Guitar Hero has gone through quite a journey from its humble beginnings on the PS2. The rhythm genre blew up and moved from just the guitar to an entire band experience. To help you relive the memories of early Guitar Hero games where you couldn’t play as a full band, Activision and Red Octane slapped together Smash Hits, a compilation of 48 of the best tracks from Guitar Hero 1 through Guitar Hero 3 as well as Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s.
After pumping out plenty of guitar-only titles, Activision and RedOctane have stepped into the ring for the full band experience. We know they can get the guitar segments down, but what about drums and vocals? While the track list is very solid, the gameplay falls flat.
Graphically, this is step up from previous Guitar Hero titles. Each band member is fully detailed and more realistic in their motions on stage. In previous games, you’d see rockers thrashing around on stage in ways that would make most normal people vomit uncontrollably. In World Tour, you’ll see head bobbing and swaying to the beat as the drummer hits the proper segments to the song. Both characters and environments are more polished, so you’d got a lot to look at when you’re not concentrating on the note chart. This time around, you can fully customize your character instead of playing as Johnny Napalm all the time.
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith takes the reigns and runs with the first full game based on a single band’s music. Aerosmith has the honor and the extensive music catalog for the task. Sporting over 40 new songs and venues, the game is essentially an expansion pack for the wildly successful Guitar Hero III, albeit a very good one.
Guitar Hero games have never been about insane graphics. Most of the time, you don’t even see them while playing. But behind the fretboard, there is a lot going on. The characters and environments have been improved slightly from Guitar Hero III, with some motion captured Aerosmith characters for most of the game. Steven Tyler has never looked so digital and Joe Perry’s shredding is pretty cool in the Guitar Hero style. There are six new venues that chronicle the history of the band, from their early days trying to get signed all the way up to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Have you ever sat down to play Guitar Hero and thought “Gee this needs more Aerosmith”? If you have, and I know many of us surely have, your prayers are being answered. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is set to rock your Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2 this June.
[Joe] Perry adds, “On a larger scale, it’s cool for us to be pioneers helping to rebuild the music industry through a format like video games. It’s great for rock since the record companies are struggling to make sense of how things are changing. Fans want to get and experience music in new formats–and there are going to be some of them who will play the game, then pick up the guitar for real and start bands. It’s what’s happening now, and it’s only going to build more momentum in the future. It’s a massive change for the music business.”
As an added bonus, Guitar Hero III fans will get a free downloadable version of “Dream On” on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 from February 16th – 18th (as in this weekend only). I’m not really sure how this one will do. I think a lot of the appeal of Guitar Hero is the variety, and I think even hardcore Aerosmith fans might get a bit bored by only playing songs from one band. We’ll see how it plays out though.
Neversoft, Bungie, Activision/RedOctane, and Microsoft have decided they want to thank you for spending tons of money on their games. On Thursday, you’ll be able to download the Halo theme (MJOLNIR Mix) for FREE for Guitar Hero III on Xbox 360 only.
From the press release:
“It’s a real pleasure to hear one of the best loved and most iconic themes from Bungie’s Halo Universe in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” said Marty O’Donnell, Composer and Audio Director for Bungie Studios. “As longtime fans of the Guitar Hero® franchise, it was great to collaborate with Neversoft and Activision/RedOctane to offer this exciting free download to our fans.”
Sorry PS3 and Wii owners… maybe you’ll get something exclusive too.
It’s a guitar game day here at Loot Ninja. RedOctane and Activision today released some free content for Guitar Hero III. Free you say? Yes, it’s free. Unfortunately, it’s not anything new. Today’s content unleashes the Boss Battles tracks for Quick Play.
You can hop onto Xbox Live (and the PlayStation Network later today) and grab these three tracks, which include original songs by Slash and Tom Morello, as well as a rendition of Devil Went Down to Georgia.
I still wish they got the master track for Charlie Daniel’s classic song. Oh well, maybe next time.
Activision sent over a press release to let us know of 17 new tracks in Guitar Hero III. It looks more and more like that leaked set list is real. Here’s the new tracks:
Not having the master track for Devil Went Down to Georgia is a disappointment. How can anyone but Charlie Daniels rock that song properly?
The Sex Pistols are getting back together to re-record their smash hit “Anarchy in the U.K.” for Guitar Hero III.
The Sex Pistols were an obvious choice for Guitar Hero, having established themselves as the definitive punk band of the 1970s. Unable to locate the original multi-tracks for inclusion in the game, Activision invited the band back into the studio to re-record a couple of songs including “Anarchy in the U.K.” Original members John Lydon on vocals, guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook re-teamed with producer Chris Thomas, utilizing the original analog sound desk (circa 1969) that was built for George Martin at Air Studios, London, England in order to maintain the classic sound.
There looks to be a lot more master tracks in Guitar Hero III than previous games, which should add to the game. I can’t wait to start shredding to some new tracks.
Xbox 360 owners will get a treat with a Guitar Hero III demo coming in October. The 5 song demo will be included on the 360 version of Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground on October 9th and two weeks later on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
The demo features five tracks set in the Desert Rock Tour venue. Players will be able to rock out to:
- Lay Down (by Priestess)
- Even Flow (by Pearl Jam)
- The Metal (by Tenacious D)
- Hit Me with your Best Shot (as made famous by Pat Benatar)
- Rock You like a Hurricane (as made famous by Scorpions)
Good selections there for a the demo. Too bad it’s not going to really move more copies of Proving Ground. I’m just going to wait for the demo to hit the Marketplace. I still haven’t decided whether I’m getting this and Rock Band for PS3 or 360.
You might be wondering why there’s no demo for the PS3. My guess is because no guitar is available yet for the PS3, so a demo would be pointless since you need to buy the game to get the guitar anyway.
If you’re a fan of My Chemical Romance, you’re in luck. There’s now a new 3 song pack available for 500 MS Points for Guitar Hero II.
From the press release:
My Chemical Romance track pack includes the following master recordings:
- Teenagers
- Famous Last Words
- This is How I Disappear
The three My Chemical Romance tracks available for download can be found on their latest highly touted and platinum-selling album, The Black Parade.
Another pack, another 500 MS Points. When is RedOctane and Microsoft going to drop the price on these? I really don’t see too many people buying this pack.
Coming Soon!
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