For a game about Van Halen, this rushed and mediocre product does very little to be about Van Halen
GHVH is loosely based on, you guessed it, the Rock band Van Halen. When the game's career mode starts off with 'Panama' players get a good feel for what they have ahead of them musically: Van Halen's guitar style fits GH gameplay wonderfully. Every song has some kind of challenge to it and the Van Halen songs lack a dull moment gameplay-wise. The new guitar gameplay elements introduced in World Tour (added notes, slider sections, etc.) are occasionally overused but for the most part they enhance the gameplay more than they have in any previous entry in the series.
Unfortunately, the Van Halen value ends with the music. Aside from having 30 or so songs by the band, GHVH can hardly be called a game based on Van Halen at all. The "Career" mode gives players a list of songs with no catch whatsoever, and it doesn't even run through the band's career, which is just pathetic. Not to mention every other set of songs is comprised of guest acts, none of which are remotely related to Van Halen (although Yellowcard's "The Takedown" is loads of fun to play).
To make matters worse, there is a minimal amount of bonus content in the game. Seeing as it's based on a band, it should be natural to have some band interviews and maybe a bit of discography information and such, but there is nothing of the like. You can check out the lyrics for each song, but that's the full extent of the bonus content. GHVH utterly fails at being a game about Van Halen.
The lack of bonus content also comes through when considering the game's lasting value. The game includes slightly fewer than 50 songs; a small number compared to Guitar Hero 5 or even last year's Guitar Hero World Tour. With no extra content to unlock, the tendency for GHVH would be to play through the career to play the fun songs, and then never go back to the game except perhaps to play "Panama" again every once in a while. GHVH really doesn't last long, leaving buyers with far less value than they have every right to expect in a $50 game.
GHVH also manages to miserably fail in the graphics department. The game's graphics and performance animations are very poor; probably the worst yet seen in a Guitar Hero game. The character models are a bit choppy and the performances are stiff and uninteresting. One might hope that, since the game is based on a particular band, that the onscreen performances by the animated Van Halen would be interesting and entertaining, but they lack any such qualities. The band members barely look like they're playing the instruments they're holding. Presentation-wise, GHVH is very poor.
As icing on the cake of mediocrity, the GHVH engine and setup is caught somewhere in the transition between Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 5. Why wouldn't the game just run on the same engine and have similar presentation since it was being made at the same time as GH5? The graphics look like World Tour, but the onscreen scores and gauges are as tiny as in GH5. The career progression is a mix of the two games as well, playing set after set, only this time earning stars to progress. GH5's engine was much better than World Tour's, so to find the game getting caught in between is just sad.
GHVH offers a way to thoroughly enjoy a thoroughly mediocre video game. The elements that should be major draw-ins are either half-baked or nonexistent and the game hardly has anything to do with Van Halen, but its 30 or so Van Halen tracks and a few of the guest acts are some of the most fun songs to yet appear in a Guitar Hero title. Just make sure you're playing guitar. So while almost all the outside elements fail, Guitar Hero: Van Halen is still great fun because of the combination of gameplay and music. I recommend a rental because even though the game is thoroughly mediocre, it can still be thoroughly enjoyed, albeit for a very short time.
Positive:
+ Excellent, fun Van Halen song choices with the proper guitar focus
+ Newer gameplay elements are put to full use
Negative:
- The game hardly has anything to do with Van Halen aside from half the song list
- Too many guest acts, none of which have anything to do with Van Halen
- Severe lack of bonus content and lasting value
- Graphics are poor, performances are bland and unappealing
- Game engine is caught in transition
5.7/10