I’m going to assume that you’ve already read the reviews of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the latest installment in a long line of music rhythm games from the Activision franchise of the same name. I’m going to assume that you already know whether you want to buy this game or not, since most hard core fans of this gaming genre have already purchased it. Finally, I’m also going to assume that some of you are going to agree with my own personal subjective assessment of this game, and some of you are not. I’m going to ask you to read on anyway.
Game: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Neversoft
Genre: Rhythm Game
Price: $99.99 With Guitar, $59.99 standalone
Verdict: Nothing new to see here; tired
Pros: Guitar peripheral is solid and looks fantastic
Cons: setlist and thematic content could distance players from the gameplay
Guitar bundle acquired via Publisher
I’m going to say something else here–I’m not the target demographic for this game. Back in the day, when Iron Maiden and Quiet Riot ruled my cassette deck, when Heavy Metal the Movie was on laser disc, I might have been. Maybe. The concept of a quest-based rhythm game isn’t a bad one, but I was immediately turned off by the over-the-top metal-head demonology storyline. It seems to me like Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has aimed itself squarely at the young men of the current generation who still think that a giant battle axe and heavily studded shoulder pads are the height of cool. Of the 93 songs in the on-disc songlist, I know just under 20. And none of those are what I’d consider “Warriors of Rock”–Tom Petty’s “Listen To Her Heart,” really?
Here at Games Are Evil, we’ve gotten many game review packages in the mail over the past couple of years. One thing I’ve learned is to be wary of a package with lots of extras and sweet collectibles. So it was with some trepidation that I opened the large brown box that Activision sent us, unsolicited, to find the entire Guitar Hero game bundle, complete with game and guitar. Games with this type of pedigree from large publishers rarely show up at our door unsolicited, and rarely with all the trimmings.
The guitar itself is a well-designed, solid peripheral that iterates the traditional Guitar Hero guitar peripherals with the clicky strum bar and quality easily-pressed colored buttons along the neck. The “wings” of the guitar body can be switched out with ones that make the guitar look like an axe, which fits right in with the Heavy Metal theme. The Quest gameplay, this game’s version of Career Mode, is slightly entertaining at first, in a “ooh, look how silly the Heavy Metal genre can be.” We get to play different characters, many of whom have appeared in previous Guitar Hero games, across many shred-tastic metal hits to unlock their special powers, like extra star power earning potential or a higher multiplier maximum. Then I noticed something. There is not a trace of irony here; these folks are playing it straight.
When I played Guitar Hero 5, as a long-time Rock Band veteran, I was surprised how much I liked it. The gameplay was refreshingly solid, easily learned, and the little differences from Rock Band–camera shake when notes are missed, rounded buttons with white stars on them for hammer-ons–had me smiling and getting into the gameplay as much as on any Rock Band version. The joy of playing rhythm games, for me, is the ability to connect to music as a player, rather than as a spectator, at a higher level and across a wide range of musical styles and musical instruments than I can in real life. In real life, I can play rhythm guitar, a little bass, and I can sing. In a game like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, I can play drums, bass guitar, lead vocals and/or harmonies, and lead guitar in songs that I have not learned well enough to master in my real life. I assert that the popularity of these rhythm games has much to do with this sort of wish and talent-fulfillment than any trappings of story, whether said story be about traveling in a touring rock band (Rock Band 1&2, Guitar Hero 5), stepping into the shoes of a famous band (The Beatles Rock Band, Green Day), or raising the Arch Demon Lord from his imprisonment (Warriors of Rock). I do believe, however, that the amount of ludo-narrative dissonance in this particular game leads to an essential disconnect from the gameplay.
Consider this–in the previous incarnations of Guitar Hero, there’s been a direct connection between what players DO, i.e. holding plastic replicas of rock and roll instruments and playing along to popular songs in the genre, and the storyline they SEE. It makes sense that I am holding a guitar, because that’s what’s going on on the screen. I’m a struggling rock musician moving through the dirty venues on the way to the top. In this version of Guitar Hero, however, I have no such easy connection between the storyline and the activity I’m participating in. I’m not slashing a battle-axe shaped guitar through hordes of demons to reach my own lord and master. I really think this dissonance is what makes this particular player feel like he’s pressing buttons on a plastic toy rather than playing the bass in a rock and roll band, in tune with the rest of my band members. Which, when I think about it, is another disconnect within this game.
I’ve always found playing band-based rhythm games a far more enjoyable experience when I have other musicians around me, either in the room or connected via multiplayer across the internet. When that’s not possible, I find the single player modes of these games more fun when the other band members are a permanent part of my team. Rock Band does this very well, as did Guitar Hero 5. I felt like my band was a group of fairly permanent other individuals, upon whom I could rely to carry the tune forward. Perhaps this is a direct result of my own musical experience in bands since the early 1990s, but I’m assuming many other gamers feel similarly. Warriors of Rock really focuses in the Quest Mode on a single Warrior, battle-axe guitar in hand, rocking through the sets to evolve to the next level of rock demi-godness. That doesn’t immerse me in the game as much as the other storylines do.
This isn’t a bad game. The setlist is definitely skewed toward the metal-esque, lead distorted guitar fronted music. The Rush 2112 level is fantastic and a great way to play through songs I’d never be able to in real life. I’ve been a long-time Rush fan and was most looking forward to playing through these songs. Unfortunately, this bit of joy in an otherwise dull and repetitive game isn’t enough to make me want to recommend it to my friends or Twitter buddies. Bottom line, this game brings nothing to the table that hasn’t already been there in earlier games, and the choice of storyline and thematic content further divorces the larger group of non-hardcore metal heads from the gameplay and potential immersive nature of such games. Personally, I’m waiting for Rock Band 3, which at least seems to bring something new to the table.
GrE Grade: C-
Popularity: unranked [?]
