Mercifully, the final of the many plastic instrument games released in 2009 was "Guitar Hero: Van Halen," which hit stores in the month of December...well, sort of. Months before its release, Activision announced a deal where, if you purchased "Guitar Hero 5" within its launch month, they would send you a free copy of "Guitar Hero: Van Halen." It was not that bad a deal, but many felt that Activision sending it out for free mere months before its planned retail release was an indication that they didn't have much faith in the finished product. And truth be told, after playing the game when it did come to stores...that's pretty plain to see.
Don't get it twisted, "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" does the standard things that make a good "Guitar Hero" game: there's plenty of fun to be had with the multiplayer in the game, it's nice getting to have the songs available from the start, and a lot of them are very fun to play (especially on the guitar). The songs can be challenging, but fortunately, not overwhelming to deal with, and they're plenty of fun to play.
That's about where the positives end. As a band-centric title, the game really fails to pay much homage to the lineage and history of the group it's based on, missing some big tracks from several parts of the group's history, and also lacking some of the other big members that were in the group in the past. Most of the game feels like a revisionist take on Van Halen, and even though there's a good selection of tracks, there's only just barely more Van Halen tracks than tracks from guest artists. And while I personally don't mind some of the non-Van Halen tracks, the fact that there are so many of them makes this feel like a glorified track pack that just has "Van Halen" slapped onto it. That's a huge disappointment as, having been released in the same year as two excellent band-centric titles in "Guitar Hero: Metallica" and "The Beatles: Rock Band," expectations were heightened, and this game didn't nearly have the faithfulness to the source band to match up to those games. And from a gameplay perspective, forget just being "the same game," this is a very stripped-back version of "Guitar Hero." The game was released after "Guitar Hero 5," and yet, it lacks any of the new features or additions that were in the game with "Guitar Hero 5." It adds nothing new to "Guitar Hero," and the only reason worth buying it is to have the chance to play the difficult solos of songs like "Eruption," "Spanish Fly" and "I'm The One."
Overall, "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" is far and away the least essential game in the "Guitar Hero" franchise. As another entry in a franchise that was becoming milked to death, it really offers nothing new and feels like a slap in the face with how much is stripped back here. As a tribute to Van Halen, it's sadly revisionist and honestly insulting. Thus, even though it's occasionally fun, it's a failure as a band-centric game: it neither brings the gameplay forward in any meaningful ways (as "Guitar Hero: Metallica" did) nor does it play as a loving tribute to the group (as "The Beatles: Rock Band" did). You might get some fun challenge out of it, but it's definitely the most skippable "Guitar Hero" game of the bunch.
Final rating: 5 out of 10 "Hmm..."