Gitaroo Man Lives! for the Sony PSP isn't an entirely brand new game, but rather a celebration of the original with some extra content thrown in. Players take control of a kid named U-1, who's going through some hardships in his life. He wants to one day become a skateboard master and often dreams of a beautiful schoolgirl named Pico, but little does he realize that destiny is about to smack him right in the face. As an invading race of Gravillians swarm across the planet of Gitaroo, U-1 discovers from his dog (yes, his dog) that he is in fact a Gitaroo Man, a soldier who defends the planet at all costs. The only difference is that Gitaroos don't use guns -- they use the power of rock and roll.

Gitaroo Man Lives! isn't an action game, but rather a music/rhythm game that uses action fragments to get its point across. Gitaroo faces off against many obscure opponents, including an annoying devilish ego, reggae droids, an Elvis-like bee man with a trumpet, musical robots, and many, many more. To spoil some of the surprises here would be unfitting; they need to be seen to be believed. Koei included all of the stages from the original PS2 version as well as two brand new ones for Duel Mode that fit right in.

The stages are divided into three different sections -- Charge, Guard, and Attack. Charge and Attack play similarly, with players following an on-screen cursor and pressing buttons when prompted. Charge allows Gitaroo to build up energy within his mighty axe/guitar, and Attack lets him bust it out on the enemy in question. The Guard portion of the game is defensive; the enemy will attack with button icons flying towards the cursor in the center of the screen. Your job is to press these buttons at the perfect time or take critical damage. It sounds easy, but later stages become epic battles, especially a guitar-jamming finale that will even make Headbangers Ball fans break out in a cold sweat.

The gameplay rocks, figuratively and literally. Players use the analog stick to direct the cursor in the Charge and Attack stages, and the controls work extremely well. The challenge level ramps up very quickly, but those who aren't familiar with the gameplay from the PS2 version needn't worry; a helpful tutorial mode explains every aspect of the game.