If you have already played through or own Gitaroo Man on PS2 then there really is no point in reading this review. It looks the same, it plays the same and offers only a couple of multiplayer modes to help add longevity, there is simply nothing new for you. However for the gamers who aren't even sure what Gitaroo Man Lives! is, you're in for an extremely addictive surprise.

The game follows the story of a young boy named U-1. It's a typical story of a boy who likes a girl but is always shot down and insulted by the girls other male friend. U-1 takes it upon himself to learn skateboarding to prove how much of a man he is, but his dog, Puma, has another idea.

Puma introduces U-1 to a Gitaroo - what looks like a futuristic guitar - and teaches him the way of using the Gitaroo to battle. Whenever U-1 touches the Gitaroo he is transformed into Gitaroo Man, and in this form he learns that an evil power is trying to retrieve every Gitaroo to help take over the universe. Every stage involves fighting a character with his own Gitaroo, and every success sees the power of U-1 and his Gitaroo escalate. Eventually it'll be U-1 up against the evil arch-villain, but before that, you'll need to know how to get him there, and whether or not you'll even be interested in getting that far.

The game controls are unique and that's what Inis knows best. The aim of the game is to tap the buttons to the beat of the tune, and there are two different ways to go about it. Each stage is separated into three areas: Charge, Battle and Final. Every character you come across has a health meter, and when you battle them the game turns into a quasi fighting game. Every missed beat sees you losing health, every beat you time right sees your enemy's health diminish. The Charge section of the fight allows you to help regain some of your health but some fights see you starting with very little. A small line appears from the edge of the screen and disappears when it gets to the controlling point in the centre.

By using the PSP's analogue nub it is up to you to keep track of where the line is coming from. If you aren't following the line you won't be able to hit any of the notes. It's good to master this small challenge quickly because you won't have long before the notes start appearing. Notes take the form of red circles with trails behind them. When the circle hits the centre, hold the circle button as long as the trail lasts; simple. This section plays perfectly and, thanks to the PSP's analogue nub, works better than it ever did on the PS2 version.

The next section is the Battle section. While you can't lose health during the Charge area, this is where it pays to turn off background noise and really concentrate. The battle section is split into attack and defence. When you're attacking you'll be doing the same stuff you did during the charge section, but this time a missed note means you take damage and a successful note will drain your opposition's.

The Defence area is where you'll be mastering the second control style of the game. As your opponent attacks, pictures of the face buttons will come in from the appropriate edge - triangle from the top, cross from the bottom, and so on. As they meet the centre of the screen it's up to you to tap the corresponding button. Sounds simple enough, but as you progress through the game the order and speed you need to push the buttons can become extremely frustrating. Where the analogue nub improves its use over the PS2 counterpart, the face buttons prove the opposite. The PSP was never meant to be used in fits of excitement and you'll find yourself missing notes simply because you just didn't push the buttons hard enough. It's a small gripe, but one to which you simply need to adjust yourself.

The final stage mirrors the attack section of the battle. A little quicker and a lot more fulfilling, you will find yourself grinning from ear to ear by simply getting to the end. Every battle feels unique due to the different music used and the characters you meet, but there are two in particular that stand out. One involves using nothing but the Defence controls and seems out of place near the beginning of the story as it really is one of the hardest levels and could easily put you off the game. The second notable stage is the acoustic love scene. There's no battle on this level and therefore no defending; its a simple A-B that should help most gamers fall in love with this title.

Like every Inis title made so far, every stage ends with you being rated on how well you've done. You can see how many notes you missed, how many you perfected and the ones you barely managed to get. Depending on your rating you are given some fun little collectibles. It could be a new stage for the multiplayer modes or a figurine for your collection. Nothing too major, but it beats getting nothing.

The graphics are simple, but really shine in the pre-rendered cutscenes where they have an extremely manga-style look that also retains the low-poly look of the in-game characters. Mixed with decent lighting and a perfect compression rate the cutscenes really help the flow of the story. During the battles, however, the graphics take a back seat. The graphics aren't ugly by any standards, they just aren't really required. While you're focusing on hitting notes there is a plethora of things happening in the background, but you're never going to watch them. In fact, most of the time you'll be too busy humming along to the tracks and ensuring you collect another Gitaroo to even notice there are things happening in the background.

The music tracks found in Gitaroo Man are a crazy mix of pretty much every genre. You have blues, reggae, rock, techno and a few others and each of them feels right at home in the Gitaroo universe. The PSP allows every music track and every voiced character to be heard clearly. The voice acting does come off sounding a bit too much like Samurai Pizza Cats but it works. In fact the only real downside the aural section of Gitaroo Man Lives! is that the tracks will be stuck in your head well after you turn off the PSP.

The main story is playable in three different difficulties, and Master Mode is bound to make the average gamer struggle, so if you've beaten the game and don't want to put it down right away it'd be time to look into the multiplayer modes. Sadly, without a game sharing option here you need to know someone that also owns GML! and even then you only have a couple of different play styles to choose from. You have the 2 vs 1 Duet Mode, and the 1 vs 1 Challenge Mode. They both follow the same style outlined above and have only really been added to help distinguish this from the PS2 original. It's highly unlikely the multiplayer option will be used much, if at all.