Guitar Hero World Tour

"A great game, but a few flaws keep it from being all that it could be"

I waited for this game for a long time. I don't remember how long, but it was a long time. So on the day it came out, I went and picked up the guitar kit for $100 (my town was all out of band kits). I already had a GH3 guitar and USB microphone, which work for this game. Was it worth my money? Yes. But there are a few flaws that prevent this game from being all it could be, to be explained later.

Graphics: 7.5/10
The graphics are alright, nothing special, better than that Guitar hero 3. That being said, there's a few things that hurt this score and you should be aware of. First of, the singing font is hard to read and hurts your eyes if you try to read all the lyrics. Second, the bass open notes are hard to see occasionally. You'd think they'd come up with something better than a purple line on a purple fret thingy. Also, the quick play menu screen is awful. The songs are scrunched together and not separated by any sort of section/tier/letter headings. It sounds like nitpicking, but it is kind of annoying. But for the most part the graphics work well enough. There's a few celebrities cameos, and the characters look realistic enough.

Soundtrack: 9/10
86 songs is A LOT, and the DLC will only ensure more awesome songs. Some of my favorites include Crazy Train, Purple Haze and Sweet Home Alabama. There's a little bit of everything for everyone. But with that said, there are a few songs that are flat out boring. The 3 Tool songs are too much, especially to be grouped in one tier. A few songs have large gaps in guitar parts, and I found myself longing for the end of the song. I understand that they had to focus less on guitar parts and more on the other instruments, but there's a few songs that aren't good anywhere. On the whole, the guitar parts are almost as good as those in GH3.

Controls/Instruments 9.5/10
There's nothing wrong here with the instruments, but I think the tilt sensor could be a little more sensitive for star power. The new guitar is a small upgrade over the old GH3 one: It has a touch pad right below the frets, and although there are only a few songs where I find it useful, it's a nice touch and helps on slides (and also makes a cool wah effect on extended notes). The star power button is a little more accessible, and the whammy bar and strum bar are a little longer. I haven't played the drums, but there are a lot of reported problems with drum hits not registering, so buyer beware. Also, I've heard it's hard to activate star power without breaking your note streak on drums, which could be annoying. A quick note: The Wii GH3 and GHA guitars will work, but the RB guitars and drum set won't.

Game Play 9.9/10
It's awesome, just like you'd expect a Guitar Hero. It's mostly unchanged, with a few additions. First off, the bass part has open notes, where you don't hold down any frets. It's nice and makes the bass a little more interesting. The career mode is a little better, but don't expect anything like Band World Tour in Rock Band for 360/PS3. Like I said earlier, the bad font makes singing a little harder, but from what I've heard, it's better on widescreen and HDTV. When playing as a band, you all share one star power meter (and using it only burns 1-2 bulbs each time it's activated), and there's no saving failed band members, which is a little annoying.

Extras 9/10
The song creator is a nice extra, but it could've been better. It's missing line 6 audio, and the effects for the instruments could have been better. For legal reasons, vocals can't be recorded (although they can hum to keyboards sounds). There's also a 3-minute or 1,200-note (whichever comes first) limit on songs. The song creator can be frustrating sometime, but works nonetheless and is pretty easy to pick up and start recording. The ability to share with GHTunes is cool, but don't expect any copyrighted songs to come out. The DLC is also a very nice extra that was missing from Wii GH3 and RB. The songs are usually $2, but there's a few free songs here and there. DLC can be saved to SD cards. It does take up a lot of space to save songs, but loading them really isn't a problem and takes about 5 more seconds than usual. The online has worked well for me when going for 1 on 1 battles, but it's been hard for me to get in with a band. It's nice to be able to create your own rocker and band logo now, even if the creator isn't that detailed. The boss battles are back, but the power-ups are gone (which IMO is no big loss) and now it plays like a Pro Face-off.

Replay Value 10/10
It's Guitar Hero. What do you expect? 86 songs + DLC will keep you occupied for a long time, and there's nothing like playing your favorite songs as a band.

Overall: 8.9/10
It's still an awesome game and a worthy addition to your collection. If 200 bucks (or 100 for the guitar kit) is a lot for you, consider renting the game first. But even with the flaws, It's still a great game and worth the high price tag

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/08

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