For those who don't know the history of Guitar Hero (all 2 of you), here's the skinny. Back in 1995, two MIT alumni founded a company called Harmonix, which made such genre classics as Amplitude or Karaoke Revolution. In 2005, though, they released their most popular game to date, Guitar Hero. Featuring a plastic guitar that lets players feel like they are rock gods, it went on to be a total smash hit and propelled Harmonix into super-stardom. Many sequels, spin-offs, and even an intellectual property takeover, the "wail on plastic guitars" subgenre of rhythm gaming is still going strong. And in 2006, the first freeware clone, Frets on Fire, was released to fill the void of demand for user-created content.

The first notable thing about Frets on Fire is that the game isn't all shiny and pretty by default. It's not ugly by any stretch of the imagination, just far more simple than what is seen in the commercial games. The interface is utilitarian but effective, and the special effects are very restrained. What lies underneath the surface, however, is a great user-driven experience.

First of all, the gameplay is great. Long before they were seen in the main games, Frets on Fire incorporated hammer-ons and pull-offs for chords and long notes alike, easing much of the challenge in a way that allowed creators to make content much harder than that seen in the main games. Also, there is no failing in Frets on Fire. Instead, much like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, you are rated based on your performance. Unlike the commercial games, though, you can get under 3 stars if you do poorly enough. This failure-friendly gameplay encourage players to simply play through a whole song if they are doing bad, learning it faster and gradually improving. There's also no star power or pitch modulation in Frets on Fire. Also, if you can hook up your guitars to your computer (which you can do with all the varieties of guitars, given the proper equipment), you can use them instead of your keyboard! The best guitars for this are the Rock Band and Guitar Hero 2 guitars for the Xbox 360, thanks to their wired USB connections.

Obviously, the big realm for Frets on Fire that most people will get into is the stellar community content. There are tons of songs for users to play that have been given excellent note tracks, and there are also online leaderboards for every possible song, even downloadable ones. In a sense, the leaderboard system is much like Audiosurf's, only with guitar playing rather than surfing along musical highways. There's also some great mods for the game, which is a byproduct of it being open source. These include things such as new themes as well as a career mode! Much like Battle for Wesnoth, the amount of community content can be staggering at time.

There's not much else to Frets on Fire. It's a freeware Guitar Hero clone that allows players to put in and modify their own tracks as well as contribute to the source or modify the very game itself. It fills this niche very effectively, though, and is improving all the time, thanks to a dedicated community. So give it a try, and rock on! You can download the game for Windows, Linux, or Mac right here on Big Download by visiting the developer's website.

For another look at freeware games, take a peek at Joystiq's Free Game Club weekly feature!