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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Music Developer: Neversoft Interactive Publisher: Activision |
from the game play that has worked in the game. The notes still scroll down the screen and living room rock stars still use plastic
guitars and drums and try to sing in tune. Still, the guitar, bass, drums and vocals make up the band, so what makes this new release
in the series any different than previous releases? Actually, there are a lot of new features.
The most noticeable addition to the game is the new Party Play mode. Party Play gets rid of the need for players to log in, choose
instruments and make sure they have selected the right difficulty for their skill level. As soon as players turn on “Guitar Hero 5”the
game starts playing through the music library, like a jukebox. When a song sounds like fun to play, simply picking up an instrument and
pressing a button will start players playing the song. Players can change difficulties, drop in and out, add other players or even skip to
another song.
The Career mode in the game received a makeover as well, so much so that it doesn’t seem like a career anymore. There is no more
money to earn or tours to take part in, instead players will simply work their way through a few lists of songs to unlock new gigs and
other items along the way. There aren’t separate careers for each instrument or difficulty, it is all in one place and is based around
earning stars. To make up for the lack of an actual career, challenges have been set in place for each song.
There are number of competitive multiplayer modes that join the typical Face Off and Pro Face Off modes. Momentum starts everyone
on Medium difficulty and then moves up or down based on how well they play. Do or Die has players get knocked out of the game for a
while if they miss three notes in a section. Of course some work better than others, but in the end having a choice is better than having
none.
The one thing that many players are going to notice right away is that the presentation of the game is a lot better than before. It has
gotten such a huge upgrade that all of the minor tweaks are easy to overlook. One example of this is the fact that if a single band
member fails and drops out, the entire band won’t have to quit. The rest of the band has the opportunity to play well and bring the player
who failed back into the game. Band Moments have also been added to the game, which are small sections of the song that everyone
in the band has to complete to activate a bonus multiplier. Even the Star Power feature has seen an improvement this time around
since everyone now has their own meter. If players fill their meter, the extra will overflow into the meters of the other band members to
give them a boost.
The only real issue that “Guitar Hero 5” has is that the track list is a little bit too broad. It seems as though the goal was to include a
little bit of everything, but all of it does is ensure that nobody will like everything on the disc. However, since the song list is so broad all
players should be able to find something in the game that they will enjoy playing through, but there are just as many that will be easy to
skip.
If players find themselves a little upset with the music selection in the game, there is still a lot of reasons to play through the game.
Other than the large amount of new features, there is also the bonus of being able to import songs from other games in the franchise to
use with all of the new features. A free download allows players to play any downloadable tracks from “Guitar Hero World Tour.” Also,
for a fee of 280 Microsoft Points players can also import some of track list from “Guitar Hero World Tour.” All the songs work in the
Career and competitive modes with all of the new game play features.
There are a few features that sort of sit on the side of the game that various players will appreciate. Along with the being able to
customize characters in the Rock Star Creator, players can now import their Avatars to use in the game. It looks a little odd at first when
an Avatar is on the stage with Guitar Hero characters, but it is fun to see the Avatar being used in the game. There is also the GHStudio,
the mode in the game where players can create their own songs using pre-recorded samples. This second version is a lot better than
its first release in “Guitar Hero World Tour.” The sound samples are better, there are more of them to choose from, songs can be a lot
longer and the whole feature is a lot easier to navigate. Though this is mostly for hardcore music games, anyone who isn’t extremely
dedicated won’t get much out of the studio.
Over the years a lot of Guitar Hero games have been released and there will no doubt be more to come in the following years, possibly
even before the end of the year. For players who are looking for a music game to purchase, this is one to pick up to get a feel for the
genre. With the addition of all the new features, better accessibility and amazing presentation, “Guitar Hero 5” is probably one of the
best games in the franchise.
guitars and drums and try to sing in tune. Still, the guitar, bass, drums and vocals make up the band, so what makes this new release
in the series any different than previous releases? Actually, there are a lot of new features.
The most noticeable addition to the game is the new Party Play mode. Party Play gets rid of the need for players to log in, choose
instruments and make sure they have selected the right difficulty for their skill level. As soon as players turn on “Guitar Hero 5”the
game starts playing through the music library, like a jukebox. When a song sounds like fun to play, simply picking up an instrument and
pressing a button will start players playing the song. Players can change difficulties, drop in and out, add other players or even skip to
another song.
The Career mode in the game received a makeover as well, so much so that it doesn’t seem like a career anymore. There is no more
money to earn or tours to take part in, instead players will simply work their way through a few lists of songs to unlock new gigs and
other items along the way. There aren’t separate careers for each instrument or difficulty, it is all in one place and is based around
earning stars. To make up for the lack of an actual career, challenges have been set in place for each song.
There are number of competitive multiplayer modes that join the typical Face Off and Pro Face Off modes. Momentum starts everyone
on Medium difficulty and then moves up or down based on how well they play. Do or Die has players get knocked out of the game for a
while if they miss three notes in a section. Of course some work better than others, but in the end having a choice is better than having
none.
The one thing that many players are going to notice right away is that the presentation of the game is a lot better than before. It has
gotten such a huge upgrade that all of the minor tweaks are easy to overlook. One example of this is the fact that if a single band
member fails and drops out, the entire band won’t have to quit. The rest of the band has the opportunity to play well and bring the player
who failed back into the game. Band Moments have also been added to the game, which are small sections of the song that everyone
in the band has to complete to activate a bonus multiplier. Even the Star Power feature has seen an improvement this time around
since everyone now has their own meter. If players fill their meter, the extra will overflow into the meters of the other band members to
give them a boost.
The only real issue that “Guitar Hero 5” has is that the track list is a little bit too broad. It seems as though the goal was to include a
little bit of everything, but all of it does is ensure that nobody will like everything on the disc. However, since the song list is so broad all
players should be able to find something in the game that they will enjoy playing through, but there are just as many that will be easy to
skip.
If players find themselves a little upset with the music selection in the game, there is still a lot of reasons to play through the game.
Other than the large amount of new features, there is also the bonus of being able to import songs from other games in the franchise to
use with all of the new features. A free download allows players to play any downloadable tracks from “Guitar Hero World Tour.” Also,
for a fee of 280 Microsoft Points players can also import some of track list from “Guitar Hero World Tour.” All the songs work in the
Career and competitive modes with all of the new game play features.
There are a few features that sort of sit on the side of the game that various players will appreciate. Along with the being able to
customize characters in the Rock Star Creator, players can now import their Avatars to use in the game. It looks a little odd at first when
an Avatar is on the stage with Guitar Hero characters, but it is fun to see the Avatar being used in the game. There is also the GHStudio,
the mode in the game where players can create their own songs using pre-recorded samples. This second version is a lot better than
its first release in “Guitar Hero World Tour.” The sound samples are better, there are more of them to choose from, songs can be a lot
longer and the whole feature is a lot easier to navigate. Though this is mostly for hardcore music games, anyone who isn’t extremely
dedicated won’t get much out of the studio.
Over the years a lot of Guitar Hero games have been released and there will no doubt be more to come in the following years, possibly
even before the end of the year. For players who are looking for a music game to purchase, this is one to pick up to get a feel for the
genre. With the addition of all the new features, better accessibility and amazing presentation, “Guitar Hero 5” is probably one of the
best games in the franchise.
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