Best instruments released to date for ANY game, combined with a SOLID setlist, make World Tour worth hittin the road!
Simply put, this game ROCKS....hard.
Personally, I've never liked the Rock Band guitar, so it wasn't ever really hard for the GH hardware to top it. With that said, the new World Tour guitar is just about the most amazing peripheral I've used. The strum bar is a vast improvement over the previous GH guitars. I've never been all that great at "upstrumming", yet with the new guitar, it really feels like I've been able to upstrum for a long time. it's a bit larger and has a bit of a knobby tip to it, making it extremely easy to find a comfortale grip. The addition of the palm mute to deploy star power is another welcome addition, especially for those who have trouble tilting the guitar up and playing notes simotaneously (Hi, honey! LOL!)
I have to say, though, that my favorite addition to the new guitar is by far the touch strip. It may sound like a novelty at first, but it has multiple uses and all are executed quite well. For instance, you can simply tap on it in any position while holding down fret buttons instead of using the strum bar. Another use for the new touch strip is the ability to modify the sound of sustained notes, much like the whammy bar. The COOLEST use of the new strip though, in my opinion, are in conjunction with the new "transparent notes". These can be played my simply tapping on the touch strip in the corresponding fret position. Furthermore, there are sections where the transparent notes are tied together with wavy, purple lines. these sections are played like hammer-ons. You simply slide your finger up and down the strip to move from one fret position to another. It takes a little getting used to, as all new things usually do, but once you have it down, it's a really cool new way to play!
Now on to the drums! In real life, yours truly is a drummer, so I tend to be alot more critical when I judge the drums. However, I can sum this part up very quickly. BEST. DRUMS. EVER! Seriously. They're uber quiet (far quieter than the new RB2 drums. I know this because while I was waiting at WalMart for midnight to roll around, I could hear someone playing the RB2 drums from clear across the electronics department), they have superb "bounce back" to them (super easy to do a drum roll if you wanted to), and they can be played more quietly or more loudly depending on how softly or how hard you hit the heads. Add to that the addition of actual cymbals, and you have my personal pick for best video game drums available (Well, that is unless you really feel like dropping an arm and a leg for a tricked out 3rd party set.)
Now for the set list. I think alot of people would agree that GH3 really dropped the ball. There were a few gems in there, but all in all, it was a pretty big let down. World Tour brings the Guitar Hero franchise redemption in a BIG way. All original tracks, no covers. That RULES! There's a great variety of songs, and I have yet to play a song that not only sounds great, but has the notes mapped out really well. For example, "Eye of The Tiger" appears on both GHWT and RB2, however (in my opinion) not only does the song sound better (including a MUCH better ending to the song), but the way the notes are mapped out makes for a far better play through. That's all I really have to say about the songlist side of things. We all have different opinions about what specifics we'd like to see in the game (I'm a diehard Coheed & Cambria fan, so I'd love to see they're entore discography in there! LOL!), so I won't start any huge debates on that topic.
Anyways, that wraps it up for me. Oh, except I need to say one more thing. The guy that who gave this game a 3.5 and said it was "too little, too late" is out of his damn mind.