Guitar Hero World Tour (Xbox 360) Review

Posted by Chad Alan on 03.08.2009

Let's see how Guitar Hero's attempt at a full band game pans out. Delve further to get my take on it.



Title: Guitar Hero: World Tour
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Neversoft
Genre: Music
Players: 1-4, Co-Op 2-4, Online Multiplayer 2-8, Online Co-Op 2-4
Rated: T for Teen
Also available on: Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2

Ladies and Gentlemen, you wanted the best, well you got some guys that love to air guitar, bang on the table, and sing in the shower. GH: World Tour brings the guitar expertise of past Hero titles to the whole band. We get quite a few special guest performances and some really great venues to play in. Let’s see how everything actually stacks up.

Graphics



With a game that is not focused so much on graphics as it is sound, Guitar Hero certainly does show off its visual prowess. The character models look about the same with a little added detail, but what truly stands out in this title is the backgrounds. Venues such as a frat house, a haunted castle, and even a giant chariot being pulled by griffons really shows that Neversoft isn’t sitting on their laurels. At times I missed notes just because I was trying to check out the scenery. Another upgrade in the visual department is the amount of motion capture movements by the different characters. Special guests pull off their signature moves flawlessly and coincide with the song’s tempo. I really don’t want to spoil any of the surprises so I won’t go into detail about the special guests, but some of them just blew my mind.

Sound

I’m really having a hard time trying to think of ways to say how great the sound is. It’s nothing new, the sound has always been great in this series and there’s not much room for improvement. I guess I’ll talk more about the songs themselves in this spot then. I don’t remember going through the game and seeing many covers to songs. They all seemed to be the master tracks or a live recording from the original performer. The few live performances that they use sound great and don’t lose anything over crowd noise or any of the distortion you get normally when listening to a live recording.



As for the song list itself, I’d have to say there is just something lacking. I don’t know quite what it is, but I just didn’t feel the same way as I did while opening songs in Guitar Hero 3. Don’t get me wrong there are some great songs in there. When I saw La Bamba coming up I got really excited and the chance to play the same licks as Hendrix made me salivate. Yet, when I finished opening up the entire track list I just didn’t get the same satisfaction as before. Of course, this feeling will probably fade over time with the songs that are becoming available as DLC, this seems to be a bit of a cop out to me though. The final song is where I had my bigger let down, I don’t want to say what it is for anti-spoiler purposes, let’s just say I didn’t feel as screwed as I did when I saw I had to perform the likes of Dragon Force.

Gameplay

There have been a few improvements made to playing this game and I’m not just talking about the two new instruments. The guitar itself has been modified to compete with solos in that other music game. A slider section has been added to the lower portion of the neck. There are no buttons, just a pad to slide or tap your fingers on. At certain points in the song, some new notes will show up that are connected by a purple note. You can play these new notes two ways: you can slide your finger to the correct position on the slider or you just tap them out without strumming on the normal neck buttons. Also, a button has been added for those of you having trouble enabling star power by lifting the guitar. This new button is a bigger button located just next to the strummer. The new wireless guitar seems to respond a lot better than its predecessor so I found the new button to be useless and even harder to use than just lifting the neck. I must also mention that the difficulty of the game has seemed to have dropped a bit. I went through the entire career on hard and didn’t fail one song, not even the final one to play during the credits. As this may be welcomed by some that thought the last few games were difficult, I know some of you will a little disappointed like I did when you realized you just breezed through most of the songs. Also, gone are the days of the guitar battles in career mode. I really felt like I was someone when I defeated Slash in a duel.



Now, for what you all have been waiting for, the drums. I have some really mixed feelings about this setup. I really like the fact that cymbals have been introduced and really give you a feel for an actual drum kit, as simple as it may be. The star power activation is where I find real fault with it. You hit both cymbals to activate star power. This is nice and easy when there is a break in the notes, but then you waste some of the power as no notes are actually coming. Any attempt I made to do it between notes just made me lose my multiplier so I missed out on points. I also tried to do it when I needed to hit one of the cymbals, every time just came up as an incorrect hit and there goes my multiplier again. If a patch has come out to correct this problem then I only have one more gripe about the drums. I don’t know about any of you that have already tried it, but my red pad seems to work only about 50 to 75% of the time. I know I’m no Keith Moon but I can hit a drum pad to a timed beat. Other than those couple of things, the drums are a lot of fun and I also like the fact that they are a bit more padded so I can hear the music over my own drumming.

I should mention the microphone as well in here. It works just as any microphone should. I just didn’t want it to feel left out by me not mentioning on here. If ever a wireless one makes its way on the market I’ll write more. I just don’t see myself spending a bunch of money on one, if any exist right now.

Lasting Appeal

This games main appeal is going to be as a multiplayer game. Whether you’re online or with friends at home, this is where you’re going to get your money’s worth. Competing as a band against other bands or just competing against other people on the same instrument online will have people playing over and over to perfect their craft. To me, this will always be the game I break out for parties and watch people have fun trying to prove how drunk they are not. As I am currently secluded right now with no access to my Live account, the game is sitting on the shelf after completing the career mode. I’ll probably pull it out and play a few songs every now and then.


Fun Factor

This game was and always will be a blast for me to play as I am someone that really wants to be a rock star, but really doesn’t feel like putting in the time to learn an actual instrument. Guitar Hero has become a cultural phenomenon so I think it’s safe to say most people will enjoy this game. If you are someone that hasn’t enjoyed Guitar Hero or Rockband in the past, there really isn’t anything here that is going to pull you in now. All I can really say to you is to look at the track list and see if there are any songs that make you want to try out this game and see if you can borrow, rent, or play at a friend’s house first as this is a pretty hefty investment at $179.99.

The 411

Overall, I still think this game is a great addition to the Guitar Hero franchise. The new instruments seem to fit in just fine with the already great guitar playing. My gripes about the drum’s star power, red drum pad, the set list, and the feel of difficulty on the guitar are not enough to keep me from recommending this to people that have enjoyed this title in the past. Like I said before, maybe the drum issues have been patched up by the time this review has released. And with the already available songs released over Xbox Live, my set list issues are pretty much laid to rest. So go out there and rock out with your uhhhhmm….Guitar Hero instruments out.

Graphics	8.0	The graphics were very good, but the only noticable improvements are the motion capture and the background.
Gameplay	8.5	Gameplay hasn't really improved but there is not mush to improve on. The drums were well done with star power implementationi being my only real gripe.
Sound	9.0	Well done, i don't give them a 10 here only because it's been the same for the past few games.
Lasting Appeal	7.5	The only real way I see this being played over and over constantly is in multiplayer.
Fun Factor	9.0	the game is a blast to play as always, but I still feel let down from the song list and decrease in difficulty.
Overall	8.4   [ Very Good ]

Screenshots
All 2 Guitar Hero World Tour Screenshots