Bi-directional strum bar. Responsive and durable fret buttons. 3 interchangeable pick guards in designer colors. Unique directional pad design for convenient menu navigation. Effects switch for Rock Band play.
Rating: - Absolute garbage
Sure glad I only paid $6.95 for this! Lousy feel, just a cheap peice of junk.
Rating: - Great third party controller
I'm always unsure about buying third party peripherals since most of the time, they really are heaps of crap, not so in the case of the Frontman guitar. I originally bought it because after a year or so of heavy use on guitar hero 3, my orange button was only registering about 50% of the time, this is due to the detachable neck on the PS3 Les Paul, after a while it just begins having connection issues. So I decided to look for a guitar that would work on PS3, had a solid neck, and was actually good. I got it all in this package.
Advantages: Strum bar feels a bit sturdier, whammy bar is MUCH tougher, works with Rock Band AND Guitar Hero 3, slim body feels much nicer than the bulky Les Paul. Buttons feel more like part of the fret board and less like buttons so sliding, hammer ons, and pull offs are much easier.
Disadvantages: There is a second or two of delay using the effects switch for Rock band, considering I use this almost exclusively for GH and since it's purely extra, I don't consider this much of a problem. Also the neck is slightly wider than most are used to, this took me some time to get used to but I'm playing better now than I've ever before.
Rating: - Great third party guitar
To be completely honest, I like this guitar better than either first party guitar that comes with Rock Band or Guitar Hero 3. I haven't used the one from the new Guitar Hero, but the FrontMan reigns superior over the older 2.
I will admit that it's larger than the other guitars. It helps if your hand is bigger for it. It personally doesn't affect me, as my hands are large enough to handle it appropriately.
One thing that I noticed with this guitar is, unlike another reviewer mentioned, it actually drops FEWER notes than the Guitar Hero 3 Les Paul. Occasionally I would drop a note while holding it for a while on the Les Paul, or miss one note in a long rapid stream of single notes/chords, but with this guitar I feel like the timing is superior to that one. I can play through the intro to Holiday in Cambodia much better now than I am able to with the Red Octane guitar.
Overall I feel like I generally don't trust third-party products in terms of game controllers, by Nyko has really hit a home run with this one...
Rating: - A warning to those with smaller hands
I hardly ever write reviews, but hear me out on this one if you're planning on buying this guitar.
The short version: If you have small hands, this guitar is not for you. Not sure how this would be if you had larger hands, but I don't have that perspective to give.
The long version: This is all from the perspective of someone with "small" hands, I can hold a basketball with one, but barely. I'm 23 years old, so not kid hands. To give an idea of "small," there's about 2.5 inches left between my middle finger and thumb when wrapping around a 1 liter soda bottle before they touch.
I bought this mostly because I needed a guitar for Guitar Hero 3 and GH Aerosmith. It was also to be a nice addition as a bass for Rock Band when more than 2 other roommates were out in the living room when I was playing, or when someone got sick of singing.
Does this guitar work? It didn't for me in terms of being able to play a game productively. I personally prefer the Rock Band guitar, so that is my bias. The fret buttons respond to their pressing, but in no way was I able to actually play. The frets are small and need to be pressed on roughly in the center in order to register. If you have the habit of slipping to the side, it drops registration and you lose or miss the note. The strum bar works perfectly, but with the frets not picking up my presses it was pointless.
To give a comparison, I average 85-98% on Expert in Rock Band with the RB guitar. With this guitar, I struggled on Hard and couldn't pass beyond 22% on Expert before failing for the first song of GH Aerosmith. The registration was just not there for the sides of the buttons, which is all I was able to press due to the thick neck that made it so hard for someone with smaller hands.
The biggest problem with this guitar is that it was physically painful to play with. I hadn't played more than 20 minutes (failing the very first song on GH Aerosmith 4 times in a row between 10-22% completion and then moving on to a lower difficulty to struggle through 3 songs just to hear them) before my wrist hurt more than it ever had. Every guitar I had used has caused some kind of "burn," but this was very extreme, and I stopped due to it feeling like it was about to cause physical damage. As of right now I can use the Rock Band guitar for roughly 2-3 hours before feeling anything in my wrist anymore, my other hand usually tires from strumming before also, but this guitar managed to cause great pain (not just discomfort) in a very short time due to how it had to be held in order to press the fret buttons with any kind of accuracy.
So, if you have small hands, this guitar is definitely not a good choice. The neck is so wide that it becomes very difficult to press the fret buttons and be able to play quickly and accurately, and managed to cause me a great deal of pain in a very short time. I actually packed it up and had dropped it off at the post office to be returned in less than 2 hours of it showing up at my front door.
Other minor notes: It is quite neck-heavy, in that in the relaxed position the neck will hang pointing downward. Really weird and awkward, and may influence playability when having to support the neck the entire time with the hand that has to reach all over for the frets.
Syncing it with the wireless receiver is a pain. I noticed posts online here and there saying the instruction manual is worthless and there are "tricks" to getting it to sync, so if you do manage to order this guitar I'd look for those online. I actually sat with my roommate for 5 minutes trying to re-sync it after I got it to drop its connection.
Rating: - Excellent EXCELLENT guitar!!
Wow i am out of words. i LOVE this guitar. The whammy bar is really nice and non weak. The tilt sensor is VERY responsive. even more than the strats sensor. the strum bar is nice and sturdy and clix like in gh3. it has no lag when you play and the receptor is very inovative and cool. It has no on/off button. It turns off by itself. very very nice. the fret buttons are soft and responsive. the faceplate is nicee too. i definatley recomend this guitar over any 3rd party guitar (erm emrm TAC)
- Absolute garbage
- Great third party controller
