The Guitar Hero game franchise has literally changed the way this industry looks at music titles, and their potential impact on the market. Over the last four years the development team behind each and every Guitar Hero game have helped mold the genre for different types of players. Whether their favorite music is country/western or rock or heavy metal there is something for all to enjoy, working on that premise Activision has announced the latest game in the series: Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. Simply put the developer has taken the “fan favorite” songs from each and every previous GH title and put them together in one ultimate package. There are plenty of new features and selling points that helped our time with Smash Hits feel original, even if the music was not.
Most people reading this, who have played through the previous Guitar Hero games will be asking what possible reasons would there be to re-purchase songs that they have already experienced. The easy answer to that is that now all those classic songs have been redone to take advantage of the Guitar Hero: World Tour “complete band” style gameplay. There are undoubtedly a couple of those classic GH1 or GH2 songs that would be even better with drums, or vocals. Thanks to Smash Hits, coming out in June of this year, those dreams will be easily attainable. Besides this obvious upgrade there is just something special about taking the “best of the best” and having one complete game disc, with all those great songs just waiting to be replayed.
The four GH titles that are contributing music to Smash Hits are: Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and Guitar Hero Encore: Rockin the 80s. Considering the latest of these came out almost two years ago Activision is banking on the fact that it’s been a while since anyone has played anything off of the track lists. During our time with the preview build it was easy to see how standardized the game is, these developers know how to create Guitar Hero titles and they do it with a great amount of polish. Smash Hits takes a lot of creative and gameplay cues from the most recent Guitar Hero game, World Tour. All of the features and game modes that fans loved in GHWT are back and will keep players busy for hours. Activision is looking to make a quick buck on the recent expansion of the Guitar Hero series (with World Tour) but with Smash Hits we really felt like they are bringing something new and unique to the table, helping ease our worries about the reused set-list.
Smash Hits will include 48 total songs (from previous GH games) out of the box and of course you can add an unlimited number of downloadable tunes through the Guitar Hero content store on Xbox LIVE. One of the coolest features of Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is the gig locations, taking place in multiple “wonders of the world”. The preview build we played featured an Amazon Rainforest, Grand Canyon, and Polar Ice Caps, but we are told that the final game will include plenty more; very cool. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits has a scheduled release date of June 16, 2009 and is shaping up to be worth every penny of the purchase price. Stay tuned for a full review and more coverage on the game as the release nears.
