One of the problems with games like Guitar Hero for families is the "T" rating for lyrics. For Christian families or fans of Christian rock music, Digital Praise's Guitar Praise offers a family-friendly alternative for both Mac OS X and Windows.

Guitar Praise is a fun game if you like Guitar Hero. Besides the lack of story modes and downloadable content, the gameplay is nearly identical. You strum the notes, pick your songs, and try to make the high score, unlocking more songs as you go. A plus to Guitar Praise is that your first version comes with a wireless guitar so you can rock out halfway across the room once you get the songs memorized. (I actually do know some people that good.) Unfortunately, you still have to buy your second guitar, which you do with any other game like that, so I wouldn’t really count that as a minus. The lyrics show up on-screen, but none of them are inappropriate, so you don’t need to worry about that. And if you still don’t want the lyrics on because you’re worried that the words might be offensive (e.g. child’s party, etc.), then you can go in the settings and turn the lyrics off.

We found the guitar controller to be sturdier than the Rock Band and Guitar Hero controllers, and a ridge on the third fret button makes it easier to figure out where your fingers need to be.

Digital Praise tech support says you must be logged into an admin account to save profiles (you have to be logged in as admin to install). This runs contrary to the philosophy of the game itself, though. The great thing about this game is that parents can allow their kids to play it without having to make sure all songs are appropriate, but in order to do so, you have to log in as admin, disabling parental controls, and allowing them to go online without filters. We've found a workaround that adds a few extra steps, but it eliminates this problem:
1. Log into your admin account, and install Guitar Praise from the included CD.
2. Launch the game, go to "Band Members," and create a profile.
3. Quit the game, and go to the Finder.
4. On the root level of your hard drive, find the Users folder, then in there, the Shared folder. Open that, and find the Digital Praise folder.
5. Single-click the Digital Praise folder, and choose File: Get Info. In the resulting window, scroll to the bottom, and reveal the "Sharing and Permissions" section. If you don't see a list below it, select the triangle on the left so it points down.
6. Click the lock, and enter your password. Click the + button, and select the names of all other users on the computer (shift-click for more than one).
7. Click Select. Then for each username, change "Read Only" to "Read & Write".
8. Click on the gear-shaped button next to the +/- buttons, and choose "Apply to enclosed folders." It will give you a "can't be undone" dialog, so just give it permission.
9. Close the Info window, and you're all set. Switch to your child's profile, launch the game, choose "Band Members," and create a new profile or use the existing one.
It sounds complicated, and it shouldn't be necessary, but once finished, you shouldn't have to worry again.

Except for that one obvious flaw in the game, this is a lot of fun as long as you enjoy Guitar Hero. This one’s even (somewhat) portable...if you have a laptop. Either way, this game is an easy way to play a Guitar Hero-like game if someone’s busy with the TV! :^)

I recommend it for anyone age 10 and up or anyone used to playing Guitar Hero-style games. Parents looking for an guitar game that their kids can play without monitoring lyrics will love it.