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Wii

North America

Guitar Hero: World Tour

by Neal Ronaghan - November 9, 2008, 2:18 pm EST
Total comments: 55

7.5

Guitar Hero is now like Rock Band, except it's like a Saturday morning cartoon starring Ozzy, Ted Nugent, and that girl from Paramore.

Activision's latest foray into the growing rock rhythm game genre, Guitar Hero: World Tour, is no longer just about being a guitar hero. With the addition of drums and vocals, the Guitar Hero franchise now provides the full band experience like their competitor, EA and Harmonix's Rock Band. However, unlike Rock Band, Guitar Hero: World Tour is a video game.

Now I know that both games are games and all that nonsense, but Guitar Hero is over-the-top cartoony. That doesn't make it bad, it just makes it different. The game even begins with a humorous animated cut scene in which a faux Kenny G is commissioned by the devil to brainwash kids into liking his music. Then, Team Guitar Hero is signaled on their matching watches as they come and rock out and brainwash kids into liking their music. That's the note the game starts on, and the gameplay compliments the opening's cartoony style.

The latest guitar adds numerous new gameplay elements with its new touch pad, which is similar to Rock Band's solo buttons but with more delusions of grandeur. The touch pad allows you to tap through designated sections that are signified by see-through notes. However, these sections often flow in-and-out of normal sections and are very difficult to jump back and forth to. Regardless of that, it is almost impossible to tell which section of the touch pad is which. Another thing the touch pad allows you to do is tap on it to play notes instead of strumming, which works well for the most part. The touch pad has great ideas, but none of them are executed in an exceptional manner.

The boldest addition to the game is the new drum set, which comes with a stamp of approval from former Blink-182 drummer, Travis Barker. My anticipation for this drum set was very high. The set up of three pads, two higher cymbals, and a bass pedal looked to be the perfect evolution from Rock Band’s drums. For the most part, this is true as the new drums look great and are easier to transport than their Rock Band counterparts. The cymbals are equally as fantastic, but the three pads have disappointed me a bit. While this might just be the fault of my particular drum set, the three drum pads don't seem to be too responsive. I have to basically beat the living hell out of the drum pad in the direct middle of it to register a note on a consistent basis. It doesn't help that the drum sticks that come with the game are light and cheap-feeling. Another bone of contention I have with the drums is that star power is activated by hitting the two cymbals; to me, it is very difficult to break my rhythm in faster songs to activate star power.

The vocals are what one would expect from a game in this genre. One thing that is nice with the new microphone that, as our own Jonathan Metts pointed out, you can activate star power by just hitting a button. Despite that nice addition, the vocals still bother me for one very specific reason: there is no way to easily determine if you're singing a phrase correctly. This isn't an issue in Rock Band because they have a circle that fills in as you go through a phrase. In Guitar Hero: World Tour, you find out if you got the phrase right when you see your multiplier or streak go up.

As far as the whole band gameplay goes, there are not many changes from the single-player affair. Everyone's star power goes into one pool and each player uses it on their own to boost only their score. Also, if one person fails a song, then everyone fails the song.

The set list is very impressive and pretty robust at 86 songs. Alongside newer hits, the game also has classics such as "Hotel California" by the Eagles and "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. This is also the first game in the series that is made up entirely of master tracks. The guitar boss battles are back, as you do battle with Zack Wylde and Ted Nugent. Along with these two rock stars, numerous others make appearances such as Ozzy, Paramore's Hayley Williams, Sting, Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Blink-182's Travis Barker, and the late Jimi Hendrix. There is also a venue designed by the band Tool.

The music studio, one of the much-hyped new additions to the game, is way too confusing for its own good. Even after going through its tutorials, I still have no idea what I am doing. GHTunes, the place where you can download user-created songs, is set up well and is easy to navigate. There are numerous video game themes ranging from Pokemon to Zelda to Mega Man, but it is only a matter of time before they all get taken down for copyright infringement. Once GHTunes is accurately policed, it'll probably just be a lot of generic original songs.

Another new addition is the Wii-exclusive Mii Freestyle Mode. This very simple mode is a lot of fun as it allows player to wail on their instruments however they like as their Miis act it out on screen. The guitar has some structure to it, as you play different cards with notes on them. As you successfully play these cards, you build up to big solos and chaotic rock endings. While it does add a lot of depth, this mode also provides nice, accessible fun.

All in all, Guitar Hero: World Tour is a good game that still has a ways to go until it achieves greatness. While the new instruments are wonderfully crafted, the actual gameplay can be too in-depth for its own good. The game’s arcade nature seems to focus on its competitive aspect, taking away from the fun of playing a rhythm game with your friends. Regardless, this is currently the best game of its kind on Wii. It is entirely full-featured with downloadable content and online play, but the series as a whole doesn't seem to understand the band experience as well as its main competitor.

Score

Graphics Sound Control Gameplay Lastability Final
7 9 8 7 9 7.5
Graphics
7

The graphics are somewhat of a moot point since this game is primarily about playing plastic instruments, but they really aren't anything special. Character animation still looks weird, but nowhere near as bad as robot drummer from Guitar Hero III.

Sound
9

The game has a setlist with very few holes. When you have 86 songs, you are allowed to have some duds in the bunch. Due to the fact that the songs are all master tracks, it sounds wonderful.

Control
8

All the instruments work very well, especially the guitar. I had some troubles with drum sensitivity, but that might just be the fault of my own drum set.

Gameplay
7

If you like rhythm games, then you'll like Guitar Hero: World Tour. However, it throws in a bit too many arcade-like additions, like the various freestyle sections, and falls apart when the whole band gets together due to how star power and player failing is set up.

Lastability
9

With downloadable content coming at a hopefully frequent pace, an already large setlist of 86 songs, and the music studio, any player should be able to find a lot to do in this game.

Final
7.5

Despite its imperfections, this is still the best rhythm game on Wii. It has all the features of its HD brethren and unique additions like its Mii Freestyle Mode.

Summary

Pros
  • Mii Freestyle Mode
  • New instruments are very nice
  • Robust setlist
Cons
  • Less emphasis on band unity
  • Music studio is too confusing
  • Not that accessible
Review Page 2: Conclusion

Talkback

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusNovember 09, 2008

Neal, did you ever feel that the band portion of this game is shoehorned, the reason why I am asking is because with some songs there are instrument tracks with no notes for about 10 - 30 seconds or so. But the biggest offender I think is that if one player fails their track, the whole band fails which is bad considering that it's hard to see which player is failing.

EasyCureNovember 09, 2008

Its not hard to see which player is failing when you can easily (for me, anyway) see your partners note highway flashing red out of the corner of your eye.

I don't think the band portion is shoehorned in either, just because there are segments where there is no music for one player..i mean really? Thats just how songs are structured and it happens in plenty of songs, not fault of the game. If anything, it adds authenticity ;)

Quote from: EasyCure

Its not hard to see which player is failing when you can easily (for me, anyway) see your partners note highway flashing red out of the corner of your eye.

I don't think the band portion is shoehorned in either, just because there are segments where there is no music for one player..i mean really? Thats just how songs are structured and it happens in plenty of songs, not fault of the game. If anything, it adds authenticity ;)

EDIT: I didn't notice the first reply  :-[. Personally, I have no problem with breaks for instruments in songs. I do have a problem with the drum part in "On the Road Again." So, I have a problem when one instrument's part is just freaking terrible and not that they don't play throughout all of it. I'd rather have a song like "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who (DLC on Rock Band) that has an awesome drum part for a small part of the song than something like "On the Road Again" which has a reptitive drum part for the whole song.

I'm not saying that the band portion is lackluster because of how the songs are structured, I'm saying it is lackluster because of the focus on individualism.
There's no "saving" bandmates. There's no joy of everyone activating star power at the same time and everyone enjoying an 8x multiplier.
There's just instant death if one person fails out and individual star power. I know the star power is from a community pool and all, but the lack of interaction with bandmates takes away so much of what makes Rock Band so much fun.

I am big fan of Rock Band and I expected to be turned onto the Guitar Hero franchise again after playing this game. All this game does is make me love Rock Band even more.

Reading some of the consistent criticisms of World Tour is starting to push me towards just grabbing Rock Band 2 for the 360 rather than fool around with questionable hardware and crappy multiplayer on World Tour.  The main reason I was going to stick with WT on Wii is that I already have GH3 and a Wii guitar, but that is easily remedied at GameStop...

The nice thing about RB2 on 360 is that I could rent/borrow the first game to move over the tracks.  Also, more of my friends are likely to be playing this kind of game on 360 for online bands.

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Reading some of the consistent criticisms of World Tour is starting to push me towards just grabbing Rock Band 2 for the 360 rather than fool around with questionable hardware and crappy multiplayer on World Tour.  The main reason I was going to stick with WT on Wii is that I already have GH3 and a Wii guitar, but that is easily remedied at GameStop...

The nice thing about RB2 on 360 is that I could rent/borrow the first game to move over the tracks.  Also, more of my friends are likely to be playing this kind of game on 360 for online bands.

I think that's the way to go.

A friend of mine with a 360 and a Wii recently asked me the same thing. Best case scenario: get the Full Rock Band 2 Bundle and the Guitar Only Guitar Hero: World Tour Bundle for 360. Rent Rock Band 1 and export the songs.
For about $300 you'll get every instrument you need and over 200 songs.

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusNovember 09, 2008

From what I see, I think that Activision doesn't get Guitar Hero as a music game, but they get it as a way to leech off a series or a popular game genre. Quite obviously they made World Tour as a way to match Rock Band once they saw some of the Guitar Hero user base to flock over to Rock Band. So now we saw and Neversoft's execution was a little sloppy. While the music creator seems like a good idea and is, everyone unanimously agreed that the interface is not very friendly and the sound quality isn't very good for the songs that are created.

Mii Freestyle Mode is still awesome, though. It's dumb fun, but it is fun.

I think the inherent problem with popular user-generated content video games is coming to the forefront. Everyone wants to play the Song of Storms in Guitar Hero just as much as they want to play a recreation of the first Super Mario Bros level in Little Big Planet. Too bad it seems anything that smells like copyright infringement is getting axed.

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

The nice thing about RB2 on 360 is that I could rent/borrow the first game to move over the tracks.  Also, more of my friends are likely to be playing this kind of game on 360 for online bands.

Jonny, run to your local store right now and buy Rock Band 2 for 360.  You'll thank me later.  I have it and worship the ground it walks on.  It's crazy good, and they release DLC every single week.

Besides, I really want to play you one-on-one using that awful Bob Dylan "Tangled Up In Blue" song, and beat you at your own genre.

Quote from: Lindy

Besides, I really want to play you one-on-one using that awful Bob Dylan "Tangled Up In Blue" song, and beat you at your own genre.

You deserve to die for that comment.  I sang that song at the Harmonix demo room at E3 and tore it up...  Kairon shot a video of it (Windy was playing drums), but I don't know if it will ever make it online.

I would love to join in on this Rock Band 2 fun.

500 songs by year's end!

Ian SaneNovember 10, 2008

Quote:

Reading some of the consistent criticisms of World Tour is starting to push me towards just grabbing Rock Band 2 for the 360 rather than fool around with questionable hardware and crappy multiplayer on World Tour.  The main reason I was going to stick with WT on Wii is that I already have GH3 and a Wii guitar

That was my attitude as well.  Plus Activision didn't f*ck over the Wii userbase for no reason so I felt they had earned my business.  But I haven't been able to find the damn game.  Most stores in my area either never got the full bundle with the drums or they did, only once at launch, and they only got like five of them which sold out immediately.  EB hasn't even been able to fulfill their pre-orders.  So it looks like before I can even find the game Rock Band 2 will be out on the Wii and I'll be able to find out how compatible the two games are.  Ideally I would like to own both but only one set of instruments.  Even then Rock Band 2 does support my Guitar Hero III controller for sure.

UltimatePartyBearNovember 10, 2008

Controller quality is definitely hit or miss.  I think I lucked out.  My drum kit is a lot better than I expected after hearing early impressions.  It seems fine to me, actually.  I suppose it could be more sensitive, but it's nothing like what I've seen in videos.  Also, even though my guitar stopped working mid-song on the first day, it's been fine since then.  Apparently it needed a Wii reboot instead of just a game reboot.

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusNovember 10, 2008

Quote from: Ian

Quote:

Reading some of the consistent criticisms of World Tour is starting to push me towards just grabbing Rock Band 2 for the 360 rather than fool around with questionable hardware and crappy multiplayer on World Tour.  The main reason I was going to stick with WT on Wii is that I already have GH3 and a Wii guitar

That was my attitude as well.  Plus Activision didn't f*ck over the Wii userbase for no reason so I felt they had earned my business.  But I haven't been able to find the damn game.  Most stores in my area either never got the full bundle with the drums or they did, only once at launch, and they only got like five of them which sold out immediately.  EB hasn't even been able to fulfill their pre-orders.  So it looks like before I can even find the game Rock Band 2 will be out on the Wii and I'll be able to find out how compatible the two games are.  Ideally I would like to own both but only one set of instruments.  Even then Rock Band 2 does support my Guitar Hero III controller for sure.

I think Rock Band 2 on Wii supports the GH3/Aerosmith controller but I'm not sure about the WT guitar and drums. I believe both WT and RB2 for Wii supports SD card streaming also Rock Band 2 for Wii, will also have the code for 20 free songs but you will need a SD card for it since when I downloaded the 20 free songs on 360 the file was roughly 570 MB.

My experience with the PS3 version of World Tour made me sad. The drums didn't work right out of the box. The control panel did, but none of the drums, cymbals, or foot pedal worked. AT ALL. I took the whole thing back to Best Buy for a full refund. It's so insanely expensive though that I might buy the pieces piecemeal in the future. You know, guitar + game, then drums later on, after all the bugs have been worked out.

Lindy brought up Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue." This is on Rock Band? If so, I am NOT buying it. I'm sorry. My wife was obsessed with Bob Dylan in college, and I listed to so damn much of that nasally voice during those three years that I am completely burned out on the man.

I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say that the GUITAR part of World Tour is better than Rock Band. I've played the original Rock Band many a-time, and found the guitar part overly easy. You get into a groove because you're not being challenged, not because you're one with the music. "Stanglehold" and "Go Your Own Way" are designed for hardcore guitar riffing. Looking through the song list of Rock Band 2, I don't see as many head-banging guitar mantras. But I guess I've always been about the guitar playing as opposed to the full-on band stuff. I don't have enough friends to have a full band all the time.

However, I AM going over to my brother's dorm tonight to play Rock Band 2 with him. Maybe my mind will change?

S-U-P-E-RTy Shughart, Staff AlumnusDecember 11, 2008

Troll mode; engaged

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However, these sections often flow in-and-out of normal sections and are very difficult to jump back and forth to.

Quote:

Regardless of that, it is almost impossible to tell which section of the touch pad is which.

Quote:

Another bone of contention I have with the drums is that star power is activated by hitting the two cymbals; to me, it is very difficult to break my rhythm in faster songs to activate star power.

Quote:

While the new instruments are wonderfully crafted, the actual gameplay can be too in-depth for its own good. The game’s arcade nature seems to focus on its competitive aspect, taking away from the fun of playing a rhythm game with your friends.

Quote:

I am a big baby; the game is too hard for me.

S-U-P-E-RTy Shughart, Staff AlumnusDecember 11, 2008

I also have this vaguely constructive post, but I like my other one better, because frankly I think GH:WT kicks the shit out of Rock Band and you rated it down because you can't take the heat. Woot.

Quote:

There are numerous video game themes ranging from Pokemon to Zelda to Mega Man, but it is only a matter of time before they all get taken down for copyright infringement. Once GHTunes is accurately policed, it'll probably just be a lot of generic original songs.

They haven't been super pro-active about this, and I don't see them (nor the video game companies that hold these copyrights) caring too much about this in the future. Where's the incentive?

Quote:

The cymbals are equally as fantastic, but the three pads have disappointed me a bit. While this might just be the fault of my particular drum set, the three drum pads don't seem to be too responsive. I have to basically beat the living hell out of the drum pad in the direct middle of it to register a note on a consistent basis. It doesn't help that the drum sticks that come with the game are light and cheap-feeling.

There's some info about manually tooling around with your drum kit in a thread around here; my experience with the drums has been pretty good, but probably only because I'm a hands-on game repair nerd. Also, one of my pads was just kind of stiff and needed to be broken in.

And you're not a real drummer until you break a few sticks. 8) I might recommend getting some plastic-tipped drum sticks from your local music store.

Quote from: S-U-P-E-R

I also have this vaguely constructive post, but I like my other one better, because frankly I think GH:WT kicks the **** out of Rock Band and you rated it down because you can't take the heat. Woot.

I didn't rate it down because I can't take the heat, I rated it down because I don't think it is a good game.
Its not like I'm new to this genre. I've been playing it since Guitar Hero 1 and I've played every edition in both franchises besides GH: Aerosmith and RB: AC/DC.
I love Rock Band. I went into this review expecting this to be better. It wasn't. It has nothing to do with the difficulty, unless you count the entire band failing because some person gets raped by a solo as part of the difficulty. That's not fun. Trust me.

And when I reviewed the game, songs were being taken down.
I didn't grade the drum responsiveness down too harshly because it might have "just (been) the fault of my particular drum set." However, if my drum set, a review copy sent to me, has issues when I take it out of the box, then I'm sure it's not the only one.
Also, I didn't have to buy new drum sticks when I got Rock Band. The ones I got worked fine up until recently when they did break.

MaleficentOgreDecember 11, 2008

I like the light drum sticks for video game purposes, I wouldn't want to use mine on either set of fisher price drums.
I really love world tour and think it's getting a lot of chiding for not being rock band. I would've liked something a little different, but the game that is Guitar Hero: World Tour is a fantastic game. I've had two parties where world tour was involved and no one had any complaints. These were full of people who either owned or had only played rock band up until this point. People that aren't stpeeded in gaming only care if the game is fun and songs they like are fun to play. The game is still great fun, even more so now. As the product it is it's fantastic.

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterDecember 12, 2008

nron just doesn't seem to get a break. First they criticize his Unleashed review, and now its the same song and dance with World Tour.

Then again, it wouldn't be NWR without review bitching :p .

Ian SaneDecember 12, 2008

With this thread getting bumped I think it's important to note that IGN confirmed a few days ago that Rock Band 2 for the Wii is compatible with the Guitar Hero instruments.  In other words you don't have to pick one or the other.  I haven't found the full bundle for World Tour yet but I'm happy now that I can buy it knowing I can also get a disc-only copy of Rock Band 2.

LuigiHannDecember 12, 2008

Am I the only one that regards the Guitar Hero character models as "Nightmarish"? Maybe it's because I didn't play the series during the PS2 iterations, but all the 360 versions have characters that look like rubber zombies and that is what keeps me from getting into that franchise.

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterDecember 12, 2008

Quote from: LuigiHann

Am I the only one that regards the Guitar Hero character models as "Nightmarish"? Maybe it's because I didn't play the series during the PS2 iterations, but all the 360 versions have characters that look like rubber zombies and that is what keeps me from getting into that franchise.

Yeah, the character design would be great as 2D models, but since the characters are animated and designed in 3D it gives them an awkward look to them. Its the same reason why some people can't accept 2D cartoon characters like Homer Simpson, Mickey Mouse and even Spongebob as 3D characters; the charm lies in the 2D creation. Hell, as much as I love Pixar's movies they way they render some of the characters as 2D ones is amazing! (You should check out the art of books and children's book based on Pixar films to see what I mean).

EasyCureDecember 12, 2008

Quote from: Ian

With this thread getting bumped I think it's important to note that IGN confirmed a few days ago that Rock Band 2 for the Wii is compatible with the Guitar Hero instruments.  In other words you don't have to pick one or the other.  I haven't found the full bundle for World Tour yet but I'm happy now that I can buy it knowing I can also get a disc-only copy of Rock Band 2.

Check that Rock Band 2 thread again. I brought up the fact that IGN took down that article at the devs request. Perhaps the instruments wont be cross compatible, but thats just me speculating.

MaleficentOgreDecember 13, 2008

That would be awful. I sooo want to pick up rock band 2 as well. Oh well. I love the game but agree the character models woeful.

EasyCureDecember 13, 2008

i dont care about the character models, i'd buy the game (only if instruments were cross compatible) since everyone raves about how much better it is than guitar hero. If anything i want to see what the differences really are, i'm still playing a fake lil instrument to timed notes

Ian SaneDecember 15, 2008

Quote:

Check that Rock Band 2 thread again. I brought up the fact that IGN took down that article at the devs request. Perhaps the instruments wont be cross compatible, but thats just me speculating.

Sh!t.  I finally found Guitar Hero: World Tour this weekend and bought it.  Well it doesn't really matter because I had my friends over and we had a blast so it's still a worthwhile purchase regardless.  If Rock Band 2 isn't compatible then f*ck 'em.  IGN wouldn't make up the fact that the version they got worked with the GH instruments.  So if the final product isn't compatible then Harmonix REMOVED compatibility and if that's the case then they're assh0les who don't deserve for their game to be successful on the market-leading console.

Something that no review has mentioned though that really bugged me is that mic requires a remote.  I only had two remotes and one of my friends has a Wii as well so I figured with him bringing his one remote we would have enough for the drums and guitars and the mic wouldn't need one.  It took me forever to figure this out as all my remotes were connected to the instruments and it wouldn't recognize the mic and it was driving me nuts.  I even plugged the mic into my PC to confirm that it worked.  While I like activating star power through a button push, I had to buy myself a third remote and that kind of sucks.  The Wii version is pretty damn expensive since on top of the hardware you also need four remotes.

My drums work fine.  I think it's just bad luck if your's isn't so hot.  Still inconsistent quality is worth pointing out in a review.

Does everyone have that one friend who's a total wet blanket and is never willing to do vocals?  We've only got him to sing one song.  And not only is he not willing to sing but he's so oblivious to popular music that he knows almost none of the songs.  But there are some songs none of the four of us know so someone volunteers to try to figure out the melody on the fly.  He never volunteers for this.

The sad thing is my timing for buying this sucks.  We all got together yesterday because it was the last day before one of my friends goes out of town for a month.  Now we can't finish the career mode as our band.  D'oh!

After playing a fair bit I agree with Ty.  If Guitar Hero is too hard for you you're a pussy. ;)  If one of your friends really sucks then just pick beginner where all you have to do is get the timing right.  If you can't do THAT without failing you should just quit.

EasyCureDecember 15, 2008

I can't say i've had that experience because i've only played it as a band on a few occasions:

1st time i only had two wiimotes, so my brother and his friend took turns doing vocals while i did guitar (his friend tried guitar but couldnt get it right)

2nd time my friend and i took turns doing vocals + guitar while the other drummed (by then i had a third remote)

3rd time my gf played bass while i did guitar.

I'm sure if i still had a huge group of gamer friends like in middle/high school there'd be one in the group that would refuse to do vocals and would end up not playing because of it, but since i dont have many gamer friends this isn't a problem since theres never a full band! If it ever came to that, I'd probably end up being the guy to pick up the vocals just cuz even if I am a tad shy about singing in front of people. When my friend and i were taking turns, the only time i'd ever done vocals with someone else in the room, we were kinda buzzed so it didn't matter if we sucked or didnt know the lyrics. At one ponit i just hummed the tune since i didnt know the lyrics and the font is too damn tiny to read!

UltimatePartyBearDecember 15, 2008

Quote from: Ian

Does everyone have that one friend who's a total wet blanket and is never willing to do vocals?  We've only got him to sing one song.  And not only is he not willing to sing but he's so oblivious to popular music that he knows almost none of the songs.  But there are some songs none of the four of us know so someone volunteers to try to figure out the melody on the fly.  He never volunteers for this.

That would probably be me.  I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I can't make myself sing in front of other people.  I've tried, but after a line or two, I just freeze up.  It's frustrating for me, too.

It might help if any of those PS2 karaoke games had song ONE on them that wouldn't make me scramble for the dial if they played on the radio, but I admit to being a jerk there.

Its frustrating when you're playing in a party setting and you keep failing songs because someone keeps overreaching their boundaries. Yes, you can change difficulties, but at least Rock Band has the saving ability and, in RB2, No Fail Mode.

No Fail Mode is spectacular for parties, or even a setting where you want to try a really difficult song on Expert.

GH:WT and RB2 are of comparable difficulty, but RB2 is just more friendly.

Ian SaneDecember 15, 2008

Quote:

That would probably be me.  I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I can't make myself sing in front of other people.

Alcohol allows everyone to sing in front of anyone. ;)

Quote:

Its frustrating when you're playing in a party setting and you keep failing songs because someone keeps overreaching their boundaries.

I guess I just personally don't have this problem.  Though what that really indicates is that I need to break away more often from my little clique of single 20-something year old male friends with the occasional girlfriend-who-is-geeky-enough-to-like-games thrown in.  If I had a party where I invited my co-workers, who will fall into the age range of over 40 and would bring spouses, then maybe a no fail mode would make more sense.  In other words I've never invited dreaded non-gamers into my lair. ;)

I guess it depends on your setting.
I'm in college so I deal with a lot of drunk people thinking they can play Expert Guitar. I also entice my family to play every now and then, and the majority of them have little to no game experience.

When it comes down to it, I prefer Rock Band and it seems like you prefer Guitar Hero. The two series have minute differences and all it comes down to is song and style preference.

RB wins for me with the Who, Rush, Pearl Jam, the Beatles, AC/DC, Talking Heads, and more.
GH has some respectable exclusives (or firsts) like the Doors, the Eagles, Van Halen, Ozzy, 311, and more but I'd rather have RB's setlist.

EasyCureDecember 15, 2008

311 :pukes:

sorry.

Quote from: Ian

Quote:

That would probably be me.  I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I can't make myself sing in front of other people.

Alcohol allows everyone to sing in front of anyone. ;)

I already proved that in my post ;) Its so true, normally I'd be to shy/embarrassed to sing in front of anyone, even my best friend of 17 freaking years, but alcohol got me thru that. I play vocals every now and again when I'm alone (in combination with guitar) and sometimes if i actually sing loud enough to hear myself coming thru my speakers I'll get a lil self conscience, but hey... i could pass a few vocal parts on expert so i mustn't be THAT bad right? :)

MaleficentOgreDecember 16, 2008

I only have a few friends that play games. Most of the people I hang out with, the most they've seen of gaming are kiosks at wal mart. I'm really looking forward to no fail mode. Beginniner mode makes them feel stupid if I'm playing guitar on expert or drums on hard and they have this rainbow thing going on. I'm an awful singer and some songs just weren't made for me.

Quote from: MaleficentOgre

I only have a few friends that play games. Most of the people I hang out with, the most they've seen of gaming are kiosks at wal mart. I'm really looking forward to no fail mode. Beginniner mode makes them feel stupid if I'm playing guitar on expert or drums on hard and they have this rainbow thing going on. I'm an awful singer and some songs just weren't made for me.

Get Rock Band then.

MorariDecember 16, 2008

Quote from: Ian

Quote:

And not only is he not willing to sing but he's so oblivious to popular music that he knows almost none of the songs.

I don't know a good handful of songs in World Tour. The set list tends to suck for the most part.

MaleficentOgreDecember 16, 2008

I'll pick it up in a year or two when the price drops. I already have world tour. I actually like guitar hero's set list.

EasyCureDecember 16, 2008

Quote from: Morari

Quote from: Ian

Quote:

And not only is he not willing to sing but he's so oblivious to popular music that he knows almost none of the songs.

I don't know a good handful of songs in World Tour. The set list tends to suck for the most part.

Fixed your post.

I knew about half of the set list, the other half ended up being better than i thought. Take for instance Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac; I've always heard of the band but never heard any music by them, that song freaking rocks and its one of my favorites to play to. Oh and i just downloaded Jessies Girl by Rick Springfield. What else do i have to say? ;)

IceColdDecember 16, 2008

There's no way you hadn't heard Go Your Own Way before this..

UltimatePartyBearDecember 16, 2008

Quote from: EasyCure

Quote from: Morari

Quote from: Ian

And not only is he not willing to sing but he's so oblivious to popular music that he knows almost none of the songs.

I don't know a good handful of songs in World Tour. The set list tends to suck for the most part.

Fixed your post.

I knew about half of the set list, the other half ended up being better than i thought. Take for instance Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac; I've always heard of the band but never heard any music by them, that song freaking rocks and its one of my favorites to play to. Oh and i just downloaded Jessies Girl by Rick Springfield. What else do i have to say? ;)

EasyCure fails at fixing posts.

I like Jessie's Girl.  So far it seems to me that the downloadable songs have better note charts.  Maybe that's just because I stopped playing before getting all that far in the career because of gaming overload, though.

Quote from: MaleficentOgre

I'll pick it up in a year or two when the price drops. I already have world tour. I actually like guitar hero's set list.

Rock Band 2 will be compatible with all instruments :)
Writing up news story as we speak/type.

EDIT: Also, Jessie's Girl and Go Your Own Way both rule.

Ian SaneDecember 16, 2008

Those of you unfamiliar with songs like Go Your Own Way I'm assuming don't listen to mainstream radio much?  I have the radio on every day for my work commute.  And some of it sucks, some of it rocks, some of it I used to like but has been ruined for me by overplay, some of it is not great but is totally inoffensive to have in the background.  But I do flip between my presets just to avoid really crappy songs.  I need something to listen to for the commute and if I listen to my CDs or MP3s I would just get sick of those.  Might as well get sick of the radio instead of the music I actually paid for.

The songs I never know are usually from this decade.  I stopped listening to current mainstream rock once completely worthless borderline this-isn't-even-music bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit started dominating the airwaves and then later extremely bland bands like Nickleback took their place.  So yeah something by The Killers shows up in these games and unless the song appeared in a TV ad I don't know it... and usually I still hate it.

Jessie's Girl is like total silly pop rock with no artistic merit... but it's fun so I still like it. :)  I think that's the difference between now and then.  In the 80's crappy rock music was like campy pop while today crappy rock music is super serious.

EasyCureDecember 17, 2008

Quote from: UltimatePartyBear

Quote from: EasyCure

Quote from: Morari

Quote from: Ian

And not only is he not willing to sing but he's so oblivious to popular music that he knows almost none of the songs.

I don't know a good handful of songs in World Tour. The set list tends to suck for the most part.

Fixed your post.

I knew about half of the set list, the other half ended up being better than i thought. Take for instance Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac; I've always heard of the band but never heard any music by them, that song freaking rocks and its one of my favorites to play to. Oh and i just downloaded Jessies Girl by Rick Springfield. What else do i have to say? ;)

EasyCure fails at fixing posts.

I like Jessie's Girl.  So far it seems to me that the downloadable songs have better note charts.  Maybe that's just because I stopped playing before getting all that far in the career because of gaming overload, though.

hehe i do, whooooops!

Quote from: IceCold

There's no way you hadn't heard Go Your Own Way before this..

It's true. The closest thing i heard to Fleetwood Mac was the goat in South Park that US troops confused for Stevie Nicks ;)

Ian, I never listen to the radio anymore, ever. I got sick of hearing all the same songs across all genres, across all stations. I burned MP3 discs before i got my ipod and filled them with random stuff and put them on shuffle (which i now do with my ipod). If my iPod is ever dead or i forget it at home, i still have the backup cd's just so i dont have to listen to the god awful radio. At work all the operators in our call center listen to some internet radio and you'd think its better, but its not. Every day this week I've heard that "i kissed a girl" song, or any other "hit" song and thats just not my thing. If you're gonna play the Police, why not play something other than Roxanne or Message In A Bottle? They have tons of good stuff, but they don't play it so why should i listen? Hell I don't hear any other songs that are considered their Greatest Hits on the radio! Its only always Roxanne, Message In A Bottle, and Every Breath You Take.

Anyway I'm ranting now. Point is I don't listen to radio, 'mainstream' or not, so no I never heard anything by Fleetwood Mac before. I discover new music by a few methods:

1. Word of mouth; for instance, today a girl at work let me listen to some group called MGMT cuz she thought i'd like them, and i do happen to like the few songs i heard.

2. Influences/Inspiration: One of the best ways, just check out bands or artist that have inspired those that you already listen to. Many of you know i'm a fan of The Cure. They were influenced (at first) by bands like The Buzzcocks, Elvis Costello. Robert Smith has even been quoted as saying he wanted to sound like a "punk Beatles." That was before he played with Siouxsie & The Banshees and they went from their post-punk sound to the crazy stuff they've done after their first album. When I first got into The Cure I'd already liked the Buzzcocks, a few things from Elvis Costello, and loved the Beatles, but they got me into Siouxsie. When they toured around 2004/05 they played with bands like Interpol and Muse (whom which Smith hand picked for their summer festival) both of which i checked out, and one of which I enjoy.

3. Download at random: Sometimes i'll just download a torrent at random and see what i like. I don't do this as often as the 2nd method, but it can be fun.

Oh another example of the 2nd method. I was listening to The Postal Service, which is the side project of Death Cab For Cutie's frontman, the other day when a song came on with a backing vocalist whose voice i enjoyed. I'd read up years earlier that she actually has her own band, and was a child actress and at least one of the other bandmates in her band was a child actor as well. I confused this women with another actress who has a band (though her name escapes me at the moment) so i was surprised to find out that the backup vocalist for The Postal Service is Jenny "He touched my breasts!" Lewis of The Wizard fame. She has a band called Rilo Kiley where she shares vocal duties, and the guitarist was a cast member on Salute Your Shorts! He also happens to have a band, The Elected, both which I will be giving a listen to the next time i sync up my ipod.

Ian SaneDecember 17, 2008

Quote:

If you're gonna play the Police, why not play something other than Roxanne or Message In A Bottle?

In high school I loved the Police.  I had their Greatest Hits on CD and listened to it all the time while doing homework (that was standard for homework, put a CD on in the background).  But now I never ever listen to that album anymore.  The local classic rock station just plays the crap out of the Police.  And not just Every Breath You Take and Roxanne.  No, they play all their hits.  They're playing So Lonely and Invisible Sun and Synchronicity II.  But they play that band way too much in comparision to other acts so I'm Policed out.

Quote:

Influences/Inspiration: One of the best ways, just check out bands or artist that have inspired those that you already listen to.

Yeah, this is great way to discover bands.  It's pretty much the only way I find "new" music to listen to these days.  I like Oasis.  Noel Gallagher mentions The Jam and The Stone Roses as influences so I check them out.  Now there's two more acts I'm into.  And the "spin-off" method works too.  Hey, Fine Young Cannibals are pretty good.  What?  Two of the guys used to be on the English Beat?  *Listens to Mirror in the Bathroom*  Hey these guys rock!  I got into Peter Gabriel from his big radio hits like Sledgehammer.  I discover more awesome stuff of his that doesn't get so much radio airplay and then find out he used to be the lead singer of Genesis.  So I check that older Genesis stuff out and holy sh!t!

Another trick I like is that some bands are really big in the UK for example but not the US.  But these aren't like uncommercial underground bands.  They're very accessible, they just have mainstream popularity in the UK but not the US.  Well that's a great way to discover a band that will have radio friendly music but you never hear on the radio.  I'd recommend American and British music fans to look into Canadian acts that aren't big outside their own country.  As a Canadian I don't have that option.  Those acts are mainstream to me and any mainstream act in the States is also going to be mainstream here.  But it doesn't work the other way and I think Americans can benefit from that.  Go look into Blue Rodeo for example and remember there was a time where Sarah McLachlan and The Barenaked Ladies were unknown in the States but were big over here (in both cases I'd say their best stuff was released then).

What I want to know is who is going to get a full library of Motley Crue. Girls, Girls, Girls... Wild Side... Kickstart My Heart... hell, get wild and give me some of their more raunchy music for some wholesome fun. Still will never forget them doing a concert a Merriweather Post Pavilion (Columbia, MD for those in other regions) and a family making a ruckus because they brought their kids to the concert and couldn't believe what they were doing on stage. Mind you, this was after the release of an album complete with the songs She Goes Down, Slice of Your Pie and Rattlesnake Shake. I guess all they heard were the power ballads on Smooth Mix Pop 101 or something and thought that was their gig. For each Every Rose Has Its Thorn there are 3 Unskinny Bop people... sheesh. I miss my 80s/90s hair bands!

EasyCureDecember 18, 2008

Quote:

Another trick I like is that some bands are really big in the UK for example but not the US.  But these aren't like uncommercial underground bands.  They're very accessible, they just have mainstream popularity in the UK but not the US.  Well that's a great way to discover a band that will have radio friendly music but you never hear on the radio.  I'd recommend American and British music fans to look into Canadian acts that aren't big outside their own country.  As a Canadian I don't have that option.  Those acts are mainstream to me and any mainstream act in the States is also going to be mainstream here.  But it doesn't work the other way and I think Americans can benefit from that.  Go look into Blue Rodeo for example and remember there was a time where Sarah McLachlan and The Barenaked Ladies were unknown in the States but were big over here (in both cases I'd say their best stuff was released then).

I knew i was forgetting something. I just happened to get into a few canadian bands when i was starting off in highschool. Back then There were 3 music channels: MTV, MUCHMUSIC, and VH1. I hated MTV and Vh1 wasn't really for me, so my late summer nights (when no good movies were on) were spent checking out real music programming like The Punk Show on MuchMusic. It was a sad day when they were reformatted to a more anti-mtv-yet-exactly-the-same format (ie some network popped up that probably had nothing to do with MuchMusic and built a studio in NYC a few blocks away from MTV and Time Square). I've never seen or heard GOB on American airwaves since then, :(

Also I got into Bloc Party when a friend turned me on to them cuz he would check out the Brittish rock charts and they're pretty popular over there, and not so much here. I became a fan after listening to their EPs and got their debut album on day one when it released here, been a fan ever since. One of the few new bands i enjoy actually, I'm not sure if they're your cup of tea Ian but you should give them a shot. I'll even recommend a few select tracks for you if you're interested.

Oh and trying to get on topic:

Guitar Hero World Tour = Tons of Fun. Just recently downloaded Jessies Girl which downloaded straight to, and plays right off, my SD card seamlessly. Really happy with my purchase!

I don't know whether on downloading a Rick Springfield song to play for GH I'd first be overcome by:
nostalgia
nausea

decoymanDecember 18, 2008

Maybe you'd be overcome by a mix of the two:
nostalsea ("nah-STAL-zee-yah")

I think it's where you throw up, but you're smiling the whole while.

I sold back my GHWT band pack. Am still confused why you can use RB drums in GHWT on 360, but not Wii. It's not technical in nature because of the inclusion/exclusion of the Wii Remote in the instruments, as RB works w/ GHWT instruments.

P.S. - "THIS HORSE IS NOT DEAD YET!" (kick, punt, beat!)

LuigiHannDecember 19, 2008

Quote from: decoyman

I sold back my GHWT band pack. Am still confused why you can use RB drums in GHWT on 360, but not Wii. It's not technical in nature because of the inclusion/exclusion of the Wii Remote in the instruments, as RB works w/ GHWT instruments.

Because GHWT came out first for Wii, the RB creators were able to code in support for those drums. It doesn't work the other way around because the drum sets are different.

Even on 360 and PS3, the games had to be patched for cross-compatibility.

IceColdDecember 19, 2008

EasyCure, you should check out Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire if you haven't already. Good Canadian bands.

I listen to a lot of British bands too - I'd recommend Arctic Monkeys, Blur, The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Muse, Bloc Party (you mentioned these two), and The Smiths. The Verve has some good songs too. I still haven't completely decided on Joy Division yet. And of course the obvious in Radiohead and Oasis.

decoymanDecember 19, 2008

Quote from: LuigiHann

Because GHWT came out first for Wii, the RB creators were able to code in support for those drums. It doesn't work the other way around because the drum sets are different.

Even on 360 and PS3, the games had to be patched for cross-compatibility.

Didn't we already decide that patches aren't actually outlawed on Wii (see Madden)?

SO PATCH THE SUCKA ALREADY!

GregLover5000January 09, 2009

Dudes (and Ms Phoenix) -- MicroCenter's selling GH:WT (game only) for $19.99 (Wii, PS3 and Xbox) this weekend. I just dispatched the missus to score a copy.

If you don't have it yet, you might want to hit up microcenter.com and grab it quickly.

I just checked, that offer is not available online. It shows up on the site, but when you click "add to cart" it says you can't get it online. And sadly, no MicroCenter anywhere near me.

decoymanJanuary 09, 2009

^^^ what he said ^^^

Quote:

Oops...

Sorry, this product is not available for online purchase.

GregLover5000January 09, 2009

Sorry lads...  :(

I saw it online but didn't attempt to buy it that way; instead, I called my chronically ill wife and pretty much begged her to slosh out in the snow to score a copy at the store when they opened (which she did... thanks honey!). Twenty bucks!

I imagine Comic Book Store guy showed up five minutes later and bought all the copies on every platform to resell or trade back in to GameStop.

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Guitar Hero: World Tour Box Art

Genre Rhythm
Developer Vicarious Visions
Players1 - 4
Online1 - 8

Worldwide Releases

na: Guitar Hero: World Tour
Release Oct 28, 2008
PublisherActivision
RatingTeen
eu: Guitar Hero: World Tour
Release Nov 07, 2008
PublisherActivision
Rating12+
aus: Guitar Hero: World Tour
Release Nov 12, 2008
PublisherActivision
RatingParental Guidance
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