Neversoft is also including an all-new “Party Play” gameplay mode; that basically works as a jukebox for your late-night gathering except as soon as your favorite song comes on you can press a single button and the note-bars popup on the screen immediately, no navigating menus or confusing character-selection screens. Also having the option to drop-in/drop-out during all gameplay modes opens up that fun factor and short learning curve that helps Guitar Hero 5 appeal to a more mainstream audience, while still making sure the hardcore guitar fans will be happy. Exclusive to the Xbox 360 version of the rocktacular title is the option for you (and your buddies) to have your Xbox LIVE avatar character represented in game. We loved rocking out on the guitar or singing on the microphone dressed up as a soldier from Gears of War 2 or Halo 3: ODST, even though it’s nothing revolutionary having the option is well worth it for 360 owners. There are a number of other small improvements specifically added into the game for the hardcore guitar players, those who are only interested in getting a super difficult and rewarding music experience.
Guitar Hero 5 will be the first in the franchise to feature forward compatibility of songs from past games. On PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii, some (not all) of the disc-based songs from Guitar Hero World Tour and Smash Hits will be importable, for a fee, to work with Guitar Hero 5 and the upcoming Band Hero. What's more, currently 152 out of the 158 total Guitar Hero World Tour downloadable tracks (DLC) work with Guitar Hero 5. All of the songs we imported from older GH titles (or DLC) were automatically upgraded to work with the new Guitar Hero 5 features, such as band moments and vocal star power. Graphically we noticed a few minor improvements to the lighting and textures but for the most part the game looks very similar to World Tour. That being said there was nothing really wrong with the previous graphics so we didn’t expect many major changes, the freshness comes from the new gameplay features and as far as that goes there are plenty.
For multiplayer buffs Guitar Hero 5 includes the new “Rockfest” mode; this includes multiple mini-games, playable both online and offline. There are a number of contests, including Perfectionist (where you keep playing as long as possible without missing notes), Momentum (where your difficulty changes depending on your performance) and more. It sounds crazy to say but we were so impressed with our time with Guitar Hero 5 that we can honestly say it will be giving The Beatles: Rock Band and DJ Hero a run for it’s money in the “best music game of 2009” category. We didn’t expect nearly as many new features or gameplay upgrades/additions that the developers over at Neversoft included and more then once we found ourselves saying the word “wow” out loud while reviewing the game. Creative gamers will be excited to know that number 5 includes an all-new mixing/recording studio titled GHStudio 2.0 and more extensive character creation system – sure to please even the most intense creators.
There are not enough pages in this review to gloat about how much we enjoyed Guitar Hero 5 and everything it has to offer. This is easily the most-versatile music game to date, doing so much right for so many different gamers. Even though the basic gameplay is the same thing GH fans have come to love over the past 5 years, there are enough new features and little tweaks that we can finally say this is the true franchise sequel we have been waiting for. Guitar Hero 5 is in stores today and should be picked up by all music-loving gamers, now we can’t wait to see what more Neversoft can do with the series in the future – GH5 is the end all be all music game of this generation, guaranteed.
