About this series:

I write game reviews for the University of Missouri-Columbia's student-run newspaper The Maneater.  However, the process usually goes something like this:

1) Write review.
2) Squash it down to under 600 words for the paper.
3) Feel unsatisfied with the final product.

So I'm taking this opportunity to share my full, un-edited reviews with you guys, complete with every facet of the games that I feel are worth discussing.  Hope you enjoy!

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It’s tough to feel impressed by a Guitar Hero game anymore, not just because of the frequency of their releases, but since, combined with Rock Band, it has delivered nearly every song ever requested by their fans.  There was a time when a new Guitar Hero felt like a momentous occasion after months of speculating over which songs would make the cut.  That magic is gone, and the franchise has begun to play it safe by building its music catalog primarily through disc releases.  Never in my wildest imagination would I have predicted Guitar Hero to rival Dynasty Warriors as the king of overabundant iterative sequels.

Still, I have to give credit where credit is due, because Guitar Hero 5 has gotten a truly meaningful facelift that makes it, dare I say, the most fun GH game ever.

The title of “Guitar Hero 5” carries many expectations, especially since two other console games (Metallica and Smash Hits) have already dropped this year alone.  While the others felt rushed and slapped together, GH5 feels like it had some serious thought and care put into it.  It tosses out the clunky mechanics and menu interface of all games since GH: World Tour and starts from scratch.  When isolated, the minute changes (better online matchmaking, a more forgiving vocals judging system, accurate drumming animations, drum charts being more friendly towards Rock Band drum kits, etc.) don’t impact the overall experience much, but all of these changes add up to make GH5 a worthy addition to the “main” games in the series.

GH5 also thinks outside of the rigid “guitar-bass-drums-vocals” band setup laid down by Rock Band.  Now anyone can play with any permutation of the four roles.  This is a godsend for those of us who have collected more plastic instrument controllers than we know what to do with.  Neversoft understands that if someone doesn’t feel comfortable singing or isn’t adept at drums, they shouldn’t have to suffer if the guitar controllers are already taken.  This isn’t some separate mode, either: a four-guitar setup is valid anytime, anywhere.

The series also continues to drift farther away from the “play all songs in a group to unlock the next group” method of progression fro its Career mode.  Songs still get lumped into groups, but the other groups unlock just from meeting a quota of stars.  This allows players to choice-pick the songs, and each group includes at least one “pick your own song” event.  The pool of songs from which to choose, however, only consists of those you’ve already played, so it doesn’t actually help matters.  On the bright side, there’s no longer any need to slog through the entire career mode just unlock songs; everything is available immediately in the Quickplay mode.  They must have finally gotten some of my letters!

Getting the most mileage out of each song has become its own meta-game this time with specific challenges attached to each one.  Most don’t ask you to play songs any differently than you normally would (except the annoying ones where you have to use the touch/slide strip on certain notes, which makes these impossible if you don’t have the right controller), but they usually accentuate the song’s unique features.  They’re no more creative than the Xbox 360 achievements of previous games, but these challenges yield in-game rewards like additional clothing, cheats and bonus stars on top of the possible five per song.  Like the rest of the career, the game doesn’t segregate these challenges into “single instrument” and “multiple instruments;” as long as the required instrument is present among the possible four, the challenge is in play.  So even if you suck at drums, you can find good online drummers to contribute to your band’s star bank.  Like achievements, the challenges are a cheap and superficial layer on top of the core game, but a compelling one nonetheless.

The newest mode, Party Play, should have been the best feature in Guitar Hero history since co-op, but many oversights diminish its significance.  The intent is sound: no one likes having to wait for someone else to finish their song before being allowed to join in.  While in Party Play mode, any player on any instrument can just hit a button, and a note highway will materialize on the screen.  It gets the job done as far as making the game more friendly towards social gatherings, but the fact that this feature gets relegated to a separate mode doesn’t solve any problems if a Career or online song is in progress.  If you’ve planned ahead for guests, though, this mode is golden.

The make-your-own-songs GHMix mode stands to be improved the most.  The audio quality of the sound samples has finally risen above ringtone level, but not so much that you’d mistake them for actual guitar licks and drum strikes.  The tools for making something special are there, but they always have been; the process of actually getting there is still impenetrable for most players, especially when the layers of options are so tough to navigate with the instrument controllers.  Combined with the community rarely producing content worth playing and the licensed tracks having more draw and replayability, Neversoft needs to give GHMix a user-friendly revamp if they intend for anyone to take the mode seriously.

This edition’s 85-song setlist, for better or for worse, is the most diverse yet.  Guitar Hero has always tried to please as many audiences as possible at once, so picking out favorites will always be subjective, but on the “fun to play” scale, some objectively clear winners emerge: “Back Round” by Wolfmother, “Seven” by Sunny Day Real Estate, “We’re an American Band” by Grand Funk Railroad, “The Spirit of Radio (Live)” by Rush, and “2 Minutes to Midnight” by Iron Maiden.  And I have to give personal shout-outs to the ones that are total riots on the vocals: “Du Hast” by Rammstein, “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry and the most hilariously sinister song of all time: “Sweating Bullets” by Megadeth.

Neversoft has also responded in kind to the competition by allowing owners of World Tour and Smash Hits to download the songs from those disks as DLC for GH5 for a small fee.  The total amount of imports doesn’t even meet the halfway mark yet (Neversoft will make more available as the re-licensing process goes on), but that they pulled this off at all should be commended.  Perhaps the “competition improves quality” argument holds some merit in the plastic instrument war after all.

GH5 continues its questionable tradition of virtually portraying big-time musicians as characters, this time made all the more questionable by the inclusion of deceased ones.  Virtual Jimi Hendrix from World Tour was already disturbing enough, but at least he only appeared during his own songs.  This time, not only are Johnny Cash and Kurt Cobain characters, they’re playable on any instrument with any song.  Which means you can watch Cobain sing “Ex-Girlfriend” by No Doubt.  We can’t know for sure, but there’s a very good chance that these individuals would never have allowed their likenesses to be used this way if they still lived among us.  Disrespectful?  Maybe.  But Muse front man Matt Bellamy does look pretty freaking awesome performing “Plug In Baby,” so I’m willing to forgive and forget.

Guitar Hero 5 is actually the twelfth game to carry the series’ name, and it’s easy to point fingers at Activision for being a money-grubbing cash cow, but GH5 genuinely surprised me with its polish and smart decisions.  Calling it “the best Guitar Hero yet” probably sounds like sacrilege to the Harmonix-era fans, but even that brand of cynics should give GH5 a fair shake.  At the very least, it’s comforting to know that if The Beatles aint your thing, Guitar Hero 5 makes an admirable substitute for this year’s “Rock Band 3.”