Guitar Hero: World Tour
THE GOOD:
There are just three words I have to describe the awesomeness of this game: drums and vocals. Although I thought the first kit was faulty (mine broke within one month), when the second kit (the Band Hero/Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock kit), I thought that one was better. Nonetheless, the guitar, drums, and microphone all functioned greatly!
Overall, I liked the depth of the game that it had over Rock Band; Rock Band didn't have the option for users to create their own songs and share it with other users of their own system all around the world. Rock Band didn't have guest appearances by celebrity artists and bands. Rock Band wasn't first, GUITAR HERO WAS!!
About the notes and the gameplay;
The guitar graphics and the actual gameplay itself is pretty good. For guitar, you have to match the notes that scroll down the highway, and strum on the guitar to the rhythm of the game. Pretty simple, right? Well, then there's drums and vocals. With drums, you have to hit the pads in time to the song as the gems are scrolling down the highway. Sometimes the notes are topped with silver; those are accents, and if you hit the notes a little bit harder, you'll get some extra points. Now there's a nice bonus right there! Now onto vocals; all you have to do is match the pitch in which the singer sings, and if you do well, you'll be awarded with points, and even some Star Power depending on how well you nail the phrase.
The band gameplay was okay too; depending on how many notes you get in a streak depends on how many notes the band hits. If there are two people in a band, it takes two notes on either instrument to raise the streak by 1. If the streak reaches a certain level, you will be awarded some extra points upon raising the band streak by 1 (it's doubled if two people have Star Power active). For the game's Star Power functionality, you can now nail Star Power Phrases while Star Power is active, which is a major improvement for the series, right next to squeezing Star Power phrases in the first 4 games.THE BAD:
I was kind of lying about the microphone functioning "greatly". It might have worked out for some, but the delay between the microphone and the game's voice detection was downright horrible! Which is why I switched to Warriors of Rock, because of its improved voice detection, graphics, and setlist. Although... I still play Guitar Hero III for the PS2.
SUMMARY:
Many people think that this was the worst game in the franchise. While I can personally agree with them, I can't, because it has many of my favorite bands available not only on the disc's setlist, but also as downloadable content for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PC (I'm presuming). "Tool" for one, I've been listening to for almost 10 years! I'm glad they made it onto at least one Guitar Hero game, now I'd like to see them on another! Anyway, "System of a Down" is another one of those bands that I've been listening to for a little while, as well as (this is interesting) R.E.M., The Devil Wears Prada, An Endless Sporadic, etc.
I think that this was the third best game in the series, because of its first-time inclusion to the world of drums and vocals, which added a whole new level of gameplay for fans of the series like myself. It also added the use of character customization, instrument customization (includes all four instruments, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals), song creation, and band gameplay (that is the old style band gameplay). The setlist was downright amazing for the game, having the inclusion of Tool, Ozzy Osbourne, Muse, System of a Down, Paramore, Tokio Hotel, and others. I think it's a good edition, but you might not think so, so go! Go play the game for yourself, explore the game further, experience more band gameplay; go forth, and rock the world tour!
