The latest installment of the Guitar Hero series has finally arrived, and this time it has brought the entire band. Music games have become increasingly more popular over the years since the first Guitar Hero game and now more companies are trying to cash in on the genre. After the release of Rock Band from Harmonix in late 2007, Neversoft and Red Octane found themselves with some serious competition. No longer was it just about the simulation of playing your favorite songs with a plastic guitar, but now you could join your friends in a full fledged music assault using guitar, bass, a microphone, and a drum kit. The Guitar Hero team did just what they needed to and decided to answer back with Guitar Hero: World Tour. However, Harmonix has also followed up with Rock Band 2. While Guitar Hero: World Tour is the best of the GH series; it does have a few problems that keep it from being the best music game on the market.
Before we begin, let me first declare that the Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 instruments work interchangeably with each game. World Tour even accommodates the Rock Band drum's four pads as opposed to five by eliminating the orange note from the chart. The new guitar for World Tour is (in my opinion) the best you can own, but not as large of a step forward from the Les Paul as you may think. The strum bar still makes a loud "click" and the fret buttons seem completely unchanged. The new additions to the guitar include a new body, a large select/star power button for easy reach, a d-pad in the shape of a guitar knob, and a touch-sensitive strip pad on the neck just below the fret buttons. The new touch pad is a nice addition, but a little over hyped. You can use the touch pad to create a streaming effect during sustained notes, tap it in alternative to strumming, and slide it on special solo parts in a song. The special sliding solos can at times be more trouble than they are worth and it will take some practice with the guitar before you are able to lay down the goods on the strip pad. Overall, the guitar is very comfortable and certainly the best alternative to the Rock Band Stratocaster. If you have played Rock Band, then you should know what to expect from GHWT's microphone as it almost exactly the same, including being wired. It really does not matter which microphone you use as long as you just have one. I see no difference in either microphone.
Despite still being called "Guitar" Hero, World Tour still brings the drums and at first glance it appears the game brings them well. The drums include three pads and two cymbals for a total of five notes you will have to play on the music chart. The drums are quite comfortable and sturdy, but not as quiet as I originally believed. After playing on them through a dozen or more songs, I decided that GHWT's drums are second to the second generation of Rock Band drums. The rubber cymbals will begin leaving small rubber shavings after taking big hits and are placed just close enough to the other pads that you will often hit the bottom of them on the way back up from one of the pads. This was incredibly frustrating to me. It would seem that the best way to be successful on this drum kit is to monitor the way you play, which is just not fun to me. I am sticking with Rock Band 2 when it comes to the drums aspect of music games.
The game itself has some nice improvements and additions, but also takes a few steps backward from previous editions. The new career mode allows you to play alone with a single instrument or with up to four friends and all four instruments. Yes, a bass career is finally included. If you choose to play solo, you will find that each instrument career has different set lists attached to various gigs. Each gig ends with an encore track and the difficulty of the tracks increase as you complete more gigs. It is similar to the previous games, but I felt was improved. Completing the gigs as a full band is fun, but can be boring when playing tracks you don’t particularly care for. If you do not have anyone at home to play with, World Tour offers the ability to join or host a band career via Xbox Live. Aside from Career Mode is the usual Quick Play Mode and Multiplayer Head to Head, as well as Xbox Live play where you can choose one versus one games like face-off and pro face-off on each instrument, Band vs. Band play, Band quick play, and Guitar Co-op.
Similar to Rock Band and Rock Band 2, World Tour also allows you to create and customize your own rocker avatars in the Rock Star Creator mode. The physical customization options for your character are a lot broader than the Rock Band games, and will allow you to tweak your head and face to your desire. While those options are more advanced, I felt that options such as hairstyles, facial hair, and clothing were much more limited than Rock Band 1 and 2. Still, Rock Star Creator is a welcome addition and can always be improved for further installments. By far the biggest new mode in Guitar Hero World Tour is the new Music Studio, which allows the creation and sharing of your own songs. This mode is incredibly advanced and intricate, as well as confusing and difficult to use. After following some of the tutorials, I got a better grasp on how to use the tools. While I do feel that this mode could have been made less complicated, a good amount of time spent will get you in the groove. There are many effects for every instrument except the bass, and this is one thing that really breaks the mode. While some users will go on to create some fun and playable jams, the majority of people are going to find the mode worthless when they discover that nothing they make will sound better than a cell phone ring tone or MIDI song. Despite all the effects layered in from Line 6, there just is not enough to really make something worthwhile. I am not saying you will not be able to create something that you will enjoy playing, I am just saying it will not be as good as you want it to be and it will take you a few hours to create it well. You are also unable to record vocals to protect copyright issues. I definitely hope the Music Studio is not scrapped in the next game, as a few improvements could really make it an epic addition to the game.
If you have ever played a Guitar Hero game, then you will feel right at home with the game play because it is completely unchanged. To me this is a good thing, because I have always enjoyed the frets and note charts most in the GH games. All the same mechanics are used with the exception of the new special solo sections which can be played normally, or using the new touch-sensitive strip pad on the new guitar. The set list of World Tour is compromised completely of master tracks, but contain quite a few that you will not care to go back and play after the first performance. Strangely enough, there are even quite a few tracks that also appear in Rock Band 2. While I do find Guitar Hero more fun to play, Rock Band is really laying the smack down with their song selection. If you love the Guitar Hero games and want to get in on the full band game experience, World Tour can do little wrong. Still, the game is losing out because of the weaker set list, less efficient drum set, and little downloadable content. If you think this is the game for you, my advice would be to purchase the game and guitar bundle and then acquire the Rock Band 2 drums. Any compatible microphone is fine. Guitar Hero's best hope right now is to try again next year and keep delivering on downloadable content.
