Guitar Hero: World Tour First look
We get our first look at Guitar Hero's foray into the multi-instrument scene, including a glance at the surprisingly deep song-creation process.
We've known for some time that the next iteration of the Guitar Hero franchise would feature multiple instruments, but it's been anyone's guess as to how Activision and Neversoft would attempt to put their stamp on their inaugural entry into the multi-instrument genre. Thankfully, much less guessing is required now that we've had the opportunity to see Guitar Hero: World Tour in action. Members of the Neversoft development team treated us to a performance of some newly announced songs, filling in extended breaks between sets with a little bit of the character-customization process and a whole lot of the song-creation options.
Neversoft began the demo with an overview of its new hardware. The drums look just as they did in the photos that recently made the rounds: three eight-inch pads, a kick pedal, and a pair of elevated cymbals combining for six full inputs. What we didn't know is just how soft these pads look. Neversoft stressed the work it has put into them, relying on plenty of silicon to provide a strike both quiet and responsive. As for the cymbals, they seem to have a surprising amount of give. Far from an elevated, stiff drum pad, they oscillate nicely while still registering quick taps. The drum kit will be wireless, but it hasn't yet been decided what sort of batteries will be required. They're aiming for a pair of AA batteries just like the wireless GH guitars, but that's still very much up in the air.
As for the microphone, it's a standard wired Logitech mic. There's nothing terribly fancy about it, but weights have been added to give it the feel of a much more expensive piece of hardware. Aspiring vocalists shouldn't expect to see much different from what they've experienced in Rock Band, both in terms of hardware and gameplay. The singer's chunk of the screen looks very familiar, with words scrolling from right to left and a pitch gauge telling you just how well or poorly you're matching the original singer.
And we certainly can't forget the instrument that made this series famous. The guitar is no longer modeled after the iconic designs of the Gibson company, instead taking the form of a license-free body that struck us as particularly heavy metal. It's a bit bigger, too, falling somewhere between the old Guitar Hero models and the Rock Band Stratocaster. The big new addition is what Neversoft is calling the "touch strip." Essentially, it's a touch-sensitive section of the guitar neck right next to the standard, multicolored buttons. The touch strip doesn't stand out from the rest of the neck, so you might not even realize it's there if you're not familiar with your new hardware. What this touch strip does is act as a multipurpose tool for several inputs and effects. One use is finger-tapping guitar solos, but you can also swipe your finger along it, side-to-side, to mess with the sustain on your held notes and provide a sound very different from the whammy bar. You can also use it to affect the synth sounds during songs with heavy keyboard usage. Finally, a new button has been added to the bridge to let you palm mute chords.
With hardware introductions out of the way, Neversoft took to the proverbial stage. It began with Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell," later performing The Foo Fighters' "Everlong" and "Santeria" by Sublime. Other bands that have been officially announced include Linkin Park, Van Halen, and The Eagles, but no specific tunes related to these groups have yet been made public. The way each band member occupies the screen should feel familiar to anyone who's played multiplayer Guitar Hero or, closer still, Rock Band. The drummer, guitar, and bass occupy the bottom of the screen, with the drummer's note highway sitting right in the middle. The singer's lyric ticker is located at the top of the screen, while the band's progress and multiplier information is quartered off in the top-left area of the screen. The biggest difference in user interface between World Tour and Rock Band is the band's progress meter: Rather than having every instrument bouncing up and down on one gauge, all four get their own slightly smaller meters to tell them how well they're doing overall. As for what happens when a band member sinks to the bottom of that bar and fails out, the Neversoft crew was a little too good to let that happen, so we'll have to wait to see how that particular mechanic works (but our guess is on Star Power).
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Related Unions
- Activision Blizzard
- Neversoft Ent.
- Rhythm / Music
- Release: Oct 26, 2008 »
- ESRB: Teen
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