| Guitar Praise | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Digital Praise |
| Publisher(s) | Digital Praise |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) | September 25, 2008[1] |
| Genre(s) | Rhythm action |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | CD-ROM |
Guitar Praise is a Christian rhythm video game for PC. Published by Digital Praise, it uses contemporary Christian music with gameplay akin to that of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, although it is only compatible with its own wired and cordless USB guitar controllers. A second guitar can be connected for two-player mode. The games can be played on a computer running Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. While the game does not contain a mode for vocals, it does display the song's lyrics on-screen during the song. It also supports online leaderboards[2] but the website is currently down.[3]
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Guitar Praise was developed in response to the popularity of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, popular demand directly received by CEO Tom Bean via emails, and as a follow-up to Dance Praise — a dance game focused on Contemporary Christian music which proved successful within its market.[4][5]
As with Dance Praise, Guitar Praise was designed to be a family-oriented game and provide a "positive experience" for all players. As a result of this mandate, its soundtrack consists of primarily Christian rock music with no offensive content, and the game additionally does not feature any animated avatars for players — as the company viewed the characters of Guitar Hero to be negative role models for its intended audience. However, some reviewers also attributed the lack of characters in the game as a result of the budgetary requirements modelling and animating 3D characters would require)[4][6].[5]
At launch, the game included 52 songs from 43 different artists.
| Title | Artist |
|---|---|
| Broken | 12 Stones |
| Same 'Ol Sinner | Bride |
| There You Go | Caedmon's Call |
| Lifesong | Casting Crowns |
| Made to Worship | Chris Tomlin |
| So Good To Me | Darrell Evans |
| Foreverandever Etc. | David Crowder Band |
| Reap and Sow | Day of Fire |
| Jesus Freak | dc Talk |
| Love Addict | Family Force 5 |
| Perfect | Flyleaf |
| The Show | Hawk Nelson |
| Friend Like That | Hawk Nelson |
| Rescue Me | Inhabited |
| All Around | Israel & New Breed |
| Franklin Park | James Clay |
| Blind Man | Jared Anderson |
| Undo Me | Jennifer Knapp |
| Tonight | Jeremy Camp |
| What I Hear | Jessie Daniels |
| Father's Song | Jonah 33 |
| Perfect Day | Josh Bates |
| Beyond The Surface | Kutless |
| Hearts of the Innocent | Kutless |
| Spin | Lincoln Brewster |
| All About You | Nate Sallie |
| The Real | Nevertheless |
| Something Beautiful | Newsboys |
| Rock of Ages | Paul Baloche |
| All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises | Paul Baloche |
| Backsliding Blues | Petra |
| When Tomorrow Comes | Pillar |
| Breathe Into Me | Red |
| I Need You | Relient K |
| Awake | Seventh Day Slumber |
| The Older I Get | Skillet |
| Rebirthing | Skillet |
| Savior | Skillet |
| Wind In My Sails | Spoken |
| Falling Further | Spoken |
| Sleepwalkers | Spur 58 |
| Procrastinating | Stellar Kart |
| We Live | Superchick |
| The Pit | The Crucified |
| Going Under | This Beautiful Republic |
| The Flame In All of Us | Thousand Foot Krutch |
| The Art of Breaking | Thousand Foot Krutch |
| I'm For You | tobyMac |
| This Fragile Breath | Todd Agnew |
| My Heart Goes Out | Warren Barfield |
| Who Will You Follow | Whitecross |
| When The Walls Tumble Down | Whitecross |
The first expansion pack for Guitar Praise was released as a separate purchase in September 2009, adding 25 additional songs. Songs from the expansions have also been released as downloadable content in 5-song packs.
| Title | Artist | Pack |
|---|---|---|
| Better Man | DecembeRadio | Contemporary |
| Satisfy Me | DecembeRadio | Contemporary |
| Everybody Praise The Lord | Lincoln Brewster | Contemporary |
| Your Love Is Better Than Life | Newsboys | Contemporary |
| Bring Me Down | Pillar | Contemporary |
The game was generally well-received in both Christian and non-Christian gaming reviews. Christian entertainment site ICE gave the game a 7 out of 10, summarizing their thoughts by calling Guitar Praise "[a] “rock-solid” product that can stand up with the competition. While some of the problems were downers overall the game was quite fun." However, they also noted that this style of game is better suited for console play, citing small text size and poor use of screen layout as major issues. "As a PC and Mac only title it is heavily limited by the nature of the beast."[7]It was also noted that Guitar Praise does not support any peripherals from any other music game, hindering the use of existing Guitar Hero controllers.[7] PluggedIn Online concluded that "yes, Guitar Praise is indeed a Guitar Hero clone. Only this clone is better than the original.[8]
Non-Christian gaming outlets were also largely impressed with the game. Tracey John of MTV's Multiplayer blog wrote that the game "is no doubt a slick and surprisingly competent “Guitar Hero” knock-off aimed at the game-playing Christian market", and noted that the game stayed true to its market instead of attempting to re-invent the genre, and aside from songs making references to such themes, had little overtly religious imagery or tones."[9] U.S. Military site Stars and Stripes says that "Developer Digital Praise obviously has an idea that strikes a chord with Christian youth and a few tweaks would make this a popular item. Even as it is, it’s fun — just not as fun as the others."[10]
Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk noted that while "there’s no way to battle the devil", he considered Guitar Praise an acceptable alternative to the Rock Band and Guitar Hero series for Christian families, even though it did not contain as much functionality and polish as other major music games (noting the lack of characters, and the lack of hammer-ons and pull-offs in songs, and its easier difficulty), and also noted that the game's wireless guitar peripheral did not have a sleep mode, which could drain the battery easily.[6]
The game exceeded sales expectations, and according to icepowered.com, the game is selling faster than inventory is available.[5] Exact sales figures are not currently available although in the past Digital Praise has noted that since the game is directed at a smaller niche than most video games, the sales expectations were much lower than that of an average game. In response to its success, Digital Praise has also considered expanding the franchise to include support for full band gameplay, and has also actively considered the possibility of bringing the series to game consoles, however it has considered the idea a potential financial risk.[5]