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On January 25th, 2024, Harmonix released its final DLC for Rock Band . Three songs were released, but the last one typically listed is Rusted Root's "Send Me On My Way." It is a song that is surprisingly upbeat in tempo, almost optimistic in its melody, despite being about loss and sad goodbyes. It is fitting in a way that "Send Me On My Way" would be the final ever song released for Rock Band , some sixteen years…
Like a bolt from the blue, Guitar Hero had one last encore. After Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock ended the five year run of multiple Guitar Hero, Band Hero, and DJ Hero games, Activision put the entire series on ice due to low returns and oversaturation. This, combined with the late 2000's recession, led to a massive downturn for the series. One game, allegedly being made by Vicarious Visions, who worked on the On…
Post 2010, rhythm games were in heavy decline. Activision had already closed down their entire Guitar Hero division, after a whirlwind of releases culminating in low sales for their final entries; Warriors of Rock and DJ Hero 2 . Harmonix, for its part, kept things steady by releasing Rock Band 3 , and continuing support after MTV Games was shut down in 2011. Within five years, the entire ecosystem had effectively…
The two-year release gap between Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3 is fascinating, as it showcases two different environments where rhythm games existed. The first was at the height of its power, the pinnacle of rhythm-based gaming through full band gameplay, challenging setlists and songlists, and a robust library of songs that allowed for tons of possibilities. Rock Band 2 was a game released at the right place, at the…
DJ Hero 2 is a sequel that should not exist. The solid critical praise of the first DJ Hero was begat with only lukewarm sales, and the rapid collapse of the rhythm game genre and Activision's strategy of flooding the market was a contributing factor to this. Considering DJ Hero 2 was released a year after the first game, and considering the slow crawl of releases for 2010, it's honestly a miracle it even came out.…
The difference five years can make is astounding when you think about it. A game like Guitar Hero went from a surprise success to a colossal franchise, ballooning one of the most niche genres with massive appeal. In that five years, a total of fourteen games would carry the Guitar Hero name, with three more lifting the 'Hero' moniker for themselves. Seventeen games. Five years. One series. It is no wonder that the…
By the time 2010 rolls around, the rhythm games market is close to implosion. The glut of Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles had pretty much sucked up a lot of energy from players, and despite some unique directions and interesting ideas, the core gameplay was beginning to get stale for some. Reviewers at the time were becoming increasingly vocal about the simulation of rhythm games being just that; a simulation, with…
Green Day: Rock Band was the final band-centric rhythm game to come out in the hay days of the rhythm game genre, and it is a curious entry to say the least. Unlike the more monolithic bands such as Aerosmith, Metallica, Van Halen and especially The Beatles, Green Day was a popular, but fairly unconventional act that had carved out an alternative-punk niche for themselves. Their massive explosion in popularity after…
After a full gauntlet of Guitar Hero games in one year, Activision closes out 2009 with one more, surprise launch with Guitar Hero: Van Halen . Though surprise should be a misnomer; though the game would be released right before Christmas of 2009, it was originally shipped to players as a pre-order bonus for those who purchased Guitar Hero 5 . This is a curious move for sure. Maybe someone at Activision realized the…
In the midst of all of the Guitar Hero games, you often forget that Rock Band is also quietly building its strength on the other side of things. Rock Band did not release a mainline game in 2009, and unlike Guitar Hero releasing seven different titles, Rock Band contended with only five. Admittingly, two of them are iOS mobile games, while the previous two, Rock Band Unplugged and The Beatles: Rock Band , were…
Band Hero is a game that shouldn't exist. If there was ever an actual marking point of the downfall of a franchise, Band Hero is probably the nadir of the series, the moment everything broke in a way that is irrevocable. Neversoft, in their ever ending quest to try to innovate and spearhead the Guitar Hero series, drops the ball hard with a game that really is a grave miscalculation. Band Hero is, as you figured by…
Former CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, once said in an interview that DJ Hero was a major contributor to the decline of the rhythm games market in the late 2000s, and the massive decline of Guitar Hero . He cites the fact that resources that would go to Guitar Hero games went to DJ Hero instead, which he called a passion project that few wanted to ultimately play. Of all the rhythm games that came out at the end of…
The 2009 stretch of Guitar Hero releases is kind of insane when you look at it with hindsight. Earlier in the year you had Guitar Hero:Metallica and Smash Hits released on mainline consoles, with the DS getting On Tour: Modern Hits . That is three games in one series, in one year. The somewhat ironic thing, however, was that Guitar Hero was not done with releases, as Activision would release one rhythm game in the '…
It is an understatement to say that the licensing of popular rock bands was ultimately instrumental to the success of rhythm games in the late 2000's. Guitar Hero and Rock Band went from cover records to master tracks in the span of three years, and found ways to court major artists like Aerosmith, AC/DC, even Michael Jackson, into their games. There was one band though, that was conspicuously absent from all of…
A game like Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is hard to review, because it is a game that by all accounts, shouldn't exist as it does. The third of seven games in the Hero franchise, Smash Hits was the major console release that came out a week after Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits for the handhelds. It is perhaps the most unique Guitar Hero side game ever made, and is often cited as one of the reasons for the downfall of…
While Rock Band Unplugged was getting a release on the PSP, Guitar Hero was gracing the Nintendo DS once again with the third, and final, game in the On Tour series. Developer Vicarious Visions wanted to pull out all the stops for the third game in their handheld trilogy, with perfected gameplay and even developing a new visual style for the game to make it stand out from the same-ness that was the previous two…
Guitar Hero was not the only rhythm game to release on handhelds. Rock Band , which was riding high with the release of Rock Band 2 , was already gearing up for a busy release window. MTV Games was looking to push Harmonix a bit further with multiple releases in 2009, while their publishing partner Electronic Arts was looking to diversify the Rock Band portfolio. In total, Harmonix would be involved in three game…
In 2009, Guitar Hero was a multi-million dollar franchise. But under Activision, the franchise really kicked into overdrive. With four releases in 2008, Activision sought to try and corner the market in rhythm games in 2009, mostly as a deterrent to their now biggest rival, MTV Games Rock Band . Activision originally saw Guitar Hero (or the Hero series) as a part of their pillar strategy; tent-pole games with…
Less than a month after the release of Guitar Hero: World Tour , another handheld Guitar Hero closed out 2008. The fourth game of Guitar Hero was released in one year, and the second game for the Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, would be a continuation of the now parallel On Tour series, and the second of three games in that series released in less than a year. This was partly by design, at least.…
By 2008, the gaming space was swept into the rhythm game fervor. Once a niche genre that was mostly relegated to arcades and very niche console titles, it was now a mainstream success that was penetrating everything outside the gaming industry. It would not be uncommon to see Rock Band or Guitar Hero in a bar, taking the place of Karaoke machines as folks play plastic instruments while intoxicated. It felt like the…
The year 2008 was arguably the height of popularity for rhythm games, with the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band knocking it out of the park constantly, showcasing the power of rhythm games going mainstream. It is also when it became clear that the two games would wholly dominate the rhythm gaming market, though there were always challengers for the title. Two games in particular made strides and received enough…
When Guitar Hero: Aerosmith came out, publisher Activision announced one more game was on the horizon for the franchise before we got the release of Guitar Hero: World Tour ; in this case, a handheld version for the Nintendo DS titled Guitar Hero: On Tour . Some don't consider the handheld Guitar Hero games as part of the mainstream canon, with it at best serving as a spin-off that many have forgotten; it is one…
It would be easy to write off Rock Band 2 as an obligatory upgrade to the original game, which is missing the forest for the trees. Rhythm games had become a mainstream genre in video games by 2008, and with four rhythm games released that year, it was clear that the genre was both popular and lucrative for publishers. Activision had two bites at it with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: World Tour , and…
During the development of Guitar Hero 3 , Neversoft hoped to include a song by the legendary rock band Aerosmith. They chose the song "Same Old Song and Dance" and created a cover version. Aerosmith was, at the time, one of the bands the team thought they could not get a license from. Allegedly, the recording quality was poor, which led to Neversoft personally contacting Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry. Perry not only…
By the end of 2007, the rhythm gaming market had changed. The fast success of Guitar Hero in two years not only made it a monolith in the rhythm space, but as early as 2006, developer Harmonix was already thinking about the next innovation. The fast success of Guitar Hero strapped a rocket to developer Harmonix in 2005, giving them some cachet to explore the idea of a drum peripheral. While working on Guitar Hero 2…
By 2007, Activision was already prepping for the fourth release of Guitar Hero in three years. The PS2 exclusive Guitar Hero Encore: Rock's the 80's was, if anything, barely a setback for the franchise's momentum, which was shifting into new gears. The loss of Harmonix through MTV was a setback, but for Activision and Red Octane, it would turn to another studio to helm the Guitar Hero series going forward. That…
If Guitar Hero 2 propelled the franchise into the mainstream, the question for the franchise was how to continue with its success. Guitar Hero 3 was always inevitable, but with Activision now in charge of Red Octane, there was a mandate to transform the franchise into one of their pillar titles for yearly release. Activision, even to this day, focuses on a 'pillar strategy', where franchises are given yearly…
In the mid 2000's, Guitar Hero was a surprise success for the PlayStation 2. It was one of those games that almost everyone in the world plays, and to this day it is interesting to look back and see why the lightning struck twice. A lot of people enjoy rock and roll, sure, but it may be the combination of the party-like arcade-style gameplay with the guitar peripheral that really cemented the appeal. Even the…
Remember how we all collectively lost our minds over Guitar Hero ? Guitar Hero comes from a long list of rhythm games that span from titles like Amplitude and Dance, Dance Revolution , but regardless of the genre, Guitar Hero is easily in a class of its own, not necessarily due to innovative gameplay, but rather due to being at the right time with the right pairing. When the first game in the series launched on the…
The Persona series has become a mainstay in modern RPG circles. One of several spin-offs for the long-running and beloved Shin Megami Tensei series, Persona has taken on a life of its own since the more mainstream popularity of Persona 4 hit the US in 2008. Before that, it was always a critical darling and a cult game series, but it really was the right place, right time for Persona to take its spot in the…
Read the full review Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin
The recent release of Star Fox for the Nintendo Switch 2 is certainly a welcome surprise from Nintendo. The fan-favorite franchise featuring classic anthropomorphic space opera writ large looks great in high-fidelity visuals, and it is a treat to see fans old and new experiencing Star Fox in all its glory. It is good to see it get some love from both fans and Nintendo, despite some misgivings upon its release. There…
There is an infamous puzzle in point-and-click adventure game circles called the cat hair mustache puzzle, where the player must find a way to use a stolen passport, cat hair, and syrup to create a fake mustache to steal a motorcycle rental. The puzzle is critically panned and reviled for its absurdity, the peak of moon logic that, hyperbolically, symbolized the death of the adventure game. That is not being snide…
Read the full review Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
First-person shooters and survival horror games typically don’t mix too well, though that has not stopped attempts to make it happen. Take weird experiments like Resident Evil Survivor and Dead Aim, strange and kind of janky experiences that are now just retro games that were poorly executed. Survival horror games with a lot of gun-toting elements can work, as seen with Resident Evil 4 , but they often lose the…
When I talked about Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers , I mentioned that the series would be a microcosm of the point-and-click adventure game genre, all being released in the 1990s. Between the release of Sins of the Fathers in 1993 and the game's second entry, The Beast Within in 1995, a lot had changed in the PC gaming space. Adventure games were still relatively popular, but were slowly becoming anachronistic…
Read the full review The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery
Battle Fantasia, developed by Arc System Works, is a strange beast. At first glance, it looks like an obscure RPG that would fit the mold during the PlayStation 2 era. Instead, you have a versus fighting game that is fairly traditional in its gameplay flow. With influences from fantasy and some steampunk elements, it makes for a unique enough experience when a younger me decided to take a gamble to trying it out for…
Adventure games are often seen as old hat nowadays. You know, that slow-paced, point-and-click relic from the PC space that was a fairly dominant force coming from studios like Sierra and LucasArts. Many game series from this time have become memorable classics, such as Escape from Monkey Island , Phantasmagoria , Grim Fandango , and Myst , being lauded as some of the best made. It was also a genre that suffered…
When first booting up Dragon’s Dogma , the title screen opens to a lovely, slow, steady piano motif playing in the background. The motif has a somber mood at first, before picking up a few seconds in, with a fuller score. But after a minute, the piano is replaced with electric guitar, and that same motif serves as the base of a catchy J-rock song that could be found at the front of most anime shows. The change was…
Everywhere we look, there are games hyped as the next big franchise. We see it constantly, as sequels and requels, remasters and remakes are gracing our screens more often than not now. Some of them are going down the full-blown remaster trend, while others continue to chug along with new ideas intermixing with the old standbys. In a way, looking back at unique titles is more fun through this lens, because we get to…
The words “genre defining” are usually reserved for the most revered classics in the gaming industry. As with any entertainment industry, like movies and music, certain greats have redefined how we perceive specific things, like the great camera techniques in Citizen Kane to the blockbuster potential in Jaws . Video games, over their fifty years of commercial existence, have numerous games that have defined genres:…
Some games are just a struggle to get through, making the whole experience unpleasant. You would think that, as a critic, the bad games would be more fun to deal with; after all, writing about them allows us to ravage a bad game with 1800 or so words. That savage rebuke against something wholly not worth your time, because it barely respected yours, is often cathartic post-playing a game. This time though, it's a…
The twilight years of the PlayStation Portable were a strange time. After a fairly explosive start that saw a minor challenge to the monolith that is the Nintendo DS in the handheld market, by the late 2000s things were slowing down, and by 2011, it was mostly niche titles that populated the tail-end of a console life cycle as Sony was gearing up for the PlayStation Vita. It is always a treat to revisit that time,…
Survival Horror games have run the gamut of heroes and heroines. From tough-as-nails Special Forces to the more interesting John Everyman. If there is a survival horror game out there, chances are some character archetype is in it, and that flexibility of character dynamics is a strength of the genre, allowing for tons of unique experiences that can resonate with the right audiences. It really takes something…
Red Dead Redemption 2 is probably one of the best-written games ever made. It is the culmination of Rockstar's structured narrative beats combined with an intricate, well-constructed world that makes you want to linger with these characters well beyond the credits rolling. The story of Arthur Morgan is arguably one of the best revisionist westerns ever made, and rightfully makes it one of the most acclaimed games of…
It's a shame we don't see too many beat-em-up games anymore. Ever since the runaway success of games such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game , Castle Crashers, and a slew of other digital download titles, a large contingent of classic, side-scrolling action titles have come and gone. Left in the wild where only the strong will survive, perhaps the problem becomes one of quantity over quality, with so many…
The 1990's were a peak time for horror games, thanks in part to the renaissance that began with Resident Evil. Through that, many developers threw their horror hats into the ring, with some trying to challenge Capcom with survival horror experiences that are as varied in their approach as they are in their quality of gameplay. The horror games that stand out the most can also vary for everyone, but if there was one…
HOWARD: Good evening, couch potatoes, and welcome to the latest arena of death match. It is a long time coming from the MadWorld that was the Varragin City Deathwatch games, but I can guarantee the bread and circuses haven’t stopped as we watch several insane gladiators duke it out until their innards are strewn all over the arena floors! I am Howard “Buckshot” Holmes, and as always, I am with my partner in crime,…
Picture in your mind a dark corridor with dreadful shadows cast all around you. A flickering torch is your only light source as you and your companions trudge along cautiously, searching the chipped cobblestones for a secret lever, door, or trap hole. The whole room is cramped, the sheen of dust along the dungeon floor is thick and choking, and in the distance you hear the rumblings of something sinister in the…
It is hard nowadays to really just sit down and be a weekend gamer; punching through a title in a little over 12 hours and enjoying the faults and the fancy as they come to you. Everyone sort of praises games for their length and depth of mechanics, for crisp graphics, complex narratives, and more, mostly because it is now expected from any bit-budgeted title that comes out. Sometimes, though, we just need to turn…
