[360/PS3] Guitar Hero 5 Review

[AgtFox]

Guitar Hero 5 Review

Title: Guitar Hero 5http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=12083
Platform: 360/PS3 (also on Wii and PS2)
Developer: Neversoft (http://www.neversoft.com/)
Publisher: Activision (http://www.activision.com)
ESRB: Teen
MSRP: $59.99 (360 (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Stand-Alone-Software-Xbox-360/dp/B0028ZJ4O8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-1)/PS3 (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Stand-Alone-Software-Playstation-3/dp/B0028ZH7EC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-3)/Wii (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Stand-Alone-Software-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B0028ZH7GU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-2)), $39.99 (PS2 (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Stand-Alone-Software-Playstation-2/dp/B0028ZNWNC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-5)), $99.99 (360 (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Bundle-Halen-Offer-Xbox-360/dp/B0029Y05EG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-4)/PS3 (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Bundle-Halen-Offer-Playstation-3/dp/B0029Y058W/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-6)/Wii (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Bundle-Halen-Offer-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B0029Y5INE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-7) Guitar Bundles), $89.99 (PS2 Guitar Bundle (http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Bundle-Halen-Offer-Playstation-2/dp/B002E1QZGQ/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252464007&sr=8-10))
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: Ability to mix up instruments (4 guitar players; 2 guitars/2 drums, etc.) however you want; drop-in/out co-op play through Party mode; full song list available in Party and Quick modes; trying something new with career mode via bonuses

What's Not: Song selection is too varied in genre/known acts; the genre is starting to wear thin; can only bring over part of Smash Hits and World Tour songs…for a feeGuitar Hero 5 is probably the best iteration so far in the ever expanding franchise that is now on its ninth release by my count (Guitar Hero 1-5, 80s, Smash Hits, Aerosmith and Metallica). It opens its arms to fully drop-in/drop out co-op and multiplayer play, allowing you to choose any kind of instrument mash-up you want. This includes you and three friends playing the same instrument or singing the same lyrics if you want, a major step forward for the genre.

Another major step forward is the Party Play option that allows you to just jump into the game. Every time the game starts up, a random song is cued up in the background and you can go straight into that very song at the moment it currently is at and you can bring along your friends as well. They can drop in and drop out of play at any point. The only minus is that scores are not recorded like they are in Quick Play mode. The other nice thing is that in both Party Play and Quick Play the whole soundtrack is open to you so you don’t have to go through Career to unlock every of the 85 songs presented here.

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/gh5/shot1.jpg

There are other major changes with Guitar Hero 5, starting with the graphics. Whereas the previous games in the main numbered series had over the top graphics and venues, this game tones it down quite a bit. The characters look more like regular humans and you can even make your own rocker or import your Avatar on the 360 version. Along with this the singer now lip syncs correctly with the song, although this has brought outrage with Kurt Cobain being in this game and being able to sing all the 85 songs, some of which Nirvana fans and even the surviving bandmates and Kurt’s wife have found. It should be interesting to see if Activision gives into the pressure of locking Kurt out of all but the Nirvana songs as a playable character.

Outside of that you basically have the same game you’ve been playing since Neversoft took over from Harmonix with Guitar Hero III. Note charts are generally uninspired when compared to Harmonix’s charts in the Rock Band games, but I think many people find stuff to like in both franchises. It’s obvious that they tried to get this out before The Beatles: Rock Band, but I would argue this game probably gives you more bang for your buck with its number of songs and ability to play you’re your friends with whatever instrument mash up you wish, although the Beatles game will probably give you nostalgia and over time give you a larger number of songs after all the DLC is out for it.

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/gh5/shot2.jpg

This also brings up one of my major problems with this game, one that may or may not affect you. Although it has 85 songs, they are from a wide range of music types. You have songs from people like Johnny Cash and Stevie Wonder to more heavy bands like Rammstein. To me it just creates a confusing soundtrack and it often gets more confusing in the Career mode you find yourself flipping between the soft and hard songs from decades apart at a venue. It’s great to have so many songs, but many of the songs and artists I have never heard before, which is something I can’t say about the previous iterations of the game. There are certainly standouts though like “The Spirit of Radio” from Rush, a very difficult guitar and drum song, not to mention the high vocals, even on the lower difficulties. Makes me kind of wish if they were to go with another band release after Van Halen (free with purchase of this game, a nice addition) it should be a band like Rush. That would probably be the zenith of difficulty in the series.

Much has also been made about the ability to transfer games from Smash Hits and World Tour. At this time you can only transfer a small number of the songs and it will cost you a transfer fee in order to do so. That’s just stupid if you ask me, but if you want to play the same instrument over multiple people you’ll have to transfer the songs it will allow you to at this point. They have said more will be available in the future, but will there be another fee to add more transfers? Could very well be.

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/gh5/shot3.jpg

Guitar Hero 5 is a difficult game to rate. It has certainly stepped up in its co-op and multiplayer options from previous iterations and made the graphics more realistic, but on the other hand the 85 songs are just too varied and the minimal song transfer options from previous games for the multiplayer stuff is not ideal. The overall genre in and of itself is starting to wane on me as well. I can see how good this game is, but as both Activision and MTV/EA continue to pound us with musical games they start to become less fun except when you have friends readily available to play with you. From a technical standpoint this is probably the best game since Neversoft took over. From a song perspective I think it has lost its way and needs to hone in on genres or license more known songs from known artists because there are some here I’ve never heard of, but maybe you have. Pick it up if you enjoy the genre, like to play in groups (now with the ability to play the same instrument) and enjoy enough of the songs here to justify the purchase price. Outside of that you may want to wait until a new music rhythm game comes out that has a setlist more geared toward your taste.

Score: 4 out of 5 CoGs
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png

Loren says, ”Get it if you like the songlist and like the idea of drop-in/drop-out online gameplay. Skip it if you’ve gotten tired of the genre altogether.”

*Note - Review based upon the 360 version of game

[Cupelix]

I will say that from a drumming point of view, GH5 screwed the pooch with the coloring of the bass pedal notes. I only played a little bit of GH:WT, but weren't the bass pedal notes purple like the open bass notes are? In GH5, the pedal notes are silver/gray... you know, just like the measure lines. This can make it very, very hard to see when the bass notes are when stuff is flying by. An absolutely ridiculous decision to me.

Further, for every good decision it seems that Neversoft makes (party play is pretty cool), they make a corresponding bad design decision. For example, at least on the Wii version of this that I played, in Quickplay every time you were brought back to the song list, you were dumped at the top of the list. Which means that if you had just scrolled through 50% of the list to find a song you like, you have to re-scroll through all that to keep going down the list looking for more songs. It's really annoying.

Sultans of Swing, however, is almost worth the price of admission. Despite that, I'll be sticking to giving my money to the Rock Band franchise.

[TrackZero]

Played this on the weekend. It felt, for lack of a better term, "basic". Nothing new that interested us (we didn't go out of our way looking, mind), the songs were generally boring. We ended up flipping over to Rock Band 2 after about an hour and had more fun. This isn't me trying to troll fans of this title, just what I experienced.

Edit: Of note though, we did comment on how the graphics have gotten far better.

[AgtFox]

Cupilex, you're right about the color, although I don't play a whole lot of drums when playing these games. I don't have a whole lot of room where I usually play my games, so hauling the drum set to and fro can be difficult. It is an odd choice with color, but there must have been some reason they did it (maybe make it blend better?).

[Cupelix]

Cupilex, you're right about the color, although I don't play a whole lot of drums when playing these games. I don't have a whole lot of room where I usually play my games, so hauling the drum set to and fro can be difficult. It is an odd choice with color, but there must have been some reason they did it (maybe make it blend better?).
Blend? I'm not sure what you mean, exactly. Frankly - the last thing you want is notes to blend in to the background! The bright orange on RB makes it impossible to miss when unexpected bass notes are coming. I was just completely baffled by the choice.

On top of that, some of the drum songs actually seem shockingly undercharted. In particular, Bullet with Butterfly wings seems to be missing a lot of the fills that go across all the pads. I don't know if this is because there are only three "toms" and not four? The Rolling Stones song was also painfully thin on drums, I felt like I was hearing a lot more activity than I was getting to play on expert.

I still have other complaints about the GH drum kit as a whole, but they're not related to GH5, so I'll leave them alone.

[Wilkz07]

after playing all the other music games I found this to be fairly easy on hard. I do like that you can use your avatar, the challenges on tracks (still can't get the bronze for whammy sustains). I kinda want to get a GH guitar to use the slide/tap section.

I like this one a lot better than pt3 and world tour. plus using johnny cash as my rocker is great!

[AgtFox]

Blend? I'm not sure what you mean, exactly. Frankly - the last thing you want is notes to blend in to the background! The bright orange on RB makes it impossible to miss when unexpected bass notes are coming. I was just completely baffled by the choice.
Maybe I shouldn't have said "blend better". I think they made the choice to attempt to make it blend. Why they did it I don't know. Basically, I'm just agreeing with you that it is a stupid choice.

[Telefrog]

I haven't played GH5 yet, and I'm not sure if I will. The tracklist just doesn't appeal to me. Everything I've seen about the presentation and the feature changes looks really good, but I just don't want to pay $60 for 30 songs I want plus another few bucks to transfer only some of the songs from previous games.

[Mike Kelehan]

I hated hated hated World Tour, but I'm really enjoying GH5. They fixed the gameplay annoyances from GH4 to make it all in all more like Rock Band, only with All Along the Watchtower and Sultans of Swing. We have been really enjoying figuring out how best to handle the career challenges. Star Power overflow is a great idea that I hope makes it into RB.

[Karak]

If only the song selection were better.
I actually love playing this, but some of the songs ug...just bad. Importing helps some of that but not all of it.

[Mike Kelehan]

If only the song selection were better.
I actually love playing this, but some of the songs ug...just bad. Importing helps some of that but not all of it.

You know, I hear that a lot, but there are quite a few songs here that are really good. Do You Feel Like We Do. Under Pressure. All Along the Watchtower. Brianstorm. Song 2. Sultans of Swing. Steady As She Goes. There are only a few that I actively dislike, and certainly less than GH4.

[Psykoboy2]

Skip it if you’ve gotten tired of the genre altogether.”

I got tired of the genre in between Rock Band and Rock Band 2.

[AgtFox]

I got tired of the genre in between Rock Band and Rock Band 2.
Yeah, it isn't easy reviewing these games anymore honestly. I remember back when I was excited for the next release. Now, not so much. Copy gets sent though so it has to be reviewed.

[Suave Peanut]

Yeah, it isn't easy reviewing these games anymore honestly. I remember back when I was excited for the next release. Now, not so much. Copy gets sent though so it has to be reviewed.
If you ever get sick of it, I know a guy who's still totally into rhythm games! :D

[ElektroDragon]

All I have to say is: market oversaturation.... in a bad economy to boot. Slow down! If they can keep this up, my dream job will be whatever job the people who can still afford to buy all this stuff have. (clearly they're not worried about job security AND must be pretty well off AND they have enough free time to play it all)

I'm still trying to play catchup with GH III, Rock Band 1 and 2, and GH: Metallica and Aerosmith. I already have enough music games to last me a lifetime! I can't even justify buying RB Beatles, even though I bought the box set remasters.

It used to be I would buy most decent games at full price, but my backlog is so high, unless its an "OMG must play it now" title, it waits for the $20 or less bin. I don't see how the industry is still surviving except off the lavishly rich with time to kill, or off very new console buyers... especially when you factor the expanding glut of the used games market.

[Mike Kelehan]

All I have to say is: market oversaturation.... in a bad economy to boot. Slow down! If they can keep this up, my dream job will be whatever job the people who can still afford to buy all this stuff have. (clearly they're not worried about job security AND must be pretty well off AND they have enough free time to play it all)

I'm still trying to play catchup with GH III, Rock Band 1 and 2, and GH: Metallica and Aerosmith. I already have enough music games to last me a lifetime! I can't even justify buying RB Beatles, even though I bought the box set remasters.

It used to be I would buy most decent games at full price, but my backlog is so high, unless its an "OMG must play it now" title, it waits for the $20 or less bin. I don't see how the industry is still surviving except off the lavishly rich with time to kill, or off very new console buyers... especially when you factor the expanding glut of the used games market.
I was going to wait for it to hit $20, but Toys R Us was giving out $30 gift cards with the guitar bundle... plus free Van Halen. $70 for two games and a new (and quite nice) guitar was too good to pass up.

[Camel]

GH5 (360) is currently on sale for $29.97 at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0028ZJ4O8/). I am more of a Rock Band man myself, but that is a pretty sweet deal.

[Narradisall]

I'm not bored of it!

Only because I've never owned a single one of them and only play them very very rarely at friends houses.

There are plenty of games developers really need to give a nice lenghty break too. Guitar hero type games are one of them.

[mightbe]

The guitar plus game is 88$ this week at target and with their ad, you can price match it at best buy, etc if they're out of it.

This guitar is quite possibly the best one every released and almost perfect.

[Mike Kelehan]

The guitar plus game is 88$ this week at target and with their ad, you can price match it at best buy, etc if they're out of it.

This guitar is quite possibly the best one every released and almost perfect.

There's no "quite possibly" about it. It's simply the best there is. It may look like the GH4 guitar, but it's got a GH3-style clicky (yet quiet!) strumbar, instead of the GH4/RB style mushy mess.

[mightbe]

The tap pad is a hot mess and they should feel bad for that mechanic. Also, I still prefer Rock Band style frets as they're easy to slide between.

[Mike Kelehan]

The tap pad is a hot mess and they should feel bad for that mechanic. Also, I still prefer Rock Band style frets as they're easy to slide between.

The tap pad is useless. Pretend it's not there.

The frets are really a matter of personal preference. I prefer the GH ones; they're easy to slide, but it's still very clear which ones you're on. The notch on the yellow fret is much easier to feel than the microscopic bumps on the RB frets.