Hot for Hero
Guitar Hero has long been a popular franchise here in the UK and after Rock Bands disappointing launch in the UK I wasnt sure if adding the whole band to the equation was necessarily the best idea but it seems to have paid off.
The first thing that I looked at with a game costing £150 is the thing that makes up the price which is the periferals. The quality is good. The microphone works perfectly, the guitar is similar to the guitar hero 3 guitar but bigger and the addition of the touch strip is unnessesary addition but great for masters of the game to use. Now the biggest and most interesting periferal is the drums bigger pads than rock band and the addition of raised symbols is brilliant and really makes you feel like a drummer. They will however, occasionally not register which can be frustrating when your doing really well.
The setlist in the game is good it has a wide variety of genres and most importantly it has Hendrix which lets face it everyone wants to play on guitar. The only issue is some songs go on for way too long and you just want to end also sometimes i think neversoft get confused as to the difference between good and hard. Either way no one will be dissapointed by the songs.
The game has several modes career for both solo and band allowing you to play through all 80 songs in gigs of about 5 songs each. This is the best way to find your way through songs and also build up your skill. This also allows you to create your own character which is ridiculous its pretty much as detailed as the one in Fallout 3 allowing you to adjust jam lines and everything. A good thing though is allowing you to customis instruments meaning you unlock new parts as well as clothing throughout the career. Theres also a quickplay and various multiplayer modes which work as well as you would want however it can be a bit tricky to set up a band online as i found myself having to turn of the console to switch instruments due to syncing issues.
Guitar Hero also offers a unique recording studio which is a brilliant addition in theory. The only issue is its complexity I have spend a long time on this part of the game and have always ended up quiting without saving because my results were pointless. However I have downloaded a couple of good tracks other people have made and im sure many people will fight through the difficulties to have some fun here.
So thats guitar hero and its a great game with lots of fun to be had especially at parties. However, for me a game like this is dependent on future content and GH:WT is yet to really get going with this stuff which stops it from reaching its full potential but will leave every rhythm game fan feeling very happy.
