The Guitar Hero franchise is really starting to get on my nerves, as I said in my Beatles: Rock Band review, Activision are milking the music game genre and the, seemingly never ending, slew of music-based rhythm games keep appearing on the shelves.

Activision’s latest Guitar Hero is Guitar Hero 5, I went in expecting something similar to World Tour or Smash Hits and, you know what, I came away pleasantly surprised, or should that be shocked?

Since acquiring the franchise from Harmonix in 2007, Neversoft have never seemed to ‘find their feet’ when it came to making Guitar Hero. World Tour seemed like a lackluster effort to take on Rock Band and Smash Hits isn’t really worth mentioning. However, with Guitar Hero: Metallica Neversoft finally seemed to grasp the concept of making a good music game and they’ve carried that on here.

Don’t get me wrong, Guitar Hero 5 does exactly the same things as previous games in the series did, it just does them better. For starters, the visual style has been changed dramatically. Gone are the puppet-esque character models of old, replaced by better looking, more realistic models. This change is certainly a welcome one and, in my opinion, Guitar Hero 5 has Rock Band beat in terms of visual style. However, despite the character models looking great, the environments just look uninspired and really generic. Thankfully, this doesn’t really intrude when you’re playing through the tracks, but it certainly doesn’t help.

One of the biggest problems I have with Guitar Hero 5 is the tracklist. This being a music game, it’s certainly a problem. Having played through the entire career I noticed that a number of the tracks can already be found in Rock Band, either on disc or as downloadable content. Sure, there are a few tracks that can’t be found anywhere else (yet). Things like Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’ and Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring Of Fire’ being two of my favorites. I just thought that, Activision should have gone out of their way a little more to get more tracks that Harmonix didn’t have and they failed there. Another thing I think is worth a mention about the tracks is the mix of genres available. Personally, I think a more diverse amount of genres is great. However, this might not be the case for some and having hip-hop, R&B and country music artists might be a turn off to some.

The feature set is as big as it has been in past games. There’s a good amount of online modes, however not all of them are too good. The career mode is good, but hasn’t really changed. I think those used to the Rock Band style of career mode (like myself) will find the linearity a little annoying. I also found that I had a better time playing this game solo, I don’t know what it is but Guitar Hero, even now, doesn’t feel like a cohesive multiplayer experience in the same way Rock Band does.

The music creator is back and better than ever. Users now have more tools at their disposal to make tracks and the created song library is larger than ever as people have more upload slots than in World Tour. This is a great feature, although it’s pretty complicated and I can see many avoiding this mode.

Overall, Guitar Hero 5 is a good game, but that’s all it is. Fans of Guitar Hero will probably really like it, but the needlessly linear career and lack of songs I haven’t played in previous games are a real turn off for me. It’s still a good music game, but if you want a great multiplayer experience, I think Rock Band is the way to go. That said, Neversoft have proven themselves with this one and i look forward to the 11 Guitar Hero games to be released next year.

8.3/10

Secondary Comments – Chris Malley

Unlike Anthony, I am a Guitar Hero fan and, having read what he has had to say, I couldn’t agree less. To a certain extent anyway.

I think the tracklist is really good. I think the addition of genres outside of the various subsections of ‘Rock’ has really helped the series grow and help open up the game to more people than before. However, the lack of ‘new’ tracks is a bit of a concern, hopefully one that’s remedied by the amount of great songs included here.

The visual style is great, I was getting sick and tired of the Thunderbirds-esque puppets prancing around on my screen and Neversoft have heeded my call. The new art style is slick and has allowed the developer to put their own stamp on the series. The addition of more famous rockers is good too. Although, the Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash characters might be in bad taste, especially if they’re not singing their songs.

The amount of features included here is great, although it’s the career mode that keeps me coming back (well, that and DLC). As Anthony said, the career mode is a linear experience and it is starting to get a little old. After playing The Beatles: Rock Band I can see how a linear career/campaign mode should be done and Neversoft have really failed to raise the bar.

Overall, I still think this is the best Guitar Hero to date (besides Metallica) and is a good step forward for the series. With all the music games coming out this year Activision/Neversoft should’ve taken more risks to try and take on Harmonix. They’ve not done that, but they’ve made a damn fine music game that’s for sure.

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