Guitar Hero 5 Review

Guitar Hero 5 also features an updated version of the GHStudio which allows players much more patient and creative than I am, to create their own artist masterpiece and then upload it so others can play it. While this feature sounds intriguing, I do not have a musically creative bone in my body. Frankly, I have not spent any time with this feature and don't play on doing anything with it in the future but feel it's nice that they have offered players the ability to create their own compositions if they are so inclined.

Good, I'm starting to warm up a little.

Now, it gets interesting.

The graphics look clearer and better animated this time around but to be fair, this could be due to my new TV. Regardless, the game looks good and when playing I'm almost disappointed that I have to concentrate on the falling notes and not the performing band members. However, there is one thing I don't like. You can now use your Xbox Avatar as your rocker and when we first started playing I used my avatar as part of our band. I found it be distracting. The Avatars are too cartoony and don't mesh very well with the other character models. It ended up looking like a College mascot with a huge foam head and some goofy suit jumping around the stage with Nine Inch Nails. While most of the crowd at a NIN concert have this sort of experience due to the laundry list of chemicals they ingest before the concert begins, it's not one I want to experience in my living room when playing a game.

As far as songs go the cover of the game boldly states that Guitar Hero 5 includes 85 songs from 83 artists. This is true. The selection runs the gamut from familiar artists to the series like Beastie Boys to Bon Jovi, Garbage, The Killers and Kiss. But in what I assume is the effort to include a wide selection of songs that appeals to all ages and music tastes, some of the titles mix as well as peanut butter and motor oil. Playing Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire and then segueing into Public Enemy's Bring the Noise is a bit jarring to say the least. To help even things out, you can import the songs from World Tour and Smash Hits as well as all of the DLC that's available on Xbox Live.

So, back to my original question: is Guitar Hero 5 just another release that has a mix of new and previously released songs or does it actually bring new features to the now, very familiar rhythm game genre? I can honestly say that Guitar Hero 5 brings new features to the series helping to make it the best Guitar Hero game to date. The ability for players to jump in and out of the game in Party Play removes a lot of hassle of previous games when you are just looking to kill some time with friends. The new head to head challenges keep things interesting when you want to mix it up in a variety of ways. With the ability to import song from other recent Guitar Hero games will give you a large library of tracks to keep you and your band mates engaged for some time to come. While the rhythm genre might be on the down side of the meteoric popularity ride, it's nice to see that the title that launched the flurry of rhythm games is still providing innovation and fun at this stage of the game. The excuse to get nice new TV doesn't hurt either.