Band Hero: Difference between revisions
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Band Hero Review | first = Chris | last = Watters | date = 2009-11-04 | accessdate = 2009-11-09 | publisher = [[Gamespot]] }}</ref><ref name="ign review"/> |
Band Hero Review | first = Chris | last = Watters | date = 2009-11-04 | accessdate = 2009-11-09 | publisher = [[Gamespot]] }}</ref><ref name="ign review"/> |
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Review did note that the "Top 40" songs do not always make for challenging songs, as many featured simple chord repetition throughout the song or simply following pre-programmed electronic keyboard or drum beats.<ref name="gamespy review"/><ref name="gi review"/><Ref name="giantbomb review"/> However, most songs were found to feature at least one difficult instrument portion that would be fun to play.<ref name="gamespy review"/><ref name="gi review"/> Reviews also noted that the censoring of songs in order to affirm a family-friendly rating is awkward, such as |
Review did note that the "Top 40" songs do not always make for challenging songs, as many featured simple chord repetition throughout the song or simply following pre-programmed electronic keyboard or drum beats.<ref name="gamespy review"/><ref name="gi review"/><Ref name="giantbomb review"/> However, most songs were found to feature at least one difficult instrument portion that would be fun to play.<ref name="gamespy review"/><ref name="gi review"/> Reviews also noted that the censoring of songs in order to affirm a family-friendly rating is awkward, such as censoring the word "whiskey" from [[Don McLean]]'s "[[American Pie]]" (8 times), and can ruin the enjoyment of some songs.<Ref name="gamespot review"/> Greg Miller of [[IGN]] further noted that these censoring are at odds with the straight-up inclusion of other songs such as "Gasoline" by [[The Airborne Toxic Event]] which, Miller claims, is about sex.<ref name="ign review"/> |
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Some reviews saw ''Band Hero'' as a good addition to the ''Guitar Hero'' franchise, and pointed out the strength of the game is improved in part due to the ability to import and export songs between ''Band Hero'', ''Guitar Hero 5'', and content. Justin Haywald of [[1UP.com]], in consideration of the equivalent nature of featured, considered that players now had a choice of "'Top 40' Band Hero or 'Hard Rock' [Guitar Hero 5]" skins to select for playing the music on, and positive direction for the series.<Ref name="1up review"/> However, others saw the simple rebranding of the game, and that some may see the product as little more than a "full-price track pack".<ref name="gamespot review"/><ref name="giantbomb review"/> |
Some reviews saw ''Band Hero'' as a good addition to the ''Guitar Hero'' franchise, and pointed out the strength of the game is improved in part due to the ability to import and export songs between ''Band Hero'', ''Guitar Hero 5'', and content. Justin Haywald of [[1UP.com]], in consideration of the equivalent nature of featured, considered that players now had a choice of "'Top 40' Band Hero or 'Hard Rock' [Guitar Hero 5]" skins to select for playing the music on, and positive direction for the series.<Ref name="1up review"/> However, others saw the simple rebranding of the game, and that some may see the product as little more than a "full-price track pack".<ref name="gamespot review"/><ref name="giantbomb review"/> |
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Revision as of 23:28, 20 November 2009
| Band Hero | |
|---|---|
 North American boxart | |
| Developer(s) | Neversoft (Xbox 360/PS3) Vicarious Visions (Wii/DS) Budcat Creations (PS2) |
| Publisher(s) | RedOctane |
| Series | Guitar Hero |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS |
| Genre(s) | Music |
Band Hero is a spin-off game to the Guitar Hero series of music video games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5, and will support full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5.
Gameplay
The game is functionally similar to the features of Guitar Hero 5, including bands composed of any combination of four instruments, drop-in/drop-out play, in-song menus to change difficulty and instrument, and additional multiplayer modes compared to Guitar Hero 5's "Rockfest".[1] Taylor Swift, Adam Levine (of Maroon 5), and the band No Doubt have been confirmed to be playable avatars in the game.[2][3][4][5] Artists performed motion capture for their in-game avatars.
A new drum kit controller will be introduced with the game. While it features the same five-pad design as the Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller, many changes were made to address weight and size concerns that made assembly difficult. The cymbal pads are more circular than the previous triangular shapes, and the stand's crossbar has been lowered to its base as to allow for the bass kick pedal to be supported by it. Some adjustment to drum head sensitivity has been made based on complaints from the World Tour set, and the game will include a sensitivity adjustment feature. In the United States the new controller will, for a limited time, remain exclusive for the Wii version of the game and will be packaged in the Band Hero game and instrument bundles. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the controller will arrive later; Band Hero bundles for these platforms in the US will include the World Tour drum controller.[6] In Europe, Band Hero Band Kits will ship with new drums on all platforms.[7]
Band Hero for the Nintendo DS will feature the ability to play the same instruments as the console-based versions. Though the game is compatible with the DS, DS Lite, and DSi, only players on the DS Lite will receive the "full band" experience due to the nature of the hardware extensions for the unit. Guitar and bass parts will be played with the same "Guitar Grip" previously created for the Guitar Hero On Tour series, though this unit will not work on the Nintendo DSi due to lack of a GBA slot. The gameplay for guitar and bass is considered to be the fourth iteration of the Guitar Hero On Tour design by developers Vicarious Visions, and have further improvements to meet with different strumming styles.[8] A new "drum skin" that fits over the bottom half of the DS unit will provide four "pads" for drumming that map to the unit's directional pad and face buttons; this design was selected over use of the touch screen due to the inability of the touch screen to recognize near-simultaneous taps, a factor that would have interfered with the drumming experience.[8] The drum skin is limited to the Nintendo DS Lite due to the skin's form factor. The decision to design towards the DS Lite rather than the newer DSi was due to the much larger volume of DS Lite units that have been sold relative to the DSi.[9] The DS microphone will be used for vocal parts. The DS will have 30 of the songs from console versions. The game also supports up to four player multiplayer in a similar manner as Guitar Hero 5 using the DS's local wireless connections, allowing any combination of instruments.[10] However, there is no support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection nor plans for additional downloadable content for the DS game.[8]
Development
A television advertisement, featuring Taylor Swift, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Travis Barker (Blink-182), and Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), was created for the game by director Brett Ratner in the same manner as previous ads for other recent Guitar Hero games, initially paying tribute to the scene in Risky Business with Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear to the song "Old Time Rock and Roll". Though it appears as if all four performed together, Wentz stated that Swift performed her parts separately using a green screen to impose her into the footage of the other musicians.[11]
A three-song demo was made available on Xbox Live on October 15, 2009, and included "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven, "Picture to Burn" by Taylor Swift and "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves.[12]
Soundtrack
Console soundtrack
Band Hero for consoles will feature 65 songs from "mainstream acts".[13][14] The game will also allow Guitar Hero World Tour’s downloadable content to be used within Band Hero, and is expected to also use similar content for Guitar Hero 5.[1] In addition, some on-disc songs from Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits will be importable into Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5 for an undetermined fee, with music licensing limiting those that can be transferred.[15] Furthermore, 69 of the 85 on-disc songs from Guitar Hero 5 can be imported into Band Hero; similarly, 61 of the 65 songs from Band Hero can be exported for use in Guitar Hero 5.[16][17]
Nintendo DS soundtrack
The Nintendo DS version of Band Hero will feature thirty songs of the same genre as the console-based soundtrack.[18][14][19]
Importable Content
On release of Band Hero, 35 of the songs from World Tour and 21 from Smash Hits are importable into Band Hero for a small fee (approximately $0.10 per song), and are treated as downloadable content for the game playable in all game modes.Furthermore, 69 of the 85 tracks from Guitar Hero 5 will be importable into Band Hero. All transferred songs will also be playable in the Guitar Hero 5 and will be free if downloaded in either games. However, Guitar Hero 5 or Band Hero is not backwards-compatible with World Tour nor any other Guitar Hero game. The transfer process requires the player to enter a unique code from the World Tour or Smash Hits manual to be able to redownload available songs in a pack (on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3) or individual songs (on the Wii) that have been updated to include the new features. Players on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 can delete individual songs after downloading the pack. Some songs are not transferable because of licensing issues—not technical issues—according to Bright. Tim Riley, the head of music licensing at Activision, stated that the company will continue to seek licenses for more songs from previous games and downloadable content to be exported into Band Hero, but cannot guarantee that these songs will be licensed for future Guitar Hero games.
Downloadable Content
Band Hero supports downloadable content from the Guitar Hero 5 DLC list. In addition, 152 of the 158 available downloadable songs for Guitar Hero World Tour are forward-compatible with Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero; the existing content is automatically upgraded to include all features new to these games and was immediately available to players upon release of Band Hero.[20][21][22] Downloaded songs can be used in all game modes, provided all players have the song, including in the game's Career mode when players are given the option to select any song to play. The entire Band Hero DLC library is also available in Guitar Hero 5, and vice versa, so both games embrace the same DLC library.
Reception
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 81%[24] |
| Metacritic | 78/100[23] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| 1Up.com | A-[25] |
| Game Informer | 7.8/10[29] |
| GameSpot | 8.0/10[27] |
| GameSpy | 4.5/5[26] |
| IGN | 7.9/10[28] |
| Giant Bomb | 3/5[30] |
Band Hero received mixed reviews from gaming critics. Most recognized the game as having the same feature sets as Guitar Hero 5, including any benefits or flaws that may come from that. Reviewers praised the reuse of the Guitar Hero 5 features such as the Party Play mode that allows for players to jump in and out, the improved Career mode, and the improved GHTunes.[25][28][27] Some identified that the target market of the game appears to be towards teenage girls, such as the featuring of Taylor Swift, the color schemes used in the game, and other parts of the song selection.[26][30] Reviews noted that setlist would be the strongest measure of whether players should purchase the game, as it contains a diverse list of songs including some that, for anyone outside of the teenage girl set, would be difficult to appreciate.[30][26][29] The reviewers also commented on the smaller setlist, containing only 65 songs compared to Guitar Hero 5's 85.[27][28]
Review did note that the "Top 40" songs do not always make for challenging songs, as many featured simple chord repetition throughout the song or simply following pre-programmed electronic keyboard or drum beats.[26][29][30] However, most songs were found to feature at least one difficult instrument portion that would be fun to play.[26][29] Reviews also noted that the censoring of songs in order to affirm a family-friendly rating is awkward, such as censoring the word "whiskey" from Don McLean's "American Pie" (8 times), and can ruin the enjoyment of some songs.[27] Greg Miller of IGN further noted that these censoring are at odds with the straight-up inclusion of other songs such as "Gasoline" by The Airborne Toxic Event which, Miller claims, is about sex.[28]
Some reviews saw Band Hero as a good addition to the Guitar Hero franchise, and pointed out the strength of the game is improved in part due to the ability to import and export songs between Band Hero, Guitar Hero 5, and content. Justin Haywald of 1UP.com, in consideration of the equivalent nature of featured, considered that players now had a choice of "'Top 40' Band Hero or 'Hard Rock' [Guitar Hero 5]" skins to select for playing the music on, and positive direction for the series.[25] However, others saw the simple rebranding of the game, and that some may see the product as little more than a "full-price track pack".[27][30]
Lawsuit by No Doubt
A day following Band Hero's release, the band No Doubt filed a lawsuit against Activision. In a similar manner as Guitar Hero 5, where the avatar of Kurt Cobain could be used to play any of the songs in the game and leading to questionable virtual performances, the same was found to be true for the No Doubt avatars in Band Hero. No Doubt's lawsuit claims their contract limited their performance to the three songs within the game, and were never told their avatars would be used in that manner. Activision has stated they believe that the manner of use of the band's avatars in the game is within the bounds of their contract.[31][32]
References
- ^ a b Gerstmann, Jeff (2009-07-21). "Band Hero To Bring Pop Music To Your Plastic This November". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Snider, Mike (2009-08-04). "Taylor Swift: Band Heroine". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Taylor Swift: What a character!". People Magazine. 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
- ^ Pastorek, Whitney (2009-08-18). "An EW Exclusive: Maroon 5's Adam Levine goes digital in 'Band Hero'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Halperin, Shirley (2009-08-27). "Kurt Cobain Joins "Guitar Hero 5″: How Nirvana Came to the Game". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Lowe, Scott (2009-09-29). "Band Hero Drum Set Hands-On". IGN. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ^ Rybicki, Joe (2009-10-09). "Those New Band Hero Drums hi". Retrieved 2009-11-02.
- ^ a b c Tolito, Stephan (2009-07-23). "Band Hero DS Braces For The Skeptics, Offers A Lot". Kotaku. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ^ "Activison: Nintendo DSi hasn't Sold Enough". Spong. 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ^ Faylor, Chris (2009-07-23). "Band Hero Brings Portable Drum Action to DS Lite". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
- ^ Lynch, Joseph Brannigan (2009-11-03). "Pete Wentz: A Music Mix Q&A on 'Band Hero,' lost-bet tattoos and why Fall Out Boy isn't breaking up". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- ^ Faylor, Chris (2009-10-15). "Band Hero Demo Arrives on Xbox 360, Has You 'Walking on Sunshine'". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
- ^ "Sneak Peek: 'Band Hero' Tunes Up". MSNBC. 2009-07-21. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ a b Reilly, Dan (2009-10-16). "'Band Hero' Tracklist Revealed -- Exclusive". Spinner. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
- ^ Brudvig, Erik (2009-08-07). "Guitar Hero 5 Hands-on". IGN. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ "Song Import Information". Activision. 2009-10-19. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ Faylor, Chris (2009-10-19). "Band Hero Gets Full Tracklist, Song Export Details". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ "'Band Hero' (ALL) Preliminary Tracklist Revealed". Worth Playing. 2009-09-28. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
- ^ Nintendo DS European Tracklist Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- ^ "Guitar Hero 5 Official Press Release!". Neversoft. 2009-05-18. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ Faylor, Chris (2009-05-15). "First Guitar Hero 5 Songs Include Johnny Cash; Compatibility with GH World Tour DLC Confirmed". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
- ^ Brudvig, Erik (2009-08-07). "Guitar Hero 5 Hands-on". IGN. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ "Band Hero (xbox360)". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ "Band Hero for Xbox 360". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ a b c Haywald, Justin (2009-11-05). "Band Hero Review". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ a b c d e Rybicki, Joe (2009-11-06). "The Consensus: Band Hero Review". Gamespy. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ a b c d e Watters, Chris (2009-11-04). "Band Hero Review". Gamespot. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ a b c d Miller, Greg (2009-11-03). "Band Hero Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ a b c d Miller, Matt (2009-11-04). "Band Hero". Game Informer. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ a b c d e Gerstmann, Jeff (2009-11-04). "Band Hero". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ Lewis, Randy (2009-11-04). "No Doubt sues Activision over Band Hero [Updated]". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
- ^ Kreps, Daniel (2009-11-04). "No Doubt Sue Activision Over Use of "Band Hero" Avatars". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
External links
| Main series | |
|---|---|
| Expansions | |
| Spinoffs | |
| Related articles | |
