In just about everyway, Band Hero is exactly like Guitar Hero 5. It has the same ability to just in and out of songs, the same ability for multiple people to play the same instrument, the same song creator and the same gameplay. What it does differently though is offer a more casual presentation and song list. The easiest way to describe the focus of Band Hero is probably to think of it like a ‘family friendly’ pink and purple version of Guitar Hero. Instead of Dragonforce, you get Taylor Swift, instead of Metallica you can expect Maroon 5, No Doubt, Fall Out Boy, Lilly Allen…you get the jist.
If you hate pop music you’ll probably steer clear, and while I offer no affection towards music on the charts, playing the instruments along to some of these songs though was probably more enjoyable then I would usually let on. Now while there is plenty of current pop music, the best parts for me was playing some of the more memorable/forgettable music from the 80s. You have Devo “Whip It”, David Bowie “Let’s Dance”, Big Country “In a Big Country”, The Go-Gos “Our lips are sealed” just to name a few. Obviously an attempt by Activision to create a tracklist that parents and kids would enjoy playing together and for the most part I think they’ve done a great job.
Just like in GH5, there are instrument challenges to complete that will in turn unlock costumes and other assorted goodies you can use to customize your avatar, the career mode follows the same stripped down approach that GH5 used so expect to see malls instead of seedy rock venues. Honestly everything is almost the same except for the fact that everything is covered in bright colours, even the regular characters are all given a fashion makeover and look like they belong on a MTV show rather than on the cover of an old metal album. Instead of rock mags, you’ll be the talk of tabloids, perform at parties filled with little fashionistas, all that stuff that 13 year olds seem to be into these days (and yes I realize I sound ancient).
Party play mode was the first thing I did when I fired it up, let me explain. I don’t have people who are the best at playing instruments and have only casually played this game; you don’t fail a song if someone is doing a bad job and you can change your instrument on the fly and chose any song from the large playlist. It is the perfect mode for a party. Easy. I probably wouldn’t of bothered going deeper into the career mode and song maker except I was writing this review and the brilliant Party Play mode is once again a stroke of genius for the casual market, or those drunken parties when you and a few friends want to have a laugh or two. I actually prefer playing this game in those scenarios because playing a Village People song is hilarious over something more serious.
Let’s move on to the instruments themselves. Now, I didn’t get all the instruments when I reviewed GH5 and instead I ended up using older instruments from Rock Band and GH 3: Legends of Rock. I know that the drums used in World Tour had their shortcomings like unresponsive cymbals, but I didn’t have that problem with the new drums that came with Band Hero. They worked when I hit them and seemed sensitive enough that they recorded a hit without having to bash the crap out of them. I liked the soft rubber feel of the drum pads themselves, a welcome change to the tinny plastic clang my Rock Band drums have. I didn’t even need to mod the drumsticks by wrapping foam around the ends.
With the recent release of Lego Rock Band and now Band Hero, the casual market finally has their own little corner of the music/plastic instrument genre. While the biggest problem with Band Hero is that it feels like a re-skinned version of Guitar Hero rather than a whole new original concept unto itself like DJ Hero, it still serves as a great example of how much fun the music genre still continues to be, even if it is fast becoming over-saturated. The instruments are great, but if I’m not mistaken, they’re exactly the same instruments that came with the GH package, so collectors won’t feel the need to get the box set again. I would’ve loved/been ashamed to admit that I owned some pink and purple guitars and drum kits. It would’ve been so funny to upload a video on YouTube playing a Dragonforce song using them.
Overall:
All in all it’s a slick package and still offers the best fun in the music genre. You can still access the GHstore and can also import all your songs from previous GH games…for a price of course which sucks. Still at least it beats having to change the disc every two seconds. On one hand it feels like an obvious attempt to cash in on the popularity of the genre but on the other hand it still is a good guitar hero game if you’re part of the key demographic. I gave GH5 full marks because of the small improvements and additional features it added, but I’m only giving Band Hero four stars because of the tracklist and that it does little else to make itself a game that should exist in it’s own right. If you’re a family man and wanna rock with the whole family, this game is for you. If you have a beard, drink beer and love AC/DC, you might wanna hold off until GH6 comes along.
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