Skeptics have been proven wrong as the Guitar Hero franchise has become more than a gimmick or trend within the industry, and has turned peripheral gaming into an awesomely accessible phenomenon. Guitar Hero hasn’t lost any steam since its inception and the series fifth installment is definitely hitting the right note in terms of progression. But should you jump on this Crazy Train and become engulfed in the madness that is Guitar Hero?
With the integration of drums, bass and vocals, developers created a smash hit with Guitar Hero: World Tour. Nothing has changed here, as GH5 recreates the magic of rock by using the tried-and-tested winning gameplay formula. Aspiring rock stars still have to nail the right notes at the right time in the right sequence, while vocals require right key, melody and timing to score big. You’re probably asking what’s new with Guitar Hero 5? Rightfully so, as Guitar Hero 5 has some new tricks up its leather-laden sleeve.
First of all, GH5 boasts 85 brand new songs to the series ranging from Blink 182 and AFI, to Johnny Cash and Bon Jovi, and that’s not even counting the unlockables. The song list is nothing short of awesome and you get the new school punk and alternative tracks to rock-out to, as well as some old school tracks to mix it up and provide some tricky solos and catchy melodies. Short song histories are even given, as well as customizable speed and gameplay options for all the songs.
Career Mode has been overhauled in a sense. There’s no money to be earned or unlockables to be purchased. Players simply rock their way through the giant setlist, unlocking new venues, costumes and songs, while focusing on achieving stars in accordance to their performance. The more stars you get, the more you progress. This enables a greater sense of ease and unhampered gameplay, and that is what Guitar Hero is exactly all about.
A new Party Play mode features the ability for players to simply pick-up and play: which results in dealing with as little menus as possible: an instant gratification of sorts. GH5 randomizes the playlist, allowing for a song to always be playing when in menus. One button allows players to instantly jump into the current playing song and jam away with friends or by themselves (what a lonely party that would be).
What makes multiplayer even more appealing, is the ability to now have any combination of instruments playing simultaneously. You can have a four-way shred-fest with quadruple guitars, duel vocalists, or a triple-drum off. This helps tremendously as you don’t need a full band ensemble to have a good time with GH5.
Key features, which made their debut in Guitar Hero: World Tour, return with more improvements as GH Tunes gives players the opportunity to jump online and download additional songs or track packs as they please. There’s everything from Thin Lizzy to Slipknot, to user and community created songs, whereby the possibilities are endless (much like a Metallica solo).
GH Mix 2.0 allows for some great song creation options, which range from changing the style, tempo or backing music from a whole bunch of presets or your own composition. The ability to also change the scale, pitch, notes and sound of your instruments allows players to compose their own unique rock tracks.
At the end of the day, Guitar Hero is all about having fun, especially with friends and Guitar Hero 5 once again caters for this. Drop-in/drop-out co-op allows multiple players to join in at any time, selecting their instrument and difficulty without even stopping the song. This is ideal as your bloody finger inducing solos will never be interrupted again. There are also some new multiplayer modes are available, such as Momentum, which increases song difficulty as players progress through the track.
GH is never about the animations and graphics, but in GH5 they worth mentioning. A more realistic and gritty presentation has been used, and the animations are injecting some new life into the already highly impressive visuals. To top it off players can now use their Xbox 360 avatars as their Guitar Hero.
GH fans have been dying to get their hands on some new tracks and features from the series, and that’s exactly what GH5 has delivered, but bigger, badder and more brutal than ever. Guitar Hero 5 manages to recreate its easy-to-learn, hard-to-master winning formula, as well as bring a slew of new features, but particularly in the functionality and convenience department, and that is exactly what makes Guitar Hero so accessible for all types of gamers. GH5 does not give love a bad name.
[starreviewmulti id=2 tpl=20]
