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Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:43 pm EDT
17 Game Reviews

Written By: Dominic Hickman
D&W Reviews Editor-In-Chief

Another Guitar Hero game

The Guitar Hero series has been a very strange rollercoaster since the beginning. When it all started, it was RedOctane and Harmonix's next step in a line of music games, such as Amplitude. In short, the original Guitar Hero was an attempt to make a "GuitarFreaks-esque" game that appealed to American audiences. The game was successful, and was soon followed by arguably the best game in the series, Guitar Hero 2. The second installment made the game more popular, and to no surprise, Guitar Hero 3 shortly followed.

However, the fun faded with Guitar Hero 3. They game had a ridiculous difficulty curb, a bland soundtrack and over charted songs with blind ambition. In the end, Guitar Hero 3 was a solid entry into the series, but lacks anything new or exciting. Next in the series was Guitar Hero: World Tour. This is where the numbering system starts to get messy – due to the fact that the game already had a number of spin-offs. Notice the lack of the number four in the title? Technically, there is no Guitar Hero 4, but World Tour is most commonly referred to as 4 just because... well mostly just because. Many spinoffs later, we have arrived at Guitar Hero 5, and here is where the true review begins.

Graphics

Guitar Hero 5 has sharpened its graphics drastically when compared to its predecessors. Models look the prettiest they ever have, and sets (backgrounds and charts) are all systematic. However, graphically the game refuses to lose its ridiculous art style. In the character creation mode, you are basically given the choice of either big and bulky or small and skinny. Guitar Hero 5's character models essentially look unreal and over-caricatured. One could argue that this is just the games style; however the game takes itself so painstakingly serious in every other department, that the art style simply seems underdeveloped.

Gameplay

Guitar Hero games are all about gameplay, and in that respect, Guitar Hero 5 is no different. The greatest feature to the game (which is the only new feature in Guitar Hero 5) would be Party Play mode; where a song autoplays until someone decides to jump in, which can be at any point in time during the song. Party Play mode also allows anyone to play any instrument on any difficulty. It's actually nice, having songs run in the background while you're away doing something and then being able to jump seamlessly back into a song without encountering any menus or breaks. Party Play mode is by far one of the best aspects of Guitar Hero 5.

The guitar remains the best instrument to play, as its core mechanics have remained the same (except for the inclusion of the tapping sessions). Notes may not need to be hit as they appear, (more a fault then a plus), but it keeps the game fluid and more based around fun then realism. The guitar falters however; especially if you're using a regular Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitar without a slider. This is due to the fact that when the game decides you need a slider, you NEED a slider. Tom Petty's classic American Girl is damn near impossible without it, as are a few other songs.

The drums are still essentially hitting pads with drumsticks. As a drummer myself, the experience is very similar to real drumming, but with the fun factor significantly watered down. Rock Band's drums feel like real drums. In contrast, as a direct result of Guitar Hero's less strict note hitting policy, it makes drumming seem more like flailing than actual drumming. Overall however, the drums remain fun to play and offer a fair amount of challenge.

Singing is singing. There is not too much more to elaborate about. Except that the bass, is by far my second favorite part of Guitar Hero 5. Somehow, whether it’s the bass notes when no button is pressed down or just the exceptional charting, they have made the bass a seemingly fun instrument. In most music-based games, the bass feels more like the guitarist without a real guitar. Guitar Hero 5 changes it up and makes singing a truly unique experience.

As far as all four players playing the same instrument goes, the addition feels more forced and gimmicky than a well thought out elemental concept. I suppose at a party this feature could come in use, but honestly I can't even remember the last party I was at, that someone offered to break out the ole Guitar Hero.

Music

As of World Tour, there hadn't been a GH sound track I liked since Guitar Hero 2. Guitar Hero 5 changed that. GH5 offers a great selection of tunes; all of which, aren’t based around one genre and actually reach pretty far into my indie rock tastes, with bands no one has heard of but me and other hardcore indie fans. As far as a music game goes, I don't have much to say about the music selection other then the track list is actually very balanced in this game.

Overall

Overall, Guitar Hero 5 feels a bit like overkill. It’s fun, yes, but at the end of the day it’s just another tack on a long-winded series. (VERY long winded - this release is the second in the past month from the folks behind GH). But people will buy it; I bought it, whether there is a real incentive to or not. In the end, I felt that the incentive may be here, but like a rock star whose career is going downhill, it’s rapidly losing what made it great in the first place.

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