Guitar Hero World Tour: Impressions

[SirFozzie]

Not in the mood for doing the Here We Go Boyz part

Well, I picked this up. I really wish I hadn't. Fair warning, I'm an utter Rock Band/Harmonix fanboy, so I may have a bias here.

First off: Immersion-wise: There's just too many things that knock you out of the experience of pretending you're playing a song. Those little popups "Fast Start! 50 Note Streak! 100 Note Streak! Star Power Ready!" etcetera. The lightning flickering around the screen when you activate overdrive. Finish a song, instead of Rock Band's celebrating concert style, "You Rock!" appears on the screen, and an angel and devil's hand blow it to pieces. It's reminders that you're not rocking out.. you're pretending to rock out.

Career mode isn't as good as Rock Band's World Tour. Instead of travelling from place to place, and having 15+ gigs to play, depending on what you want to do (single song, or set list, random setlist or make your own), you have a bulletin board where you have five sets on it. That's it.

I tried to thinkof what the graphics and motions on the screen reminded me of, and then it hit me. Remember the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland? Before all the movies came out. The one with the animatronic robots? Yeah, that's what the graphics remind me of. Very overstated facial features, very herky-jerky motion (especially with the drummer), and again, it pulls you away from the belief that you're on stage rocking out.

The Neversoft Artificial Difficulty Level strikes again. I dare any of you to play Hot for Teacher, and not go "What the FUCK?".. even on Medium. Once again, Neversoft has overtracked the songs, adding bits that don't correspond to the song to make it harder in an attempt to please the top 1% of people who play the game, for whom Expert is too easy.

Too many gimmicks, like the slide bar (Look for notes tied together by purple strings? WTF!). Too many ads (Giant AT&T billboards, etcetera).

The fact that about a quarter of the set list is already out in RB/RB2 doesn't help either.

If it wasn't for the RB series, this would be a good game, even great (how much of this is because of the base thing of rocking out=cool? I dunno). But this effort falls FAR short of Rock Band 1, never mind Rock Band 2.

so, am I the outlier, or am I right here?

[Ajaxab]

If what you say is true about the artificial difficulty levels, then we have a repeat of the 'programmers who make music games' GH designers verses the 'musicians who program games' RB designers. I'll take the latter in a heartbeat.

[Tasan]

Impressions? Really?

This place is slipping.

[cartman]

There are only 16 songs that are on both GH and RB. So that means you are getting basically 68 new songs in GH:WT. Considering that the going rate for DLC is around $5 for 3 songs, the value per song in GH:WT isn't too bad.

[Mota]

I really enjoy the setlist in this game. It also seems to be fun to play so far. My biggest concern was the quality of the drums. It's ridiculous how bad they are. It's bad enough to the point I think they should do a recall on all kits, far worse than the RB1 kit problems.

I haven't really encountered the overtracking yet but I play on Hard on guitars, not Expert. Drumming on medium did seem to be considerably harder than Rock Band's equivalent, but that could also be due to the fact that I have to wail on the drums like I'm trying to kill them to register anything, and they still drop at least 20% of my hits.

I'm returning mine, thanks. Will buy the standalone game and just play with my Les Paul controller and RB1 drums.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wow. I have been trying to decide whether to pick up RB2 or GH:WT as I don't have any instrument sets yet. I just noticed on a couple of websites that Gamestop has put out a nationwide stop to taking any returns on the GH:WT guitars and is telling all customers to return the guitars directly to the manufacturer due to widespread defect rates. The problem in the guitars has to do with the strum bar. It will sometimes stop registering the strum bar for no apparant reason. Anyone having this problem is being told to return the guitar directly to the manufacturer rather than the retail outlet.

[FrogMan]

my wife was offered GH:WT for PS2 with a guitar for $40. Seems the guy who bought it last weekend has decided to shell out the cash and will be getting a PS3 or something like that.

Even without the drum, I'm sure we'll pull enough fun for $40, while getting an extra guitar.

Her friend said they used their Rock Brand drumkit with GH:WT and it worked. Is that possible?

FM

[wade moore]

I'm waiting until Christmas to get one of these, so glad impressions are coming out now. Sounds like what I expected - RB2 is the way to go. GH:WT's only benefit really is the create your own song thing - so I'd be curious for feedback on that.

[Mota]

Create song is neat, they've already released a Mario theme and Zelda theme. I'm sure they won't last online for long before being taken down. No copyright stuff is allowed.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Mota

Create song is neat, they've already released a Mario theme and Zelda theme. I'm sure they won't last online for long before being taken down. No copyright stuff is allowed.

Are the note charts nuts on the custom songs? I remember trying this altered Guitar Hero 2 once, and it had custom songs people made. The note charts were only made for Expert, and were so impossibly insane that I never played it again.

[Huckleberry]

Supposed to arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to it, and some of SirFozzie's concerns aren't that important to me as my band will include me, my wife, and our 7- and 4-year-old daughters.

[Mota]

Beginner mode is a big help for the kids. My 4 year old can finally play the guitar. You just need to play to the beat, and not play specific notes.

The note charts for the uploaded songs really vary. I think the Zelda / Mario ones were super-basic because they were created on launch day. There was a song that was called "PM me if you can pass this" and it was ridiculous noodling for 3 minutes straight that would be impossible. So it does vary.

[Huckleberry]

Okay, so I fiddled around a little with my copy last night.

I had the drums issue but fixed it by adjusting my angle of attack. I had the drum pads too high relative to my body position.

The vocals are pretty much impossible to screw up. Not sure what's going on there, but pitch is completely irrelevant. I 5-starred No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn by just holding a constant sound and then switching to a different note from time to time. And I can't sing. At all. Probably worse than you're even imagining right now.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Her friend said they used their Rock Brand drumkit with GH:WT and it worked. Is that possible?

replying to myself to confirm that yes! the Rock Band drum set works just about fine with GH:WT on the PS2. About fine because there is one limitation. At least one that I know of so far. With four colored pads as opposed to the five pads that the GH:WT drum has, you can't hit star power since it's done by hitting the two symbals simultaneously.

The funny thing is that the color notes on the screen are adjusted to four notes accross instead of showing five notes as you would expect with a GH:WT drum set. That way, you can still play drum and rock it. Anyway, I only tried one song and it worked fine on medium but I can't vouch for how the impact of not having the star power thing on higher dificulty levels.

Oh, and I also tried the Rock Band microphone and that worked with it too...

FM

[Mota]

The microphones are exactly the same. It's Logitech that OEM's both of them.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I played the Wii version at a friend's house last night, and I totally screwed up the singing. Got booed off the stage two or three times on some song I'd never heard before. I enjoyed the game, though. Rock Band 2 seems to be more forgiving on the vocals, but the guitar experience was similar to me. I didn't even bother with drums, but my wife and our friend agreed that the drums were just frustrating. Then again, I find the Rock Band drums frustrating, so I guess that's just not my thing.

[MikeVic]

Do the GH drums have a kick pedal?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Do the GH drums have a kick pedal?

Yes.

[Karlifornia]

Guitar Hero world tour has an At The Drive-In song on their setlist...case closed, unless rock band does it, too.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Found this press release on a music site last night

METALLICA 'GUITAR HERO' DETAILS REVEALED:

January 26, 2009

In addition to 28 Metallica tunes, game features tracks by Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, System of a Down, more.

Metallica are so excited about their upcoming "Guitar Hero" video game that they couldn't wait to tell their fans what songs were in it.

The band's official Web site recently revealed the full set list of songs that will appear in "Guitar Hero: Metallica," due March 29, which includes 28 tracks spanning Metallica's entire career, as well as tunes from 21 other artists, such as Foo Fighters, Slayer, Queen, Alice in Chains, Lynyrd Skynyrd System of a Down.

"Metallica gave us input on guest artists they'd like to see in their game, bands that they felt were really important to them," the game's lead designer, Alan Flores, told MTV News during a demo in New York earlier this month. "Guitar Hero: Metallica" is similar to November's full-band music game, "Guitar Hero: World Tour," but players will get to jam to songs strictly by Metallica and the musicians that inspire them.

The game's plot line is based on a true story of European fans who attended every Metallica show until they were finally invited by the band to open for them onstage. Players will take on the role of musicians trying to follow in Metallica's footsteps, but they'll also be able to play as singer James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.

"The very first thing you do is you play as Metallica," Flores explained. "We wanted to hit you hard, and we didn't want to put that off."

Flores, a longtime Metallica fan himself who's worked on past "Guitar Hero" games, said that when his company, Activision Blizzard, showed the band their work on June's "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," it was a no-brainer. "They were really impressed by it, and they basically wanted a similar treatment," he said. "So we took that as a blueprint and crammed a lot of new bonus stuff in there."

The bonus material includes virtual re-creations of the venues Metallica's played in, pop-up trivia about the band's history and lyrics, unlockable videos of live performances and exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage from their motion-capture sessions.

The biggest addition is the "expert-plus" difficulty to all the gameplay modes, which adds a second bass pedal so that "Guitar Hero" drummers can play double bass drum tracks with both feet, just like Ulrich does. The second bass pedal, compatible with the existing "Guitar Hero: World Tour" drum peripheral, will be sold in stores separately when "Guitar Hero: Metallica" is released.

"It's a game that can be really hard if you're up for that challenge," Flores said. "But if you want to get in there and just play some songs, it's there for you. Even if you don't like Metallica but you like 'Guitar Hero,' the songs are just so fun to play."

The track list for "Guitar Hero: Metallica," according to Metallica's Web site:

Metallica Tracks:
"All Nightmare Long"
"Battery"
"Creeping Death"
"Disposable Heroes"
"Dyers Eve"
"Enter Sandman"
"Fade to Black"
"Fight Fire With Fire"
"For Whom the Bell Tolls"
"Frantic"
"Fuel"
"Hit the Lights"
"King Nothing"
"Master of Puppets"
"Mercyful Fate (Medley)"
"No Leaf Clover"
"Nothing Else Matters"
"One"
"Orion"
"Sad but True"
"Seek and Destroy"
"The Memory Remains"
"The Shortest Straw"
"The Thing That Should Not Be"
"The Unforgiven"
"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"
"Wherever I May Roam"
"Whiplash"

Other Artists:
Alice in Chains - "No Excuses"
Bob Seger - "Turn the Page"
Corrosion of Conformity - "Albatross"
Diamond Head - "Am I Evil?"
Foo Fighters - "Stacked Actors"
Judas Priest - "Hell Bent for Leather"
Kyuss - "Demon Cleaner"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Tuesday's Gone"
Machine Head - "Beautiful Mourning"
Mastodon - "Blood and Thunder"
Mercyful Fate - "Evil"
Michael Schenker Group - "Armed and Ready"
Motorhead - "Ace of Spades"
Queen - "Stone Cold Crazy"
Samhain - "Mother of Mercy"
Slayer - "War Ensemble"
Social Distortion - "Mommy's Little Monster"
Suicidal Tendencies - "War Inside My Head"
System of a Down - "Toxicity"
The Sword - "The Black River"
Thin Lizzy - "The Boys Are Back in Town"

Courtesy of TV Shows, Video Clips, Music Video, Lyrics, Photos | TV Schedule | VH1.com

[DeToxRox]

With GH: Metallica out next week, I am going to buy GH: WT. Seems like it's not nearly as good as RB2. That said, will the instruments for RB2 be compatible with GH: Metallica or do I need to buy GH: WT?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

With GH: Metallica out next week, I am going to buy GH: WT. Seems like it's not nearly as good as RB2. That said, will the instruments for RB2 be compatible with GH: Metallica or do I need to buy GH: WT?

I sure as hell hope so since we've pre-ordered GH:M on that basis. I've been told yes, sure hope that's correct.

[MJ4H]

MY IMPRESSIONS ARE NOT FAVORABLE AFTER JUST FAILING VICARIOUS AT 99%

[MizzouRah]

GH Metallica is like crack. I love this game!!!

I use the RB stuff with it with no problems!

[Mota]

I'll credit DarkJoker with being my main motivation to keep going in this game. he's always a step ahead of me in the leaderboards.

But ACK ... that Metallica game is hard. I just got pounded on Hit The Lights, passed it on Hard but only 3 stars. Tough song, and there's way harder yet to come!

[MikeVic]

I keep forgetting, but can you use this kit to play Rock Band? Are there any downsides to this game over Rock Band 2? I briefly skimmed the thread and Rock Band stuff works with this game, but not sure if the opposite is true. Also it seems like the guitars and drums for GH:WT suck...? I'm just asking because in a week, Best Buy will have this on sale for $100Cdn... so for half price maybe I'd pick this up if it's worth it.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I keep forgetting, but can you use this kit to play Rock Band? Are there any downsides to this game over Rock Band 2? I briefly skimmed the thread and Rock Band stuff works with this game, but not sure if the opposite is true. Also it seems like the guitars and drums for GH:WT suck...? I'm just asking because in a week, Best Buy will have this on sale for $100Cdn... so for half price maybe I'd pick this up if it's worth it.

The big caution I always give people with GH is that it has no true career mode. You run through the list of songs, that's it.

Outside of that, I think there are personal preferences about the instruments - I have heard as many people say they prefer GH instruments as I've heard those that prefer the RB ones.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I keep forgetting, but can you use this kit to play Rock Band? Are there any downsides to this game over Rock Band 2? I briefly skimmed the thread and Rock Band stuff works with this game, but not sure if the opposite is true. Also it seems like the guitars and drums for GH:WT suck...? I'm just asking because in a week, Best Buy will have this on sale for $100Cdn... so for half price maybe I'd pick this up if it's worth it.

I don't know about other systems but for the Wii, I know the you can use GH:WT instruments with RB2 but you can't use RB2 with GH:WT. That's why I went with the instruments for GH:WT.

When I was playing with the instruments in store, trying them out, I thought the guitar for GH felt better and that's the instrument I'm most interested in. For the drums, the layouts are kindof different so it's a little tough to play one drum set on the other game but I'm not that good at drums anyways.

That said, I haven't played as much RB2, but that's more for a lack of time. The set list for GH:WT is a little light, but I think that's true for both games- a lot more fluff than in GH1-3.

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I keep forgetting, but can you use this kit to play Rock Band? Are there any downsides to this game over Rock Band 2? I briefly skimmed the thread and Rock Band stuff works with this game, but not sure if the opposite is true. Also it seems like the guitars and drums for GH:WT suck...? I'm just asking because in a week, Best Buy will have this on sale for $100Cdn... so for half price maybe I'd pick this up if it's worth it.

Rock Band 2 bundle just had a universal price drop. You can pick it up pretty cheap as well.

I picked up the Rock Band 2 bundle after being a GH player for some time. I gave away my Guitar Hero guitars and would never consider going back. The RB guitars are much nicer IMO. RB2 drums are very nice. Don't get the original RB drums. RB instruments will work with GH games on PS3 and 360.

[MJ4H]

Guitar Hero guitar > RB guitar
Guitar Hero drums >>>>>>>> RB drums

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Rock Band 2 bundle just had a universal price drop. You can pick it up pretty cheap as well.

I picked up the Rock Band 2 bundle after being a GH player for some time. I gave away my Guitar Hero guitars and would never consider going back. The RB guitars are much nicer IMO. RB2 drums are very nice. Don't get the original RB drums. RB instruments will work with GH games on PS3 and 360.

Yeah, I've heard about RB working on GH... but is the opposite true? Can I buy the GH:WT set and then buy Rock Band the game and use that?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Guitar Hero guitar > RB guitar
Guitar Hero drums >>>>>>>> RB drums

fail

[MJ4H]

YOU FAIL

[MikeVic]

So I bought this for $100 at Best Buy today for my PS3. Looking forward to it.

[BigDawg]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

So I bought this for $100 at Best Buy today for my PS3. Looking forward to it.

I also got it used today, just the game as I have all my rockband stuff. Works preaty good with GH but I only got it to play a few songs not on rockband like the TOOL stuff.

Right now I think rockband is up to about 700 songs so I trade this GH back in after playing thru it and get me more xbox live points to add to my rockband songs.

I still waiting rockband or GH someone please get some ZEPPELIN dam it !!!!

[stevew]

so, yeah, i think its 89 for xbox360

I've never played GH, but it seems like it would be fun at that pricepoint, plus you get the drums, etc, right?

[cartman]

They've now announced the full set list for Guitar Hero 5. It is supposed to work with already DLed content for GH:WT. Finally, "Sultans of Swing" has made it to one of these games! I haven't gotten the last few GH titles, but this list might move me back. I'd get at least a week out of the game, before The Beatles: Rock Band comes out!

New Additions

• 3 Doors Down - "Kryptonite"
• Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm"
• Blink-182 - "The Rock Show"
• Dire Straits - "Sultans Of Swing"
• Jimmy Eat World - "Bleed American"
• Johnny Cash - "Ring Of Fire"
• Megadeth - "Sweating Bullets"
• Mötley Crüe - "Looks That Kill"
• Muse - "Plug In Baby"
• Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
• Queen & David Bowie - "Under Pressure"
• Stevie Wonder - "Superstition"
• The Killers - "All The Pretty Faces"
• The Raconteurs - "Steady As She Goes"
• TV On The Radio - "Wolf Like Me"

Previously Announced

• A Perfect Circle - "Judith"
• AFI - "Medicate"
• Attack! Attack! UK - "You And Me"
• Band Of Horses - "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands"
• Beastie Boys - "Gratitude"
• Beck - "Gamma Ray"
• Billy Idol - "Dancing With Myself"
• Billy Squier - "Lonely Is The Night"
• Blur - "Song 2"
• Bob Dylan - "All Along The Watchtower"
• Bon Jovi - "You Give Love A Bad Name"
• Brand New - "Sowing Season (Yeah)"
• The Bronx - "Six Days A Week"
• Bush - "Comedown"
• Children Of Bodom - "Done With Everything, Die For Nothing"
• Coldplay - "In My Place"
• Darker My Love - "Blue Day"
• Darkest Hour - "Demon(s)"
• David Bowie - "Fame"
• Deep Purple - "Woman From Tokyo ('99 Remix)"
• The Derek Trucks Band - "Younk Funk"
• The Duke Spirit - "Send A Little Love Token"
• Duran Duran - "Hungry Like The Wolf"
• Eagles Of Death Metal - "Wannabe In L.A."
• Elliott Smith - "L.A."
• Elton John - "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)"
• Face To Face - "Disconnected"
• Garbage - "Only Happy When It Rains"
• Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc."
• Gov't Mule - "Streamline Woman"
• Grand Funk Railroad - "We're An American Band"
• Iggy Pop - "Lust For Life (Live)"
• Iron Maiden - "2 Minutes To Midnight"
• Jeff Beck - "Scatterbrain (Live)"
• John Mellencamp - "Hurts So Good"
• Kaiser Chiefs - "Never Miss A Beat"
• King Crimson - "21st Century Schizoid Man"
• Kings Of Leon - "Sex On Fire"
• Kiss - "Shout It Out Loud"
• Love and Rockets - "Mirror People"
• My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"
• Nirvana - "Lithium (Live)"
• No Doubt - "Ex-Girlfriend"
• Peter Frampton - "Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)"
• The Police - "So Lonely"
• Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde - "Bring the Noise 20XX"
• Queens Of The Stone Age - "Make It Wit Chu"
• Rammstein – "Du Hast"
• The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy For The Devil"
• Rose Hill Drive - "Sneak Out"
• Rush - "The Spirit Of Radio (Live)"
• Santana - "No One To Depend On (Live)"
• Scars On Broadway - "They Say"
• Screaming Trees - "Nearly Lost You"
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
• Sonic Youth - "Incinerate"
• Spacehog - "In The Meantime"
• Sublime - "What I Got"
• Sunny Day Real Estate - "Seven"
• T. Rex - "20th Century Boy"
• The Sword - "Maiden, Mother & Crone"
• Thin Lizzy - "Jailbreak"
• Thrice - "Deadbolt"
• Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down A Dream"
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "American Girl"
• Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"
• Weezer - "Why Bother?"
• The White Stripes - "Blue Orchid"
• Wild Cherry - "Play That Funky Music"
• Wolfmother - "Back Round"