[PS3/360] Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Review

[AgtFox]

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Review

Title: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Platform: PS3/360/Wii
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision Blizzard
ESRB: T
MSRP: Stand Alone (PS3/360/Wii $59.99), Guitar Pack (PS3/360/Wii, $99.99), Super Bundle (PS3/360/Wii, $179.99)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: Special abilities for each rocker; if you’re into classic rock, hard rock and metal this is your game; Gene Simmons narrating the story (yes, there is a story) as the Rock demi-god is actually pretty good

What's Not: Rush’s 2112 (side 1) is fantastic to play, but the voiceover of the 2112 is too monotone; very little in the way of pop music (arguably Fall Out Boy and Orianthi fit that); if you don’t like the type of music listed above in hot section, steer clear of this game

*Note: This review is based solely upon playing the guitar/bass sections and playing multiplayer online. The PS3 version was sent w/a guitar and I don’t have the other instruments for the PS3, only the 360.

At this point I think the general feeling is that Guitar Hero is no longer what it was when Harmonix left, although I think many consider Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock to be the best game that Neversoft has worked on in the series. I’m here to tell you that I think Neversoft has struck gold again with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. After bringing out successive Guitar Hero games both in the regular series as well as specific band releases and other offshoots (many of which Neversoft did not work on) it was obvious that the series and maybe even the rhythm genre itself was spreading thin. It’s been almost a year since the last Hero game came out and I think that time has been well spent bringing out a quality product once again, one that doesn’t have real-life caricatures of musicians on-screen for instance…a game that goes more towards the root of the series. Sure, there are some real-life voiceovers in the game, but nothing too over-the-top.

There is a story in Warriors of Rock. The game opens with the Rock Demigod taking on the mechanical Beast with a legendary guitar. Their fight ends in a standstill and he slumbers, using this time to guide the characters from the Guitar Hero games into revealing their true warrior form and helping him defeat the Beast. The story is told in narration form by the Demigod himself, voiced by Kiss’ Gene Simmons. He isn’t using his normal “Family Jewels” voice, but more his Kiss “The Demon” voice. He does a good job with narration, not sounding like he is just reading copy like someone other people do in the game.

You then start with two rockers to choose from. You quickly find out that each character has a special ability. For example Johnny Napalm can get multipliers faster and has a high star multiplier if you go into it. Many of the abilities are pretty cool and allow you to increase the number of black suns you can get from the standard five. Once you reach a certain number of black suns, you unleash the rocker’s other form. The nice thing is that in many cases you only have to play a part of their setlist (which is usually catered to the type of rocker they are) or you can play the whole thing if you like. Once you hit the limit the rocker changes physical form, the Demigod does a little talk about this new form and then you play an encore song with an even more powerful special ability.

Once you complete the first couple rockers, others open up. At the midway point you encounter the legendary guitar and in order to gain control of it you have to play through the seven part 2112 by Rush. There are breaks between the parts, but the game doesn’t pull you out to choose the next part, it just starts up with the next track. During the intermissions the members of the band do voiceovers from the liner notes of the album that notes the background story for 2112. For those that don’t know, it is set in the future where a Federation runs everything and the priests hold everyone down. The protagonist happens upon a guitar and starts playing it, finding there is something different coming from it than what the priests have taught them. The protagonist then enlists other people to his side to overtake the Federation and create a more free society. I loved this section of the game, although it was weird that it happens right in the middle. What I didn’t like was the voiceovers by the band. It is like they were reading straight from copy in monotone and there was no feeling behind the words. Maybe that was the intention, but they seriously made me want to take a nap while talking.

With the legendary guitar in hand you then unlock the other four rockers and play through their sections. Then the final battle with the Beast is undertaken where you break up into two teams and take on two sections. There is a bit of strategy involved since on each team you are combining all the abilities on the team into one. The two songs divided between the two teams are Megadeth ones and they are quite difficult even on Medium (where I usually play these games). I can’t even imagine how hard they are at the higher levels. Then at the end all eight of the rockers join together with all their abilities and fight the Beast with a new Megadeth song made specifically for the game. After defeating the Beast you unlock the Demigod and all powers are combined and you can go through all the stages and get 40 black suns on each song. So, there is a long life to this game if you so choose to undertake it.

I thought the Quest section was quite good, but there will be obvious connections made between the story here and the story presented in Tim Schafer’s Brutal Legend. It’s hard to deny that they have a lot in common, but the developer here says that they got their idea from metal album covers much like Schafer did. There are some similarities such as the special guitar/axe, the splitting of teams for strategy, the overall Demigod/Beast story, etc. They are different games, but it is very interesting to wonder if Neversoft took some cues from Double Fine before Activision jettisoned the game.

Outside of this mode, the game is pretty much the same as previous recent releases have been. Quickplay is available from the beginning and the usual online play options are present. You can also create your own music as in previous releases. Since this game is more focused on classic, hard and metal rock there is a definite push towards lead guitar being the primary instrument and most other things taking a backseat. Sure, the other instruments are important, but many of these songs have specific lead guitar solos in them and the rest of the band may feel left out. On the flip side this is really more of a band centric game and geared more towards what made Guitar Hero popular to someone like me: straight guitar heavy rock and roll and little to no pop or casual tracks.

Although there is Rock Band 3 and its keyboard on the horizon, I do think that if you have the money and room in your library that Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a good pickup. Neversoft has fired toward the bow of Harmonix with a heavy rock songlist versus their multi-genre songlist with their upcoming game. Just be sure to hand the lead guitar off between your friends so everyone can enjoy this game.

Score: 4 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, “If you like classic, hard and metal rock along with guitar heavy tracks you should really like this game regardless of you tastes in note tracking, something I’ve never been obsessive over. I can only imagine how hard some of these songs are in the upper difficulties. Neversoft has possibly put together their best GH game yet.”

*Note - Review based upon the PS3 version of game.

[Sandman]

I got it from Gamefly and quickly sent it back....I just played through the songs I wanted and that was all I needed. One thing I can note that is a bit annoying for me, may not be for some...on Bohemian Rhapsody guitar, they have you playing the piano bits and I swear you were playing along with some of the vocal harmonies in the middle. I hate when they do that. Anyway, it's Guitar Hero, your enjoyment of the game will basically depend on how much you like the set list.

[Darkmatter]

Nice review.

I've never been much for remembering song names. Does anyone know the name of the song played in the commercial for this? I've heard it used in a lot of different things this year.

Thanks

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Darkmatter

Nice review.

I've never been much for remembering song names. Does anyone know the name of the song played in the commercial for this? I've heard it used in a lot of different things this year.

Thanks

Haven't seen the ad, but doing a search on Google it sounds like it is Uprising by Muse. And yes it has been used many times in ads lately.

[MosBen]

Ugh, 2112 is an awesome song, but isn't the story some Randian nonsense? I was definitely tempted to pick this up last weekend, but managed to hold myself back until RB3. I do really wish, however, that the whole 2112 album would be released in Rock Band.

[ElektroDragon]

Originally Posted by MosBen

Ugh, 2112 is an awesome song, but isn't the story some Randian nonsense?

Bah! The only reason that Randian objectivism and laissez-faire don't work extremely well are excessive greed and stupidity, both of which are sadly on the rise in society. When you combine excessive greed and stupidity together, you end up with actions that are long term against your own self interest, which violates objectivist theory and so brings the whole house of cards falling down like the collapse of the housing market.

As for Warriors of Rock, my demo of it pointed to more of the same, with a sort of Brutal Legend lite story. I'm sure I'll be picking it up in the $20 range.

[Karak]

Hey thanks very much for the review. I was waiting for you guys to check this out to see if I wanted to try it.

[Spigot]

I might give this a rent (which is more than I can say about any GH game since 3 killed my interest). I found it kind of funny that this seemed to have little to no real buzz about it. It kind of showed up at the stores here out of the blue. I remember when a new GH game would cause the heavens to split asunder!

[Purple Santa]

Thanks for the review. I haven't played a GH game in a while but I think i'm going to check this out with a rental.

[Vandabo]

While I think it's smart for GH to do more of a 'quest' oriented game, it's not what I'm personally interested in. Really all I want is a platform to play my favorite music on. I don't even care about seeing my character on stage, I just need to see the notes and hear the music. So obviously RB is more my speed, but I'm glad that people are still having a good time with GH.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

Bah! The only reason that Randian objectivism and laissez-faire don't work extremely well are excessive greed and stupidity, both of which are sadly on the rise in society. When you combine excessive greed and stupidity together, you end up with actions that are long term against your own self interest, which violates objectivist theory and so brings the whole house of cards falling down like the collapse of the housing .

And the only thing wrong with Stalin's communism was Stalin.