"The underlying formula and a handful of good songs still provide some bright moments, but Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock feels all too obligatory to be very exciting."
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
The sixth core entry in Activision's Guitar Hero series represents the last entry developed by Neversoft.
Overview
Released in late 2010, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock continues the series' full-band experience. Due to poor sales of their rhythm games in 2009, which included the releases of Band Hero (Game), DJ Hero, and Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Activision (Company) stated that it would be releasing fewer rhythm games in 2010, headlined by Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock andDJ Hero 2 (Game). The game was designed to "take the series back to its roots" in an effort to streamline the game and avoid some of the controversy that surrounded previous iterations. For instance, no likenesses of actual musicians was used due to the two lawsuits from the band No Doubt, and the late Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love. Character only include player-created rockers and the stable of fictional Guitar Hero musicians from previous games. Additionally, the songs chosen for the game focus more on traditional rock and roll and heavy metal, rather than the arguably unfocused setlists of some previous Guitar Hero games. There is also only one real-world venue in the game, the now-defunct CBGB in New York.
New Features
The basic formula of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock did not change drastically from earlier iterations of the franchise, but included several new features:
- Bass Open Note Sustains: Guitar Hero: World Tour introduced open bass notes - notes that only require a strum while not holding any fret buttons to play. The sustained notes in Warriors of Rock work in the same way that the open notes did, but require the player to tap the strum bar (or slider neck) until the open sustain finishes.
- Time Bar: A new part of the HUD which tells the player how far they are into the song and when they have reached the half way point. This allows for increased strategy when deploying Star Power.
- Facebook/Twitter Intergration: This is a feature that
is becoming common in games today and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock joins the fold by letting players post their scores and in-game achievements either via tweets (for example "*name* rocked “Bohemian Rhapsody” on Expert Guitar in Quickplay Score: 283,638 #GHWOR") or Facebook wall posts.
Quest Mode
The main career mode of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is called "Quest Mode." This is a story-based mode, narrated by the Demigod of Rock played by KISS frontman and bassist Gene Simmons (Person), where players complete songs to earn stars. The maximum amount of stars that can be earned on a single song is 5 (depending on how well you do on the song, 3 more stars can be earned - 1 for hitting 100% of the songs notes and 2 more for getting a very high score). Earning enough stars unlocks special alter-egos of Guitar Hero's stable of fictional characters. These alter-egos have special properties that affect gameplay in some way. For example, completing challenges as Lars Ümlaüt unlocks a pig-like character called "Warrior Lars" whose score multiplier can go up to 6x, rather than the standard 4x. Halfway though the quest the player encounters the Demigod's Guitar, where they play through all 20 minutes and 33 seconds of Rush's "2112". The song is broken up into seven sections by narration from the band members of Rush (Rush have said that 2112 was chosen because the songs lyrics describe the situation of the Warriors/player finding the cave in which the guitar is bound in stone). This part of the quest also has 4 different venues modeled after the world that is described in 2112.
The Official Setlist
In Quest mode the setlist is split & grouped into songs of similar genres and each group of songs relates to a specific character in the game. For example, most of the punk songs relate to Johnny Napalm. Each group of songs has up to 6 main songs and one "Transformation"/Encore song where the character that belongs to that group transforms into their Warrior alter-ego. There are in total 93 songs included on disc, all are master tracks. As of August 17th 2010 all of the 93 on disc tracks have been grouped as follows.
' 'Warrior Johnny (Power = Speed Freak/2x Minimum Multiply) Johnny Napalm, Genre: Punk The Buzzcocks – “What Do I Get?” Twisted Sister – “We're Not Gonna Take It” The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb” The Offspring – “Self Esteem” Sum 41 – “Motivation” Bad Brains – “Re-Ignition (Live)” Soundgarden – “Black Rain” Transformation/Encore: The Ramones – “Theme From Spiderman” Echo Tesla (Character), Genre: Industrial
Warrior Echo (Power = Star Power Generator)
Linkin Park – “Bleed It Out” The Hives – “Tick Tick Boom” The Vines – “Get Free” Bush – “Machinehead” Band of Skulls – “I Know What I Am” Flyleaf – “Again” Phoenix – “Lasso” Interpol – “Slow Hands” Nine Inch Nails – “Wish” Transformation/Encore: Muse – "Uprising" Echo's setlist is a mixture of punk/garage rock & industrial
' 'Warrior Judy (Power = Crowd Pleaser) Judy Nails (Character), Genre: Alternative Rock/Emo Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody” The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army” The Cure – “Fascination Street” R.E.M. – “Losing My Religion” Blind Melon – "Tones of Home" Foo Fighters – “No Way Back” Third Eye Blind – “Graduate” Stone Temple Pilots – “Interstate Love Song” Nickelback – “How You Remind Me” Transformation/Encore: Jane's Addiction – “Been Caught Stealing”
' 'Warrior Austin (Power = 4x Star Power) Austin Tejas (Character), Genre: Country Red Rider – “Lunatic Fringe” Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Fortunate Son” Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Listen To Her Heart” The Rolling Stones – “Stray Cat Blues” Blue Öyster Cult – “Burnin' For You” Edgar Winter – “Free Ride” Aerosmith – “Cryin'” Dire Straits – “Money For Nothing” Neil Young – “Rockin' In The Free World Transformation/Encore: Black Sabbath – “Children Of The Grave” This is the point in the quest where you can expect to encounter the legendary guitar that belongs to The Demigod of Rock. This is where the player will play "2112". 2112 by Rush, Genre: Prog Rock Pt. 1 – Overture Pt. 2 - The Temples Of Syrinx Pt. 3 – Discovery Pt. 4 – Presentation Pt. 5 - Oracle: The Dream Pt. 6 – Soliloquy Pt. 7 - Grand Finale
' 'Warrior Pandora (Power = Star Power Nova/X6 Star Power) Pandora (Character), Genre: Gothic Rock/Gothic Metal Orianthi – “Suffocated” My Chemical Romance – “I'm Not Okay (I Promise)” Silversun Pickups – “There's No Secrets This Year” Fall Out Boy – “Dance, Dance” RX Bandits – “It's Only Another Parsec...” A Perfect Circle – “The Outsider” Rise Against – “Savior” Transformation/Encore: Drowning Pool – “Bodies”
' 'Warrior Lars (Power = 6x Multiplier Extender) Lars Ümlaüt, Genre: Black/Death Metal Rammstein – “Waidmanns Heil” Pantera – “I'm Broken” AFI – “Dancing Through Sunday” Five Finger Death Punch – “Hard To See” Dethklok – “Bloodlines” Atreyu – “Ravenous” Slipknot – “Psychosocial” Alter Bridge – “Ties That Bind” Strung Out – “Calling” Transformation/Encore: Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne – “Paranoid (Live)”
' 'Warrior Casy (Power = Notestreak Protector) Casey Lynch, Genre: Classic Rock KISS – “Love Gun” Alice Cooper – “No More Mr. Nice Guy” ZZ Top – “Sharp Dressed Man (Live)” Them Crooked Vultures – “Scumbag Blues” Foreigner – “Feels Like The First Time” Jethro Tull – “Aqualung” George Thorogood and The Destroyers – “Move It On Over (Live)” Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Call Me The Breeze (Live)” Transformation/Encore: Styx – “Renegade”
' 'Warrior Axel (Power = Save Fail Outs) Axel Steel (Character), Genre: Metal & Hard Rock Def Leppard – “Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)” Queensrÿche – “Jet City Woman” Slash featuring Ian Astbury – “Ghost” Poison – “Unskinny Bop” Tesla – “Modern Day Cowboy” Night Ranger – “(You Can Still) Rock In America” Deep Purple – “Burn” Anthrax – “Indians” Transformation/Encore: Avenged Sevenfold – “Bat Country” The Battle Against The Beast Megadeth –“Holy Wars... The Punishment Due”, “This Day We Fight!”, “Sudden Death”
At this point the quest is nearing its end and the player must defeat the beast by combining the 8 warriors into 2 different bands (combining the power of 4 warrior per band in and configuration they choose). Those 2 bands must play though two of the three Megadeth songs in the game before rescuing the Demigod of Rock who they then take control of and must finish off the beast by playing though the final Megadeth song, “Sudden Death”, using all 8 powers from all 8 warriors. After the player defeats the beast they will unlock Domination quest mode (this is the same mode as the quest mode but this time players have all 8 powers at their disposal, on any song they choose) a secret final tier. The Demigod Of Rock, Genre: Death/Heavy/Speed Metal & Speed Rock The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants” Steve Vai – “Speeding” (Vault Version) John 5 Featuring Jim Root – “Black Widow Of La Porte” Dragonforce – “Fury of the Storm” Arch Enemy – “Nemesis” Snot - "Deadfall" Children of Bodom – “If You Want Peace... Prepare For War” Slayer - "Chemical Warfare" Megadeth –“Holy Wars... The Punishment Due”, “This Day We Fight!”, “Sudden Death” These songs are the hardest songs in the game (fans of Guitar hero have also said they are among the hardest in the series history).
Quickplay Plus
Quickplay Plus is an improved version of the classic Quickplay mode, it allows players to quickly choose songs from Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, as well as any DLC & imports that they have acquired. It also incorporates the challenge feature from Guitar Hero 5 (Game)'s career mode, every song (and any song the player owns through ether imports or DLC) and song challenges not found in quest mode. Each challenge features three possible completion levels - Gold, Platinum, and Diamond - Diamond being the hardest (and most of the time requires the player to play on expert). The types of challenge differ for each song and instrument. The development team also stated that they are looking into integrating Kinect functionality into the game, though they didn't have any details about their plans.
Returning Modes
The online competitive modes, like Momentum, Streakers, and Do or Die, return and work in the same way they did in Guitar Hero 5.
The New Guitar
Warriors of Rock features yet another new guitar, with new a few new features to go along with it. The most notable difference is that the guitar controller features detachable wings on the side of the body, which allow the player to customize the look of the guitar to their personal taste. While Activision has not confirmed that they will not release new guitar designs, they did hint that it could be a long time before a redesign is released. Also, all electronics now reside within the guitar's neck, as opposed to being in the controller's body, which should free up space within the guitar itself, or allow for much more customization of the body itself.
Pre-order Bonuses
Gamestop Pre-order Bonus Guitar
The Gamestop Pre-order Bonus Guitar
Gamestop was offering an exclusive guitar to those who pre-order Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock through them. The guitar features a battle axe-inspired design.
US Exclusive: Soundgarden - Telephantasm Album Giveaway
The first one million US pre-orders of the game included the Soundgarden album Telephantasm: A Retrospective free of charge included with the game.
Downloadable Content & Imports
All past DLC (as well as imports) work with Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock. Additional DLC released for the game is as follows.
Telephantasm by Soundgarden (Released: 28th September)
Full Album Pack/all songs in this pack are by Soundgarden) Price: 1620 MSP/ $12.99 on PSN/3000 Wii Points
- “Hunted Down”
- “Hands All Over"
- “Outshined”
- “Rusty Cage”
- “Birth Ritual”
- “Black Hole Sun”
- “Spoonman”
- “My Wave”
- “Fell on Black Days”
- “Burden in My Hand”
- “Blow Up the Outside World”
Rocktober Track Pack
This pack was free for Gold Xbox Live members from Oct 18th but was be normally priced after promotion.
- Disturbed – “The Infection”
- Muse -”Resistance”
- My Chemical Romance – “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)”
Linkin Park 6 song pack
Price(960 MSP:/ $11.99 / 1200 Wii Points):
- “Blackout” (160 MSP / 200 Wii Points / $1.99)
- “Burning In The Skies” (160 MSP / 200 Wii Points / $1.99)
- “The Catalyst” (160 MSP / 200 Wii Points / $1.99)
- “The Messenger” (160 MSP / 200 Wii Points / $1.99)
- “Waiting For The End” (160 MSP / 200 Wii Points / $1.99)
- “Wretches And Kings” (160 MSP / 200 Wii Points / $1.99)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Track Pack (Released October 26th)
- “Hot Patootie”
- “Sweet Transvestite”
- “Time Warp”
Avatar Awards
The Xbox 360 version of the game features the following avatar awards.
- Guitar Hero Shirt - Play one song in Quest or Quickplay
- Legendary Guitar - Regain the Legendary Guitar
- Demigod Helmet - Free the Demigod of Rock
- Soundgarden Shirt - Play 'Black Rain' in CBGB's in Quest.
- Johnny Jacket - Earn 1500 Stars in Quickplay.
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- Name
- Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
- Release Date
- September 28, 2010
- Platform
- Xbox 360 (Platform)
PlayStation 3 (Platform)
Wii (Platform) - Developer
- Publisher
- Genre
- Music/Rhythm (Genre)
- Franchise
- Activision Hero (Franchise), Guitar Hero (Franchise)
- Aliases
- GH6
Guitar Hero 6
GHWoR