For once, the Guitar Hero series moves in a direction that finally gives it some edge against Rock band
The past years have been less than kind for the Guitar Hero (GH) series. Ever since Harmonix jumped ship from Activision to MTV Games, the GH series has been in a constant state of decline. GH 3 was the first sign, an over-bloated and difficult experience. Then the band-specific games began with Aerosmith, than Metallica, than Van Halen, then Guitar Hero The Monkeys (no... I'm kidding haha). In between all of these spin offs, we've been shoveled Guitar Hero World Tour, which took the concept of a four piece band that Harmonix developed with Rock Band and spiced it up with the tongue in cheek humor the GH series had begun to slide into. GHWT was in my opinion, the last straw, and I had decided I would never own another GH game ever. And don't even get me started with Guitar Hero Smash Hits.
Okay, so it's fairly clear by now that I'm a Rock Band fanboy. But in saying that, Guitar Hero 5 is actually pretty cool.
To start with, the career has been reworked again. GHWT saw players progress through different venues, but having to play through five to six songs at any one time to unlock the next venue. It was pathetic. GH 5 instead goes back to the single song at a time structure, but with a big change. Unlock other GH games which required you simply pass a set number of songs to progress, you must instead earn stars to unlock new venues, and thus new songs to play. Earn 5 starts in a song? Well add 5 stars to your over-all star count linked in with your gamer profile. It's a cool new fresh feature.
On top of that, all songs are open to the player from the start, so, if you want to play with some friends, or jump online straight away, it means you don't have to finish the career mode to access all the songs the game has to offer.
When playing with friends, you can all play as the same instrument, and at different difficulty levels (though the dubious Beginner level still lives). In addition, when playing with friends, if someone bums out, by simply playing well you can tag them back in for non-stop rocking. All of these additions in the multiplayer portions of the game really gives GH 5 an edge on Rock Band. In my personal experience, multi-player with Rock Band is awkward, as some people don't want to do drums or bass, or even vocals. GH 5 really is inviting for anyone, as they can do whatever they want.
Guitar Hero 5 is good direction for this over-used and dying series. There are some really good features introduced here, which will no doubt be followed up with a sequel. Let's just hope Activision continue to evolve this series, because with Guitar Hero 5 I'm convinced that they can.