Ever since the travesty that was Guitar Hero III, we here at theBBPS have pretty much across the board been venomously opposed to the franchise. Whether it was the third-party milking of the GH name (an air guitar belt and a Tiger Electronics Caribeener? Really??) or the Activision-helmed self-whoring to bang out a new title ever couple of months (2008 sees at least four full fledged Guitar Hero products), the whole Guitar Hero name has gone right in the pooper as far as we’re concerned.
As such, it should come as no shock that we’ve been less than excited about the series upcoming Rock Band clone, Guitar Hero: World Tour. But what if we’re wrong? What if World Tour is the salvation this series needs? Here’s five reasons why I’m thinking we should all drop our bias and give this thing a fair shake;
1. Rock Band instruments will work with it.
Not only will you not have to drop a few hundred sheckles on the full package, but the team at Neversoft had developed it with this possibility in mind. If you hook up the Rock Band drums (which have only four pads compared to World Tour’s five) the game recognizes this and puts one less input track down for you to hit. The game actually changes so you can play with EA’s equipment. Sweet. [source]
2. I can see you look like a jackass.
One of the best parts of SingStar PS3 (check out our review here) was the addition of MySingStar — an online service that let you upload video and audio clips of you making a fool out of yourself in your own living room. Now Guitar Hero is doing the same thing with Guitar Hero Tunes. If you’re going to steal, steal from the best. [source]
3. The possibility of creating my own music is intriguing.
Is it lame? Sure. But some people loved games like MTV Music Generator. It’s only natural that we’d see something like this eventually. I think the work involved in putting a track together might be a little more than some people are expecting, but I’m looking forward to the miles of copyright infringement it’s going to create. “No, no, no — it’s called Stairway to HAVEN. Totally different.” Whatever — Zeppelin stole it first. [source]
4. The (rumored) track list sounds killer.
The Doors? Hendrix? Van Halen? If it has Panama, you can sign me the fuck up. [source]
5. Neversoft has historically learned from it’s mistakes.
Everyone wants to bust Neversoft’s chops as the series that makes those shitty Tony Hawk games, but let’s remember a few things. Not only did they also make all of the great Tony Hawk games, those games have happened sporadically throughout the series. They try something new, it fails, they learn from it. It’s what made Project 8 such a great title despite being shit sandwiched between American Wasteland and Proving Ground. And let’s not forget, they’ve been responsible for some other great games too (Spider-Man and Gun both come to mind). Think Harmonix is infallible? Guess what — they were responsible for Rock the 80’s and AntiGrav. Just sayin’ is all.
Here’s the line, which side will you stand on? Will you join me in cutting Activision/Neversoft a break and give Guitar Hero another chance? Or is it just another case of too little too late?
Damn, there’s some GREAT songs on here. I’m not going to go through and pick out the ones that hadn’t been announced yet but instead I’ll just let you know that you can read the full list after the jump. For now, I’ll say that I really wish “Stranglehold” and “Hotel California” were in Rock Band 2 so that I could play them on Monday…oh well.
