[the_grape]

I decided to finally write this review, which I’ve been holding back on doing for about a month now. Enjoy.

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits(Xbox 360)



Release Date: June 16, 2009

Developer: Beenox Studios

Publisher: RedOctane

Players: 4

Guitar Hero may have finally gotten it somewhat right with this one.

Guitar Hero: World Tour, as you may know from my previous review of it, was a miserable failure: a blatant copy of Rock Band
with second-rate peripherals, a poor line-up of songs, a downright confusing Song Creator, and a story mode that is so bland
and empty that it doesn’t even count as a story mode at all. So what does Activision do? They realise that what they’ve made
is garbage, and to make up for it, they dig back into Guitar Hero’s early years (when it was good), re-create all the good songs
for all 4 instruments, and release it. The result was something much, much better, and I actually consider this the true 4th game
in the series. Yes it’s all previous game music, but with the mechanics of the modern rhythm game.

Smash Hits is essentially the greatest and most memorable tracks from Guitar Hero 1, 2, 3, Aerosmith, and 80’s, but with full
instrument support and all the features of World Tour. This is something fans have wanted since World Tour’s announcement, but
the novelty of this quickly wore off. Why? Taking a look at Rock Band’s downloadable content list, about 15 of the 45 songs
featured in Smash Hits have already found their way into Rock Band’s track list. This is another example of Activision getting
beaten to the punch. The 30 songs that aren’t on Rock Band, however, are well worth the money. Songs such as Killer Queen,
Beast and the Harlot, Cult of Personality, Play With Me, and Through the Fire and the Flames make a re-appearance, in all their
former glory. Some of the songs have had re-written charts (because Activision is notorious for adding notes in places where no
notes can actually be heard), but some remain the same. Through the Fire and the Flames is one song you would assume would
be redone due to the keyboard intro, but no, the intro stays.

Let’s talk now about the changes from Guitar Hero: World Tour; mostly they’re good. Everything instrument-wise has stayed the
same, and Guitar Hero promotes their own instruments more than ever (more on that later). There is still a confusing-as-hell music
creator, and similar online multiplayer options. The most notable change is the story mode. Guitar Hero has returned to its roots, where
you play songs based on difficulty in tiers, and you need a certain amount of stars to progress to the next tier. Why didn’t they do
this in World Tour? It worked the first three times, and it works again in Smash Hits. Another change I like that is new to the Guitar
Hero franchise is the Star Rating meter, which appears on screen while playing the song. Previously, you would have to wait for the
song to be finished before you could see how well you did, but now you can see before (much like Rock Band). The final major change
is a new difficulty for drummers, known as Expert+. This mode requires two drum pedals, and is only available for certain songs that have
lightning fast bass drums. Besides those changes, everything else remains the same.



In the list of similarities is the game’s multiplayer mode. Guitar Hero has the most miserable multiplayer function I’ve ever seen in a rhythm
game. Where in Rock Band, you pick your mode ahead of time, invite everyone, pick your difficulty AFTER the song is picked, and away
you go, Guitar Hero says “screw all that”. The modes are hidden within the wi-fi menu, and if you want to change your difficulty, you
must do it ahead of time. This gives you no knowledge of the upcoming song, so you may end up getting yourself into something out of
your level of play. What a cruel punishment for a game flaw. When you actually get playing, there are several problems in the game play
that almost seem to be aiming towards making Rock Band look better. First off is Star Power. Activation in itself is strange: Guitar is the tilt
(typical guitar game activation), but that’s about as self explanatory as it gets. To activate the drum star power, you have to hit both
cymbal pads at the same time. This removes the drum fills, but you may end up losing your combo in an attempt to activate your Star Power.
As for the singer, I couldn’t even figure out how to activate the Star Power, it just happened when it felt like it. Also, unlike Rock Band,
where players earn individual Star Power and use it for a team multiplayer bonus, Guitar Hero completely reverses it. When a team member
earns Star Power, it gets put into a team collection, where any player of the team can use it when they want. When you use the Star Power,
however, it only affects the player who uses it. This offers ways to be complete assholes to your team mates, but that’s not what being a
band is about. Also, the notorious “fail once and you’re out” is back, when one member goes down, the song ends. Even if you’re performing
poorly, when someone drops into the red, the screen starts flashing, which blocks your view and ultimately makes you fail. What were they thinking?

Game play hasn’t changed from the previous instalments, and as I’ve said before, Guitar Hero promotes the use of their instruments over the
Rock Band peripherals. This is especially true if you’re attempting to collect all the achievement points. There are 2 achievements that require
Guitar Hero’s instruments, (one for Expert+ and one for the tutorial, which requires Guitar Hero’s drums) and if you attempt to get them without
them, the game refuses to let you. The game wants you to pay 200 dollars for 45 achievement points, and it’s one of the most selfish marketing
ploys I’ve ever seen.

Aside from what I’ve said, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is the same as World Tour. The few changes that it made definitely set it apart from World
Tour, but Guitar Hero still has a long way to go to become Rock Band quality.



Presentation: 9/10, Bringing back classic songs from the first Guitar Hero games and improving them, allowing them to be played on all four
instruments. It’s what fans wanted, and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits doesn’t disappoint on that basic idea.

Graphics: 8/10, Featuring the same graphics as Guitar Hero: World Tour. The venues look great, the player editor is fantastic, but the living
characters still look slightly robotic.

Sound: 9.5/10, Many of the best tracks from the first 5 games, redone on their master recordings. There is no downloadable content, but these
45 songs are enough to keep you satisfied, even if 15 of them are in Rock Band already.

Gameplay: 7.5/10, Features the same problems as World Tour, including Star Power activation and reliance of its first party peripherals. Again,
if you don’t have 200 dollars to spare, you’re missing out on the full (but unneeded) experience of modern Guitar Hero games.

Lasting Appeal: 6.5/10, The story mode will take about 3 hours per instrument, and the songs are fun, but the multiplayer is the worst I’ve ever
seen for a rhythm game, and possibly any game ever. Any replay value you get from this game will be with yourself.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.5/10

[BladiaBrawl]

Guitar Hero = uber. Just picked up Rocks the 80s yesterday...cant get Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister outta my head

[BladiaBrawl]

I miss Marios old B-down move. I think Fludd is useless. Other then that, Id change nothing.

Luigis moveset is also good, though I think his Final Smash is odd.

[BladiaBrawl]

They are starting to slowly release old songs/old DLC via GH5 DLC, so probably no Smash Hits 2