm games), but, let’s face it, they are not going to have an easy time going up against Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Fortunately, they don’t seem too daunted and are banking on both the power of their exclusive artists real-life guitar hero Eric Clapton, Dave Mathews, and Kid Rock (two out of three is not bad, right?), and their SixString guitar controller that doubles as an actual electric guitar.

Players can switch between using the SixString controller as an input device for the game and as an actual guitar through the String Lock button that deactivates the string dampener. This approach at combining a rhythm game controller might draw gamers to Power Gig: Rise of the Six String, especially to those gamers are looking to expand their rhythm game prowess to actual guitar playing.

During my brief time at their booth, Seven 45’s SixString guitar/controller worked rather well as rhythm game controller. Playing with the SixtString on controller mode lets the player strum any string as long as they are also fretting the appropriate color/s. The game’s advance mode requires increased accuracy and lets the player play along with power chords (two or three string chords that are rather easy to learn). As it stands, the game does not have a mode that fully replicates a song note-for-note, but a Studio45 representative informed me that a future update that allowed for such a mode is not outside the realm of possibility.

As a real guitar, the SixString might not appeal to players who are accustomed to full-sized, professional instruments, as its length is closer to that of a smaller travel guitar. Also, during my short time with the guitar/controller hybrid, the neck felt a bit too thick and the action (the distance between the strings and the fretboard) was set rather high. It definitely felt like a beginner’s guitar in need of a proper set-up. But, at 179.99 (the price of the SixString controller and the game), beginning guitar players should find it to be more than adequate enough to start them off on the path of rock stardom, or to help them become living-room guitar legends, as the case might be.

As for the game itself, the in-game note guide did a decent job at telling me what frets to play, but it seemed to handle some notes, specifically power chords, rather awkwardly on the intermediate setting. Unfortunately, I was not able to play on any of the other advance settings (time constraints), which might have cleared up some of the issues I encountered.

As an amateur guitar player that’s been tooling around with a real six string for a long time, I’m looking forward to Seven45 Studios’ Power Gig: Rise of the Six String and its SixString guitar/controller. Only time will tell if Seven45 Studio’s SixString controller will manage to entice guitarists (of the real and fake varieties) to opt for the underdog this fall.