Guitar Hero is Dead. Long Live Rock!
In the corner, beneath my window, is a proud collection of CD’s, a stuffed seal I’ve come to love as Calvin and a Guitar Hero controller preserved in layers of dust. Yes, it has been a while since GH was fired up on my PS3 but I am just not able to bring myself to hide the plastic axe away. Each day it sits there as I hope my neglect hasn’t eaten away at my expert-level prowess. Yet, it’s other games that take priority and monopolise my affection. Last night that changed. My love for the series rekindled by a group Rock Band session (yes, I know they are two separate games!) that took me back to my time at Uni when I played in a band and my hair grew unkempt all the same. Our signature song: Blue Orchid. Okay, so it may not have been a “real” band" with “real” guitars, a “real” drum set or even “real” groupies but we had a lot of fun. So, this article is a [very late] obituary for the Guitar Hero franchise which has been discontinued since 2011 - a retrospective of my player experience from Beginner level to Expert Hyperspace 5.
What went wrong?
‘Warriors of Rock’ was a bold step in changing things up. However, the addition of a storyline was executed poorly. Whether it was because the story itself was not engaging or just felt irrelevant and unnecessary. Something along the lines of piecing together your own personal supergroup or living the dream and reuniting an old, beloved band like Guns N’ Roses could have worked more effectively. Better yet, playing as Steel Panther would have been good to inject the hilarity and lightheartedness the game sorely needed. Maybe even a Wayne’s World 2 themed story where players face the ultimate goal of putting on a festival. But these are just musings of a die hard fan with dreams. What I’m saying is it seemed like GHWOR lacked commitment in the direction they wanted to take it. Dare I say it, almost as bad as MotorStorm: Apocalypse’s “story”, albeit very similar.
However, as weird as the story element of the game is, I don’t think it is responsible for its demise. The big problem was the lack of good metal anthems. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good songs on GHWOR but it definitely wasn’t rammed with songs you could belt along to. Guitar Hero did well for a long while, but slowly deteriorated towards its eventual retirement. The availability of DLC from the PS Store did remedy this to an extent but downloading Track Packs could be just as expensive as buying the album and there wasn’t really a whole lot of choice.
Then what made it so great?
Guitar Hero was the racing simulator of music. Much like how Gran Turismo replicates the experience of racing a car, GH also managed to generate the same kind of buzz you might feel if you were to play the real thing. The game appeals to everybody who has ever enjoyed thrashing on an air guitar. And sometimes, even bashing the keys can make just as much noise as strumming an actual guitar. The learning curve of the game is also what adds to the addictiveness. If you begin on Medium, you’re limited to just four buttons but as you progress your career and increase the difficulty, all five buttons come into play and you’ll even need to master hammer ons and offs to get by the more frantic rhythms and solos (with a bit of wah-wah to show off). So if you’ve ever been a wannabe Tremonti or Slash or head-banged to that bit in Bohemian Rhapsody, then this game is for you!
While the game mechanics changed very little from title to title, it didn’t need to and the look and feel of the whole game stood way above its Rock Band rival anyway. Colours were brighter, lay out much clearer and it was just a bit more fun to look at. One particularly interesting mechanic is the Star Power. If GH failed to make you feel like a rockstar previously, then tilting your guitar skywards to activate Star Power should do. Although…I opted for the star power button on the controller. It was easier. Yeah…
A final word…
Typing this final paragraph draws my attention back to the dusty old controller in the corner of the room and makes me want to fail all over again at some expert-level Megadeth. As for that stack of CDs in the corner of my bedroom? Many of those purchases were inspired by GH and still I continue to enjoy them, at the appropriate level of volume. A Wayne’s World reference for those of you who are unfamiliar.