Early views of Warriors of Rock were seemed to channel the realms of Brutal Legend with its gameplay and aesthetic, but that's is not the case. While there is a heavy metal story to Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (narrated by none other than Gene Simmons), it's more of a basis upon which to play lots of songs rather than an actual aspect of gameplay. Rather than 'Wanting to make it big' you are charged with 'Defeating the Beast' (Via rocking out). This is more or less Guitar Hero 5 with graphical enhancements, a different story and new characters but you'll find yourself wondering, "Was this all necessary?"
Guitar Hero is a series that doesn't NEED big changes, the gameplay holds the game up just fine and the different editions mainly add new gametypes and songs rather than changing the forumula. Neversoft have also seen fit to remove the Wahwah from the guitar controller in favour of putting a dock for the USB dongle and batteries in that part of the neck. Don't come to Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock thinking that you're in for a new gameplay experience. More of a facelift.
There is one addition to the experience however; rock out hard enough and your character will transform after you've gained the ability. These transformations are not only cosmetic, they also modify the effects star power. Some grant you a higher multiplier, some lengthen star power duration, while others give a faster score multiplier. You can unlock different transformation abilities, and mix and match any 2 at the same time, not unlike Call of Duty's perk system. This system allows for expanded replay value, allowing you to gain 40 stars per song, far overshadowing the 5 star barrier in past Guitar hero games, deepening the gameplay experience while not straying too far from the tried and trusted formula. Music Studio, a feature brought in with World Tour that lets you compose your own tracks and share them with the world, makes a return.
Quest Mode, which is the replacement for Career Mode, is playable with up to 3 friends on any combination of instruments. You could have 4 drummers if you really wanted, but the best way to play Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is with all the instruments and each person taking on a specific role. Thankfully the instruments from Guitar Hero 5 and World Tour are compatible with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, and vice versa.
Alternatively if you're the competitive type you could take your full band online to face off against other bands, or you could just face off against other guitarists/drummers/bassists/vocalists one on one in a variety of multiplayer modes, lifted and polished from previous Guitar Hero games along with the Music Studio feature.
The revamped presentation of Guitar hero: Warriors of Rock really does a lot for the experience. Guitar Hero games have never been ugly, but this is a new high for the series graphically. While it's no musical Crysis, stage effects are beefed up, volumetric smoke sheets the visuals, in a realistic way mind, and the lip syncing borders on perfect. Of course it's not possible for it to be perfect really, Some of the transformations don't even have lips. How does a leather clad pig-man sing?
Actually, now that I've mentioned pig-men I'll talk about the transformations. All of them are unique to the character and are based on the characters'...well...character. Johnny Napalm turns into a madcap, wild sort of Troll creature that can teleport and crawl on walls. Lars Umlaut turns into the aformentioned big fat pig-man with glowing red eyes and a hunger for tasty riffs. The transformations are a nice little addition to the visual style as well as the gameplay, it's nice to see a greater level of variety in the series than human characters.
Venues in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock are mostly fictional, barring the C.B.G.B. which is the only real life stage present. The most interesting of which are the Rush 2112 inspired stages in which you must prove your ROCK-ness in order to gain the Demigod's guitar, based heavily around the iconic Starman image.
The story is mostly told via still images being panned in or out, it gets the job done but I really miss the animated cutscenes from Guitar hero 3. Sure they were cartoony and a bit silly, but that's what I love about Guitar Hero, it doesn't take itself too seriously. I'm not sure I like where they're taking it with the "HUH, WE ARE ROCK GODS" stuff but it doesn't grab me, doesn't even entertain me, and would have been made a lot more interesting by the inclusion of a fuller story animated cutscenes could have afforded.
A small band working their way up the echelons of fame is far more rock than a story about playing rock to steal a guitar. That sort of story can't be communicated via the gameplay that's on offer, Brutal Legend pulled it off because you could ACT rock in game. I don't think anyone was crying out for a story to cultivate a Guitar Hero game, so why bother? People just want to play songs to unlock other songs, then play those. It's just not necessary and feels half hearted, as if they were slightly embarrassed to be doing it.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is at its core the same game as Guitar Hero 5, which in turn was essentially the same game as Guitar Hero: World tour - but who says that's a bad thing? I LOVE Guitar Hero, I think it's brilliant and I have spent entire days at a time playing it in it's different iterations. The slight additions to the gameplay certainly make it a deeper, and therefore potentially more enjoyable game than the rest but you still wont like it if you don't like Guitar Hero. The presentation also does it justice and will impress you.
Pro's:
- Strong song list that will make you wanna stand up and rock.
- Impressive visuals that really make the stage look like a stage and the rock look like rock.
- Varied characters, old and new.
- Added depth with the powers system.
- DLC songs from World Tour and Guitar Hero 5 are compatible with Warriors of Rock.
- Once you've played one Guitar Hero you've played them all.
- Throw-away shoehorned story that has nothing to do with the gameplay.
- No Queens of the Stone Age.
- No WahWah board.
No comments:
Post a Comment