2015 marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Guitar Hero. While the idea of a guitar-driven video game wasn’t new at the time (Guitar Freaks beat it by a few years) it took our homes by storm and was a huge mainstay for the rest of the decade.
Over time, the games diversified as we got better. Guitar Hero’s end song “Bark at the Moon” was tame by the time “Through the Fire and Flames” rocked us in Guitar Hero 3. We even got titles dedicated to the music of Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen, and eventually, a full band’s worth of instruments. But one thing remained consistent about Guitar Hero: it never stopped bringing a challenge, and bringing the pain.
Nearly 5 years after we originally said goodbye with “Warriors of Rock,” Guitar Hero is back and returning to their previous roots with Guitar Hero Live. With a new focus and a new play style embracing what made it successful before, Guitar Hero Live is on track to be one of the most pleasant surprises of 2015.
Click this link to preorder Guitar Hero Live
Release date: Fall 2015
Rated: Pending
Genre: Simulation / Music
Consoles: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
One thing you’ll notice right away that things are a lot different for this new generation of gaming. You get a brand new guitar design, and a new play and presentation style that centers around you the guitarist much more. The old 5 button guitar has been retired in favour of a 2 row, 3 button per (6 buttons overall) style. Here’s a look at the new guitar:
The purpose of the new guitar is to give your guitar playing a much more realistic feel with regard to finger placement on frets and basic chords. The major gameplay style is focused on a first person perspective where the crowd in front of you reacts to how you’re playing and how much you’re entertaining them. Fail and deal with the consequences. Succeed and maintain the adoration of fans who paid good money to hear you rock. Outside of that, you’re basically going to be playing the same familiar Guitar Hero style you were before. Songs and notes still fly at you on a virtual highway track and you’re still competing for the highest scores and biggest combos possible.
One of the most interesting additions to Guitar Hero Live is the multiplayer GHTV option. In it, you’ll be able to simply flick over to a channel network setup (almost like Muchmusic was back when they, you know, played music videos all the time) and play song tracks alongside their music videos. You’ll be able to do this with friends too. How this will work exactly is still being finalized, but if the hints Activision dropped are to be believed, you might end up with things like themed shows (ie. 80s hits, top 10) that you can dial into and play for hours on end. Online will save your settings too and will send you back to the same channel you left off at when you log in again, just like a real TV.
Longtime series fans are probably wondering what to do with their old instruments and games. You’re going to have to hold onto your old hardware if you want to kick back with the old Guitar Hero games. The two are not going to be compatible. Guitar Hero Live is considered to be its own, brand new game and completely independent of the last series.
The track lists are always a make or break for a music game, and Guitar Hero Live has already announced some popular allies. While no songs have been set in stone yet, artist names have. You can expect songs from the Black Keys, Green Day, Ed Sheeran and even The Rolling Stones. Overall, Activision anticipates a song list into the hundreds, though it’s not quite known how the song list will ramp up outside of GHTV. The official trailer shows these following song on the menu, though things are always subject to change with licensing and I’d take this list with a grain of salt:
It’s time to get ready to rock all over again! Just in time for the 10th anniversary of the original, Guitar Hero Live is expected to hit shelves Fall 2015. You’ll be able to pre-order the game very soon, but don’t forget that you can still buy the old Guitar Hero titles and more online at BestBuy.ca
Click this link to preorder Guitar Hero Live for Nintendo
Click this link to preorder Guitar Hero Live for Xbox one
Click this link to preorder Guitar Hero Live for PS4
Just in time for a Def Leppard concert tour 🙂
I’ll have to try a store sample .
@Elico47 Def Leppard was one of those bands I wish were better represented. By the time their tracks were available for DLC in GH III, I’d moved over to Rock Band pretty much fulltime except for when Surfing with the Alien came out. Couldn’t pass on my favourite Satch track.
@Elico47Just make sure to be one of the first to try the store sample… we wouldn’t want you to be two steps behind
(oh yes I went there). I am curious if this is going to sell well or if people are still burnt out on band games. I guess with RB4 coming too we will see this holiday season.
@oldschool Do you think enough time has passed? We’re looking now at 5 years since the last GH and Rock Band and 3 years since Rock Band Blitz. It’s hard to tell because there was a HUGE player burnout with these titles. We used to hold Rock Band nights regularly but the interest tapered off by the time Blitz came about. I feel like enough time has passed that a good portion of players will return. I’ll be back and I haven’t touched either franchise in at least 2 years (that’s a conservative guess…it might even be longer than that)
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