Guitar Hero World Tour

"Still great as Guitar Hero, but not very good as Rock Band."

I know that I'm immediately going to be branded a heretic by those who haven't yet played the game or by those who are particular fans of the franchise, and I'm also sure that there are some fervently loyal GH supporters who will no doubt love some of the things that I don't care for. That's totally cool. I'm trying to be pretty objective writing this, so if you wouldn't mind viewing this through that same lens of objectivity, that'd rock [sic].

*Hardware.*

I really love the drum kit. I had no issues with mine apart from the initial connection snafu that everyone too eager to look at the instructions that clearly indicate what you have to do to make it work seems to have experienced. Oh, enthusiasm, why have you made such fools of all of us? I did also have a slight issue with the cymbal – in my zeal to play, I didn't push in the connector far enough. The sticks are cheap, but they do the job, and a nice, new set would be an easy and worthwhile investment for anyone so inclined. The only thing that is a bit of a bother is that the kick drum pedal doesn't like to stay planted, though I definitely appreciate the pedal feel/action – it's considerably more positive, for lack of a better word, than the Rock Band counterpart.

I will say that I have grown accustomed to using a Rock Band guitar, and making the transition to a Guitar Hero controller did require a period of adjustment. I really like the volume knob setup: It's not only the PS3 button, but a D-pad as well. I have concerns for its longevity, and I wonder if it will be resilient enough to endure some of the relatively late-night, alcohol-inspired sessions that will no doubt face it in the future. The slider that everyone seems to be talking about seems to be a less-than-ideal execution of an interesting idea. Perhaps that's something that will grow on me as I get used to it (or actually start to use it effectively), but I never really used the high frets on the RB guitar either – maybe I'm not the target market. I'm sure that the virtuosos out there will quickly form into two schools: The old school who think that it's a trendy little bobble and the new school who embrace the addition and find themselves lost without it. Having played so much recently with a RB controller, I really have to admit that I miss the either brilliantly or fortunately placed screw on the back of the RB guitar's neck: With it, I could tell by my thumb's placement exactly where my hand was – I think that's a little more convenient than the small tab on the GH guitar. Also, though I'm sure I'll quickly learn them, it's rather difficult to tell which button on the bridge is the Start button and which is Select, but that's a very minor gripe. I really want to like this guitar more than the RB version, though I can neither say why nor if it will end up becoming the primary axe [sic].

I haven't really compared the specs on the mics, but I can't say that I found the GHWT piece to be significantly better or different than the RB one. I would have preferred a different means of activating one's Star Power, but I guess thwacking it works well enough (though a bit difficult to pull off if you're playing another instrument and using a stand).


*Character Creation.*

First of all, I think the method of entering information – particularly text – is severely flawed: Instead of using the X button as confirm and then advancing to the next character, X actually is the ‘Done' or ‘End' button, and one is forced to use the Square to enter a character and advance. I felt that a lot of the customization screens suffered from the same clunky user interface, and modifying anything became a chore. Further, I think that the creators became too involved in the minutia – yes, you can change an absolutely expansive array of things, even down to the strings on your guitar, but everything has an innate level of ‘sameness' that doesn't seem to ever go away. I know that statement sounded completely contradictory, but I think if you play around with it for a while, you'll see what I mean – it actually reminds me a lot of some of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater customization: Lots of things can be changed, but it still ends up looking a lot like it did before.

A good example of that is the character creation section. Even though you can change a slew of character attributes on the X, Y, and Z axes (used as the plural of axis, not intended to convey more than one wood-chopping implement or electric guitar – you know, for those of you who slept through geometry class), the mouths and eyes still end up looking very similar. Additionally, changing body types just sort of bloats the original model instead of altering the model in a relatively realistic fashion, and attempting to make one's cheeks look less concave results in a chubby character face (with concave cheeks). Ultimately, I felt like it took entirely too long to create an unsatisfactory result, and that got pretty frustrating (especially when we had multiple people in the room who wanted to create characters). The aforementioned flawed UI came into play there, and it was decided that one person should be the wheel-man in the creation of the characters, taking input from the other people. Even though some minor communication issues resulted, they were far easier than trying to teach a new person that they had to relearn the buttons as contextual choices changed. Doing so, however, caused a spontaneous confession on the part of the wheel-man that he had little desire to ever create a character in GHWT again.

*Gameplay.*

On solo mode, it's exactly what you'd expect: It's Guitar Hero. On band mode, though, it's still exactly what you'd expect: It's Guitar Hero. But that's a problem. It's a problem because the level of interactivity that one has come to expect from Rock Band is noticeably absent. If a band-mate fails, it's over, and that's particularly frustrating when one's trying to teach new players the game (especially since the abysmally dull ‘Beginner' mode resulted in their interest in playing evaporating half-way through Nirvana's “About a Girl”). I didn't find the feedback nearly as good or as clear as that of Rock Band, particularly when singing, and I'd really like to have the ability to turn the backing vocals way down or off all-together (though I may have missed that option somewhere – and no, I don't consider turning the mic volume UP the same thing). Also, the ability of band members to steal Star Power from each other can become particularly annoying – it's almost like when your less-adept buddy would take one of your lives in Contra after he'd burned through all of his own – but sometimes, you need them to. And that brings us back to the band-mate-failing issue again: Usually, if a person is about to fail out, it's because he or she is already struggling, and sometimes, because he or she is new to the game. Trying to explain to a new player who's already trying his or her hardest to figure out what's going on that he or she has to hit both cymbals at the same time, or smack the mic, or tilt the guitar into the air, assuring him or her that you've got ‘Star Power' for him or her to do it – well, let's just say that it more frequently results in mass confusion and the failure of a song (not to mention him or her thinking that you've gone more or less totally mad). Also, I think the graphic representation of the different instruments and how all of them are fairing is handled much better on Rock Band, and I found it a little difficult to tell at a glance whom was having a hard time and when in a group jam session of GHWT. Not only that, but more than once, it was asked of the iconography ‘What's up with the scissors?'. Umm… Actually, those are drumsticks. I assure you.


*Overall.*

It's still great as Guitar Hero, but it's not very good as Rock Band: The co-op mode lacks the function and polish of the competing franchise, but the solo modes are still rock [sic] solid. I'm glad I picked it up, but much more for the instruments than for the game itself.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/08

Game Release: Guitar Hero World Tour (US, 10/26/08)