Guitar Hero World Tour was a bit rough around the edges as Guitar Hero finally integrated drumming and singing into mix to keep up with Rock Band, it’s main competitor, as well as the track creator which compared to the one that ships with Guitar Hero 5, you could tell was in it’s infancy. World Tour had a great track list but there were a few things that let it down in terms of pick up and play.  

Well after the release of Guitar Hero: Metallica and Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, Guitar Hero is back with it’s first proper sequel to World Tour, and it looks like they’re back to numbering them to avoid any confusion about it too. Just when you thought it was all starting to get a little stale, the great team at Neversoft have proved that they are more than capable of keeping this franchise alive and fresh. 

Its ok if you are thinking what I think you're thinking...

Straight out the gate you’ll have 85 songs available to you. The tracks are all very different from each other and cover at least the last three to four decades so there is something that will appeal to everyone. From Elton John to Iron Maiden, Megadeth to Peter Frampton, Bon Jovi to Nirvana and ‘It Smells like Teen Spirit’, there is so much diversity and so many enjoyable songs available, that you can’t help but be impressed by this remarkable selection. While it’s true that there is a little bit of filler, the majority is killer and because you don’t have to play through every song to get through career mode, it’s fairly simple to avoid those songs that you don’t like to play.  

The graphics in GH5 are probably the nicest they’ve ever been. Great character modelling, excellent animations, colourful and packed stadiums to play, like on a ferry underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, all seem quite epic and rather embellished which only helps towards giving the player that rock star satisfaction when you absolutely kill it.  

There are four real life rockers to unlock – Carlos Santana, the late Johnny Cash, Shirley Manson from Garbage and surprisingly there is Kurt Cobain from Nirvana as well. The last one has stirred a small whirlwind of controversy as it is argued by some that this is the reason why Kurt Cobain caught the early train out of here and that was the commercialization of Nirvana and Seattle rock in general. I will admit to not being the biggest Cobain fan in the world, so his inclusion here doesn’t worry me one little bit.   Once you’ve unlocked them, you can pretty much use them as the central character in any song you choose, making some funny moments when you see Shirley sing a Rammstein song, or watch Johnny Cash do something from the Beastie Boys. It’s fun, a bit inaccurate, maybe a little bit insensitive, but at the end of the day you gotta have a laugh right? 

The career mode is pretty much what you are expecting, but instead of unlocking new songs, each song has an instrument challenge that you can complete, which then unlocks additional characters or clothes and instruments, and I think this system is a lot more rewarding because you have the freedom to choose what songs appeal to you most. If you want to unlock everything, then of course you’re going to have to do everything, but at least this time you have a choice.  

Santana, a true pimp of the 'tar

The thing I loved is that with the quick play option you can play with any instrument on any songs. Say you have two people who want to play drums or want to play lead guitar at the same time? It’s funny that it’s taken so many games to finally get that option but GH5 has it! No longer will you have to take things in turn. One doesn’t have to be a bass player if one doesn’t want to! I don’t want to sound like an infomercial but it gets even better when you fire up the party play mode which removes the competitive aspect and just lets anyone play a song, change difficulties and instruments on the fly and just lets anyone have their own casual experience, all in real time. You don’t have to stop and pause the song, you don’t have to start again, you can experiment with the instruments and difficulty and see which one you find the most fun. This is the mode I can see the majority of people playing when they are with their friends or family and it is once again a stroke of genius that it was included here. It might seem like a simple thing and you find yourself asking why they didn’t think of it sooner.  

There are several other modes and options you can play, both online and off, and as always, the network code is spot on and even at this early stage there is no limit to how many people you will find to play with online at any given time. So not only is multiplayer well supported both in the same room and in the virtual world, there is already a ton of tracks that you can download that people have created themselves as well as the promise of hundreds of tracks available for download from day one through the Guitar Hero store, with so many options available you really have to wonder if Guitar Hero 6 is even necessary, especially since they have addressed so many gameplay issues and options and fixed them accordingly. Maybe in two years we might feel the need for one, but at the moment GH5 certainly has enough legs to carry it through till then! 

Theres no reason why this pic is here except for the fact that I wish to be this man...

The created songs are all pretty standard and will definitely depend on how creative you are, but the tools are easy to grasp in your mind and with a little bit of patience and perseverance you can really create something good, and like Little Big Planet and other games that allow you to create, share and play with friends, the cream always rises to the top so you can be assured that by sorting through what’s hot, you’re going to find some inventive and original ideas from the massive communities that lovingly support Guitar Hero.  

I have to say that I am very impressed with the revisions and improvements Neversoft have created with Guitar Hero 5. Excellent track list, excellent gameplay, graphics, sound and experience make this not only the finest Guitar Hero that Neversoft have ever released, but the best Guitar Hero game in the entire series. For me, I honestly couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t give this one top marks.