Guitar Hero 5

It’s testament to a game’s quality when our preconceived notions that what we’re about to experience is little more than a cynical cash-in is gradually melted away like a summer snowman. Guitar Hero V is just such a game. By all accounts we should be looking at a lazy product. How much does a game really need to try when it has the words ‘Guitar Hero’ in its title? Perhaps thanks to Rock Band, very hard indeed. And so Neversoft squares off against Harmonix once again, fists raised, Queensberry rules, and looking very much the champ.

There’s a whole host of familiar arguments when it comes to reviewing a band game. Many theorise that a game’s quality is entirely down to its track list. We’d say that to some small extent this is true, but if you’re trying to establish a game’s quality purely based on how much you like the songs, your opinion is likely to be so subjective as to be absolutely no use to anyone besides yourself. For example, we adore much of the track list in this instance, but happen to think that any song by Blink-182 is worse than global genocide. Whether or not we factor in our hate for that band – and bands of its ilk – into our overall feelings about the game and hence the score would depend largely on our level of stupidity.

All you really need to know is that the track list is huge – 85 songs in all on the disc – and that the vast majority are a joy to play, partly because they are well-chosen and partly because the art of note-mapping has measurably moved on since World Tour and perhaps even just a little since Metallica.

The game’s greatest offerings over and above what has gone before (ie what could feasibly be perceived as justification for both its cost and its right to occupy its own box) are, first of all, presentation. Despite using the series’ familiar characters, the game’s overall level of visual fidelity has been ramped up to the Nth degree. No longer is Guitar Hero Rock Band’s ugly relative; if anything the game surpasses even the visual splendour of Beatles: Rock Band, although before you take that comment too literally, we are referring only to the quality of the graphics themselves, not the game’s overall style. In that contest, Beatles strolls into first place.

The game’s increased visual clarity really does make it more satisfying to play, however, as does its attempt to put an end to the inevitable arguments that erupt when your ‘band’ consists of two singers and two lead guitarists. Perhaps because everyone hates playing bass, Guitar Hero V allows players to form a band in any combination of players, from the reasonable-sounding duet of singers plus guitar and drums to the altogether ludicrous four-player bass-off.

All of the features from World Tour are back, but we can’t help but feel that this is the game that World Tour could have and should have been. Music Studio and GHTunes are back only more refined and with far superior editing tools. Greater rewards are on offer for band play. The list of both minor and major improvements goes on.