By late 2009, "Guitar Hero" was becoming a franchise that many were growing tired of. As someone who got to witness the YouTube community for the game, 2009 was the year when a number of big players were either taken down thanks to copyright issues, pushed their focus to things other than "Guitar Hero," or just outright quit the game. Perhaps not helping matters was that, counting the "DJ Hero" spinoff, there were SIX major entries in the franchise released on consoles (plus others on handhelds, mobile, and arcades). The series was clearly running on fumes, but that's not to say some of the entries released in 2009 were bad. In fact, "Guitar Hero 5" was actually quite good.
As always, "Guitar Hero 5" retains a lot of the elements that have made "Guitar Hero" great, with solid visuals, excellent multiplayer fun, and an expansive setlist of songs (85 of them on the disc, to be exact). There's also a lot of great, accessible changes to the game that make it even better than before: for starters, it's nice that the game's entire setlist is available right from the start, and you don't have to play through the entire career mode just to unlock them all. From there, the addition of the Party Play mode is great, as it makes for a more relaxed addition of multiplayer for newer players. Also, I'm happy that the game added some great new features for the Music Studio, as you can make longer tracks and add your own Star Power to songs, making it easier to make better custom songs.
I think my biggest problem with "Guitar Hero 5" is that, while the game features an expansive setlist in terms of the number of tracks, I personally am not as crazy about a lot of them. It felt like the setlist was relatively accessible, but just not all that exciting. Also, maybe this is just me being the big fan of the series that I am, but I felt like the game was a bit too easy for my liking. Again, I'm happy that they made it easier for more family-oriented play, but I do wish a few songs had a bit more challenge to them.
Overall, "Guitar Hero 5" is another strong entry in the series. It's not exactly mind-blowing, and it's not one of the strongest games in the main series, but it's still a very solid entry (especially for casual players), and it's definitely worth playing if you have friends to enjoy it with.
Final rating: 8 out of 10 "Great"