Guitar Hero 5 (“GH5”) is a musical game available on many platforms including the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox and Sony Play station 3. The concept of GH5 is simplistic but absolute genius and involves grabbing a guitar controller, following the music and strumming the correct notes at the appropriate time.
Are you ready to rock?
In order to play GH5 a guitar controller is required and without one you’re going to struggle somewhat. The guitar needs assembly before first use as it comes in multiple parts. Setting up the guitar is a piece of cake and simply involves connecting the “string” section to the body of the guitar by pushing the two sections together until they “snap” in to place.
Personally, I think the guitar looks cool straight out of the box however for those of you that wish to personalise your guitar and make it more individual there are two sheets of stickers supplied. The designs include “rock n roll” items such as flames, skulls, dragons and other old skool tattoo pictures so there are loads to choose from. I think the stickers are quite naff although I appreciate it is “each to their own” and I appreciate there are people out there who will think different.
Let’s Rock on
GH5 is a game that is easy to play but extremely difficult to master. At one extreme there is the beginner mode which simply involves strumming at the right times, fingering is not necessary. On the other extreme expert mode is frantic and requires excellent eyesight (you need to see the notes coming), lightening reactions, excellent hand/eye co-ordination and a good sense of rhythm. The large difference between beginner and expert modes makes GH5 accessible to gamers of all ages, levels and abilities.
Career mode sees you choosing one of the set up characters or creating your own and then setting off on your musical career. With the choice of playing the lead guitar, bass guitar, drums or being the lead singer at a different number of venues there is plenty of opportunity for several hours of game play.
As you progress through the career mode additional features are unlocked including new venues, additional songs and accessories for your band members. These accessories include outfits, different styled instruments and the like allowing you to “pimp your rock star”. The unlocking of venues and songs is a great feature that serves to increase the longetivity and playability of the game, however I do question the customising of the computer characters. Personally, I have never been a fan of this and consider it no more than playing “electronic dollies” that adds nothing to the game although I know there are several people that do not share this view and will think that this feature improves the game somewhat.
In addition to the above there are various challenges along the way where you can gain badges and gold/platinum discs etc. Such challenges will include things like being in double point mode for a specific amount of time, hitting a minimum number of notes in a row or reaching a minimum score.
If you don’t have the inclination of career mode, or just fancy a quick jam then quick play would be a good option. In this mode you can select the song and the venue and get strumming. This mode is ideal for social occasions and playing with mates when you only have one guitar and are constantly changing players between the tracks.
Graphics
The graphics are brilliant and look very authentic and “rock n roll”. The band members are all 3D polygon rendered characters that look similar to the type of characters found in the Gorillaz music videos. The art work is exception and the attention to detail is perfect. Throughout the entire songs “your” band are on stage and you get to see all members rock out as the camera sweeps around and focuses in during the individual parts, including your solo. The stage lighting is fantastic and very realistic and the whole scene is like being in an animated music video, it is amazing.
What I find most surprising is how smooth the animation is. With so much going on I would have expected there to be times lags or blocky graphics, especially given the Wii has a weaker processor than other game consoles, but I have not come across any instances of this and there are no flaws as the tracks progress.
Personally, I think the exceptional graphics are wasted on this game. Guitar Hero 5 is all about the music, playability and ensuring you hit the right notes at the right times. If you are like me then you will find yourself so engrossed on what note is coming next you won’t have the opportunity to really appreciate the graphics. I find the experience of playing so captivating and focus on nothing but the next notes.
Audio
This game is all about the audio, therefore it was imperative that the producers got this aspect spot on otherwise the whole game would have been flawed. There are no problems with the audio in this game and it is absolutely fantastic.
The exact quality of the sound will obviously be dependent upon the system being used to play the game, after all playing the game on a top of the range television complete with a surround sound speaker set up will be far more superior than playing it on your parents 14 inch black and white portable that was bought a couple of decades ago.
I have an average surround sound system that was bought a couple of years ago and I find the quality brilliant. It is clear and there is no distortion or ‘white’ noise even when the volume is cranked right up.
There are over 85 tracks for players to strum along to. The play list is varied and contains some classics, such as Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium, Sultans of Swing, Ring of Fire, Hungry Like the Wolf amongst many others, as well as some more ‘unusual’ tracks, such as Maiden Mother & Crone, Back Round, American Girl and Runnin’ Down a Dream. A full track listing is available on loads of different websites, and if you want full details then I would suggest inserting GH5 song list in Google and hitting search.
If you manage to get through all the tracks in beginner, easy medium and expert modes, or get bored and want something else to play then there is the opportunity to buy more tracks.
Tracks are purchased by going to the music shop section and downloading the track directly so you need to have your Wii linked up to the internet to do this. The additional tracks aren’t free and with individual songs costing around 200 Wii points each (which is more than £1.40) they are not cheap either. There are some album packs and multi track packs available, which costs a bit less per track, but there are not that many available at present and there are many fillers.
Multi player
The multi player functions of GH5 are fantastic and second to none and there is a large variety of things you can do. You can play with mates locally or online. You can go head to head and have battles (whereby you have to score more points than your opponent even if that means a bit of ‘dirty play’ by sabotage), play as a team in order to progress through the game and earn as many points and awards as possible, or simply have a friendly jam by playing a few tracks together. The combinations are endless and the only way to find out just what can be done is to experiment.Neither my mates nor I really use the online gaming community (there is nothing worse than being beaten by a 10 year old in Japan or America) so we stay away from the internet and tend to have head to head battles locally. These are great fun and provide hours of entertainment although they always get very competitive and usually end up in petty squabbles and arguments that go on for days afterwards, or until the next session.
The GH5 community is massive and there is a large following so if you are an online gaming fan there will be no problems finding an online tournament to compete in. I have entered one in the past and found it very easy to do although I must say the competition is fierce and there are some fantastic gamers out there who are way out of my league and scoring at least 3 times more than me.
Using GH5 with earlier versions
GH5 allows you to import tracks from older versions of Guitar Hero you may own. This is a fantastic feature as it not only stops the need for keep having to change discs (I find this very annoying and breaks the flow of the game play somewhat) but it also enables you to play the older tracks using the new features of the latest version. The ability to import older tracks is great in principle, although it does have some issues in practice.
Firstly, it is only possible to load tracks from Guitar Hero 4 World Tour. In order to do this you need to ensure you have kept the booklet containing the unique 16 digit number. So for those of you who invested in used copies (where the booklet has been lost or the number already logged) or those of you who are using copied or backed up versions of the game (Tch. Tch. Shame on you) you will not be able to use this feature.
Secondly, you have to pay a ‘nominal’ fee to import the tracks. These are tracks that you, the player, have already paid for once and now you have to pay again. Personally, I think this is wrong and the producers shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this.
Thirdly, you can only import some of the tracks from World Tour. Of the 86 tracks available only 35 can be imported. This is less than 50% which is absolutely ridiculous. This means if you want to play a track that cannot be imported then you will have to revert to your original copy of World Tour which kind of defeats the objective of this.
Importing the tracks is very easy and is done via the game store section of GH5. It is quite self explanatory from the game itself however if you get stuck there is a step by step guide on the Guitar Hero website.
When I saw the opportunity to import older tracks I jumped at the chance without looking in to it first. I naturally assumed it would simply mean I could play GH4 and GH5 from one disc and enjoy all the benefits GH5 provides. I was unaware only a selection of tracks could be imported and I was unaware I would have to stump up more cash. I would not recommend importing older tracks as I think there are far more negatives than positives.
The Guitar Hero website
As previously mentioned Guitar Hero has a massive following and has its own dedicated website for players. The details of this can be found in the instruction leaflets with the game.
It is possible to set up an account and link it to your particular version of GH5. Once again this is very easy to do although there are full step by step instructions on the GH website. Once you have signed up and linked your account to your game it is possible to see your gaming stats on your PC.
At first glance I thought this was fantastic and assumed it would show all the tracks I had played and all the relevant stats (including highest note run, percentage achieved, stars awarded and the score) enabling me to access these on my computer and show my mates just how well I had performed. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case as you can only view your last 5 tracks played, which is really no good at all. Your stats will show how well you performed in online tournaments, but if you are like me and don’t really participate in these this is also a useless feature.
Price and availability
GH5 can be bought from loads of different retailers including specialist game shops (GAME, HMV, Game Station etc.), general electrical shops (such as Currys), computer shops (such as PC World), general shops (such as Argos) and major supermarkets (such as Tesco and Asda). With so many places selling it you’d have thought getting a copy would be no problem, however I purchased my GH5 bundle between Christmas and New Year and stocks were low and if the bundle wasn’t in stock (as was the case with GAME, Argos and HMV) then it was only available for home delivery (as was the case with PC World and Currys Digital) and there was no way I could wait for 2 -3 days. I actually ended up sourcing a bundle from my local Tesco Superstore, which was not only very convenient (I didn’t have to get in to the centre of Norwich and battle with the bargain hunters) but it was also the cheapest at £64.
97.
The price of GH5 varies significantly. Tesco sell the bundle for £64.97 in store (it is £65.00 from Tesco Direct excluding P&P) which was the cheapest retailer I found that had the bundle in stock. The online stores of GAME and HMV claimed to have the bundle for sale for around £60 although these items were out of stock and being on a pre Christmas special promotion I doubt they would be that cheap when they were next in stock. During my search I found the following prices;
i) Tesco - £64.97 (Tesco Direct £65.00)
ii) Argos - £79.99
iii) PC World and Currys Digital - £69.99
iv) Comet - £79.99
I should point out that I wanted to buy the bundle on the day and was not prepared to wait for delivery, therefore I didn’t bother checking out the places I would normally try first, such as The Hut.com or Amazon.
The price differential is quite substantial therefore I would definitely recommend shopping around if you want to buy this game.
Cheats
Cheats usually assist the player in progressing through computer games and are particularly useful in strategy or puzzle games if you get stuck, however this is not the case with GH5. Using cheats in GH5 only seem to unlock venues, tracks and accessories for your character. The cheats do not make you any better at the game, as this can only be achieved by plenty of practice.
So, if you want to pimp your character there are loads of cheats available and inserting “GH5 cheats” in Google will provide plenty of sites for you to do this.
Conclusion
Overall GH5 is a fantastic game and I think it is one of the best games I have ever played. The graphics are stunning, the audio is fantastic, it is as equally entertaining and enjoyable whether you are playing with a group of mates or on your own, there are loads of tracks (with the opportunity to get more as required) and there are many, many hours of game play.
Whilst I think the game is fantastic, I do think the producers are getting greedy and are starting to exploit gamers a bit too much. The ability to import tracks from previous versions is a great feature but to have to pay again for the privilege is not really fair especially when less than 50% of the tracks can actually be imported. In addition, the cost of additional tracks is absolutely disgraceful especially considering you can download an MP3 file for much less. After all, you are not actually buying sheet music.
The online statistics feature is also a big disappointment. I was expecting it to record statistics for all tracks I had played and been able to produce the statistics with the touch of a button, however this is not possible. Displaying statistics for the last 5 tracks played is very poor, especially given the technology available, and I think a lot more needs to be done. The site is also very, very slow and the load-up times are excessively high. Once again there really is no need for this and more needs to be done, and I for one will not be using the site until it considerably improves.
I wannabe a rock starrrrrrrrrr 
