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Guitar Hero 5

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Guitar Hero 5
File:Gh5-cover.jpg
Developer(s)Neversoft (Xbox 360/PS3)[3]
Vicarious Visions (Wii)
Budcat Creations (PS2)
Publisher(s)Activision, RedOctane
SeriesGuitar Hero
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Genre(s)Music video game
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Guitar Hero 5 is a music video game and the fifth main entry in the Guitar Hero series. The game will be developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It will be released internationally during September 2009. Similar to the preceding title, Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5 is geared towards playing in a four-person band experience, including lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The game will be available as a standalone title, allow players to use existing compatible instrument controllers, and as a bundle that provides these controllers. Guitar Hero 5 adds several new features, such as drop-in/drop-out play, bands composed of any combination of available instruments, a Rockfest competitive mode consisting of several various scoring mechanisms, and both song-specific and general Challenges to unlock new avatars, clothing, and other extras in the game. Many of these changes were added to make the game a more social experience, allowing players across a range of skill levels to be able to play cooperatively and competitively against each other both locally and online.

Guitar Hero 5's track list contains 85 songs by 83 separate artists, and like previous Guitar Hero games, several musicians with works in the game have been modeled through motion capture for avatars in the game, including Johnny Cash, Carlos Santana, and Shirley Manson. The game continues to support the user-created music studio introduced in World Tour through GHTunes, and additional downloadable content for the game will be made available. A majority of existing downloadable tracks from World Tour will be forward-compatible with Guitar Hero 5.

Gameplay

See also: Common gameplay elements in the Guitar Hero series and Gameplay in Guitar Hero World Tour

Gameplay in Guitar Hero 5 is similar to previous games in the series. Using a special game controller, players attempt to match scrolling notes as they appear on screen along a note track to mimic the playing of rock music and other songs. Hitting correct notes in time with the music increases the player's score and builds their performance meter, while missing notes will cause the meter to drop. Should the meter fall below a certain threshold, the song will end prematurely with the player booed off the stage by a virtual audience. Correctly hitting consecutive notes will build the player's score multiplier. Specially marked sections of the song, if completed correctly, help to build up Star Power when then can be unleashed through an action with the controller to further double the current score.

As with Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5 supports the playing of lead and bass guitar through guitar controllers, drums through a drum controller, and vocals through a microphone. Players can also play in groups of up to four local or remote players to form a band, co-operatively playing through a song. Whereas in World Tour, a band could only have one of each instrument, Guitar Hero 5 allows players to arrange for any combination of instruments, including all four players on the same instrument if they so choose.[4] While playing in a band, Star Power is now tracked separately for each player, as opposed to collectively for the band as in World Tour. Star Power is no longer shared by the band, and instead tracked for each player in a similar manner as Rock Band.[5] A new play mechanic called "Band Moments" will require all members of the band to play sections of a song successfully to gain rewards, both in scoring and visual effects on screen.[6][7] The Band Revival meter will appear when a player fails out of the song, requiring the other band members to play well as a group together in order to bring the failed player back into the game.[7]

Downloadable content from World Tour will be forward-compatible with Guitar Hero 5;[4] the game will incorporate any World Tour downloadable content that the player may have into the various play modes.[8]

Two new game modes have been announced for the game. The first is a "Party Play" mode, which allows players to jump into a band or drop out even in the middle of a song, and switch instruments or difficulty levels while playing. The second feature is a "RockFest" mode, which can be played by four players locally or eight online, with several sub-modes that influence how the game is played and scored. These submodes include:[7][9][10]

  • "Momentum": Starting at Medium difficulty, players can increase their difficulty and score more points by hitting twenty consecutive notes, but will fall back in difficulty if they miss three notes in a row.
  • "Streakers": Points are awarded for making "streaks" a series of consecutive notes, with the value further increasing for longer streaks.
  • "Perfectionist": For each section of a song, players are ranked by the percentage of correct notes hit, with the top player getting the most points.
  • "Do or Die": A player is forced to wait out until the next section if they miss three notes in the current section of the song.
  • "Elimination": At certain marked points in a song (roughly every 30 seconds), the lowest scoring player is eliminated.
  • "Pro Face-Off": A standard score attack mode, with the highest score winning.

Players are able to create a playlist in Rockfest and assign a different mode to each song.[10] Guitar Hero 5 allows players to start in a Band Lobby from where they can then launch into any of the game's modes, add other local and remote players to a party, and switch between the game modes without having to leave the party or lobby, a significant change in response to the difficulties players found in World Tour.[10]


An additional feature introduced in Guitar Hero 5 are Challenges, including those tied to specific songs and "open gig" challenges.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). Each challenge features three possible completion levels—Gold, Platinum, and Diamond, mimicking the music recording sales certification levels—with Diamond being the most difficult to complete. The song-specific challenges, include both instrument-specific challenges, such as correctly vocalizing the repeated "Fame" lyric at the end David Bowie's "Fame" as it moves down in pitch, and more general scoring or performance challenges. Open gig challenges will be randomly presented by sponsors within the game, and will be based on performance aspects such as scoring a certain amount of points using Star Power or using the guitar controller's whammy bar continuously for a length of time. These allow the player to select any song to complete, with some songs potentially being better suited for completing that challenge. The process of these challenges is shown in-game by a record meter that appears when the challenge is active, and fills up similarly to the overall scoring meter as the player successfully completes towards the challenge. Higher completion levels, particularly Diamond, may only be obtained by playing the Expert difficulty of a song, but players can use the mid-song difficulty adjustment feature, and if playing in a band, all players are awarded for completing a challenge if one of the members is able to do so.

The rewards of the challenges are used to replace the previous in-game money reward for buying new outfits and characters in previous Guitar Hero games. As noted by Bright, completing songs in Guitar Hero 5 will give players from one to nine stars; up to five stars for general performance, a sixth star for a perfect performance, and up to three more for the challenges. These will be used to unlock new avatars, outfits, and other additional content for the game.[11]

The Music Studio feature, which allows players to create their own songs and distribute them through the "GHTunes" music service will also be improved.[6] The service now allows for songs as long as ten minutes, and up to fifty songs from a single user to be uploaded to the service. The Mix mode allows one to precisely create songs, and includes pre-defined sample tracks that can be modified on a note-by-note basis as desired. The new Jam mode lets the players select one of several standard pre-set rhythms and then play along with it on the instrument controllers in a free-form mode; however, players can then capture any segment of this music and move it to the Mix mode to compile a song. User songs are then uploaded and downloaded through the Tunes mode of the Music Studio. While songs that violate copyright will still be removed from the service, Neversoft will be less agressive about this and will rely more on user feedback on such issues.[12]

Avatars of famous musicians will part of the game, performing for songs by that artist and available as unlockable characters. Johnny Cash has been confirmed as a playable character. Johnny Cash tribute artist Terry Lee Goffee has provided motion capture for his character.[13] Carlos Santana has also been confirmed to be in the game, most likely as a playable character.[14] Shirley Manson of Garbage has been confirmed to be in the game, through an IGN video.[15] While the standard character creator will be available for all versions of the game, the Xbox 360 version will allow players to import their Xbox Live Avatar into the game.[16]

The Wii version of the game, developed by Vicarious Visions, will be "full feature parity" with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, including support for up to eight players online, each possibly on their own console. Guitar Hero 5 will be the first Wii game to support high capacity SD cards, allowing up to about 800 songs to be stored on a 32 GB card.[17] While existing Wii Guitar Hero games allow players to purchase downloadable content one song at a time, Guitar Hero 5 will include the ability to download complete albums and song packs. Players will also be able to manage the content of their Wii memory cards through the game's interface.[18] The game will not require players to enter game-specific Friends Codes, but instead will use the global Wii address book to locate friends. The "Mii Freestyle" mode, introduced in World Tour, will also be present, and with changes to address some of the issues with less-skilled players trying to play well together. A "Guitar Hero Nintendo Ecosystem" will be introduced in Guitar Hero 5, letting the Wii version communicate with the Nintendo DS, including a stage manager/video editor DS controller feature in conjunction with the Mii Freestyle mode, and a new game mode called "Roadie Battle".[19] In Roadie Battle, four players play as two teams; each team as one player performing on an instrument through the Wii, while the other player uses a DS to connect to the Wii and act as the roadie. During play, the roadie players attempt to sabotage the other team by completing mini-games on the DS that will affect the other team's music performance in a manner similar to Guitar Hero III's Battle Mode. These can only be cleared by the other DS player performing another mini-game.[20]

Development

File:GH5challenges.jpg
Four player gameplay where all four are playing the same instrument on three different difficulties.

The fifth main entry to the Guitar Hero series was announced in December 2008,[21] with confirmation of its release by the end of 2009 coming in May 2009, along with the announcement of other new Guitar Hero titles.[22]

The Party Play mode was inspired by recognizing that past Guitar Hero games made it difficult to jump into without maneuvering through a number of menus and selection screens. The mode was designed to be used at social gatherings, and was adopted to use whatever instrument controllers that players already had available, thus allowing for various other combinations beyond the standard four-person band. This aspect of the game was then brought to the other band modes to allow the game to remain flexible.[7]

A new guitar controller is being developed for Guitar Hero 5, sold with bundles with the game though the option for standalone versions has not yet been determined. Like other Guitar Hero controllers, the guitar-shaped unit features five colored fret buttons on the neck of the guitar, a strum bar to mimic the act of strumming, a whammy bar to alter the pitch of a note, and additional buttons specific to the game console for maneuvering through the game's menus. The unit is mostly a redesign of the World Tour model with a new red finish and includes the touchpad that is farther up the neck of the controller, allowing the player to play notes via tapping or to slide along its surface for specially-marked sections on the note track. The Guitar Hero 5 unit featuring a more accurate and responsive touchpad due to it being tracked digitally and with added tactile responses, a more accurate strum bar, and a controller finish that will make it easier to handle with sweaty hands.[23] Guitar Hero 5's drum kit also remains similar in design to the one introduced in World Tour, featuring three colored electric drum pads acting as snares and toms, two elevated pads that act as cymbals, and a bass drum pedal. The new unit appears closer to the Rock Band drum kit, with round cymbal pads instead of wedge-shaped units, and means of fixing the bass drum kick pedal against the drum kit's frame.[24]

Promotion

As part of the game's early promotion, a scavenger hunt contest was announced in the last week of May 2009. Players would need to search for articles on specific game-related sites to find information on the bands that are to be in Guitar Hero 5, and then enter those bands at the game's official website for a chance to win a series of concert tickets in their area. Through this promotion, a large number of artists in the final track list were revealed.[25]

A viral video in late July 2009 announced the last handful of songs for the game features four naked women walking down a public street, with black censor bars used to cover their bodies but also used to announce the song names.[26] The video attracted the anger of Bill O'Reilly, calling the video "shameless" and the models as "pinheads".[27][28]

For a limited time, players that purchased Guitar Hero 5 would be able to redeem a code with the game to receive a free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen prior to its retail release.[29]

Soundtrack

85 songs from 83 musicians will be on the game disc. Tracks from 30 artists will represent their "music-rhythm video game debut".[4] Brian Bright, project director for the game, has called the track list "fresh", with 25% of the songs released in the last 18 months, and more than 50% from the current decade.[9] Unlike previous versions of the Guitar Hero series, where players must work through a career mode to unlock all the songs in the game, all songs in Guitar Hero 5 will be unlocked and available to play in any mode from the start,[30] similar to Guitar Hero: Metallica. In addition, 152 of the current 158 downloadable songs for Guitar Hero World Tour will be forward-compatible with Guitar Hero 5; the existing content will be automatically upgraded to include all features new to Guitar Hero 5,[4][3][31] In addition, some songs from both Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits will be transferable to Guitar Hero 5 for a small fee, upgraded to include new Guitar Hero 5 features, and will be treated as downloadable content for the game.[31] All transferred songs will also work in the upcoming Band Hero.[31] The transfer process requires the player to enter a unique code from the World Tour or Smash Hits manual to access the ability to redownload all available songs as 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.[32][33] The songs that will not be transferable are due to licensing issues, and are not due to technical issues, according to Director Brian Bright.[34] Tim Riley, head of music licensing at Activision, stated that they will continue to seek licenses for more songs to be exported into Guitar Hero 5, but cannot guarantee that these songs will be licensed for future Guitar Hero games.[31]

Bright noted that previously, while "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie was always a song they wanted in Guitar Hero, they could not find the masters for it.[35] However, for Guitar Hero 5, the masters have since "magically appeared" and will be part of the game's tracklist.[34]

The songs in Guitar Hero 5's track list are listed below.[1]

Song Artist
"2 Minutes to Midnight" Iron Maiden
"20th Century Boy" T.Rex
"21st Century Schizoid Man" King Crimson
"A-Punk" Vampire Weekend
"All Along the Watchtower" Bob Dylan
"All the Pretty Faces" The Killers
"American Girl" Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
"Back Round" Wolfmother
"Bleed American" Jimmy Eat World
"Blue Day" Darker My Love
"Blue Orchid" The White Stripes
"Brianstorm" Arctic Monkeys
"Bring the Noise 20XX" Public Enemy featuring Zakk Wylde
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" The Smashing Pumpkins
"Cigarettes, Wedding Bands" Band of Horses
"Comedown" Bush
"Dancing with Myself" Billy Idol
"Deadbolt" Thrice
"Demon(s)" Darkest Hour
"Disconnected" Face to Face
"Done With Everything, Die for Nothing" Children of Bodom
"Do You Feel Like We Do?" (Live) Peter Frampton
"Du Hast" Rammstein
"Ex-Girlfriend" No Doubt
"Fame" David Bowie
"Feel Good Inc." Gorillaz
"Gamma Ray" Beck
"Gratitude" Beastie Boys
"Hungry Like the Wolf" Duran Duran
"Hurts So Good" John Mellencamp
"In My Place" Coldplay
"Incinerate" Sonic Youth
"In the Meantime" Spacehog
"Jailbreak" Thin Lizzy
"Judith" A Perfect Circle
"Kryptonite" 3 Doors Down
"L.A." Elliott Smith
"Lithium" (Live) Nirvana
"Lonely is the Night" Billy Squier
"Looks That Kill" Mötley Crüe
"Lust for Life" (Live) Iggy Pop
"Make It Wit Chu" Queens of the Stone Age
"Maiden, Mother & Crone" The Sword
"Medicate" AFI
"Mirror People" Love and Rockets
"Nearly Lost You" Screaming Trees
"Never Miss a Beat" Kaiser Chiefs
"No One to Depend On" (Live) Santana
"One Big Holiday" My Morning Jacket
"Only Happy When It Rains" Garbage
"Play That Funky Music" Wild Cherry
"Plug in Baby" Muse
"Ring of Fire" Johnny Cash
"The Rock Show" Blink-182
"Runnin' Down a Dream" Tom Petty
"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" Elton John
"Scatterbrain" (Live) Jeff Beck
"Send a Little Love Token" The Duke Spirit
"Seven" Sunny Day Real Estate
"Sex on Fire" Kings of Leon
"Shout It Out Loud" Kiss
"Six Days a Week" The Bronx
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Nirvana
"Sneak Out" Rose Hill Drive
"So Lonely" The Police
"Song 2" Blur
"Sowing Season (Yeah)" Brand New
"The Spirit of Radio" (Live) Rush
"Steady, As She Goes" The Raconteurs
"Streamline Woman" Gov't Mule
"Sultans of Swing" Dire Straits
"Superstition" Stevie Wonder
"Sweating Bullets" Megadeth
"Sympathy for the Devil" The Rolling Stones
"They Say" Scars on Broadway
"Under Pressure" Queen and David Bowie
"Wannabe in L.A." Eagles of Death Metal
"We're an American Band" Grand Funk Railroad
"What I Got" Sublime
"Why Bother?" Weezer
"Wolf Like Me" TV on the Radio
"Woman From Tokyo" ('99 Remix) Deep Purple
"You and Me" Attack! Attack!
"You Give Love a Bad Name" Bon Jovi
"Younk Funk" The Derek Trucks Band

References

  1. ^ a b c Brudvig, Erik (2009-07-08). "Guitar Hero 5 Official Track List". IGN. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
  2. ^ "GH5 European Release Date". Gamespot. 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  3. ^ a b "Guitar Hero 5 Official Press Release!". Neversoft. 2009-05-18. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  4. ^ a b c d 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.
  5. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (2009-06-03). "E3 2009: More Guitar Hero 5 Details". IGN. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  6. ^ a b McElroy, Justin (2009-05-18). "Guitar Hero 5 getting Music Studio tweaks, Band Moments". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  7. ^ a b c d McInnis, Shaun (2009-05-26). "Neversoft focuses on making Guitar Hero a more social and hassle-free experience with the follow-up to World Tour". Gamespot. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
  8. ^ VanBurkleo, Meagan (2009-06-02). "Activision Round-up: Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero, Blur And More". Game Informer. Retrieved 2009-06-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ a b Snider, Mike (2009-05-15). "New party modes arriving for 'Guitar Hero' encore". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-05-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ a b c Haywald, Justin (2009-08-04). "Guitar Hero 5 (PS2)". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference destructoid challenges was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Glasser, AJ (2009-08-11). "Guitar Hero 5 Music Studio Impressions: Jamming With Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov". Kotaku. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  13. ^ Fogarty, Steve (2009-06-17). "Local singer is 'Guitar Hero' Man in Black". The Chronicle-Telegram. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  14. ^ "Guitar Hero 5 Santana Trailer". Yahoo! Games. 2009-07-16. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  15. ^ "Guitar Hero 5 PlayStation 3 Behind the Scenes - Shirley Manson". IGN. 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
  16. ^ O'Conner, Alice (2009-07-31). "Xbox Live Avatars Playable in Guitar Hero 5". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  17. ^ Purchase, Robert (2009-08-12). "Wii GH5 to stream from large SD cards". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  18. ^ Bozen, Mark (2009-08-11). "Wii Innovation: Into the GH5 Music Store". IGN. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  19. ^ Bozen, Mark (2009-07-31). "Guitar Hero 5 Wii Blowout". IGN. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  20. ^ Glasser, AJ (2009-08-10). "Guitar Hero 5 Wii's Roadie Battle Preview: Bring On the DS". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  21. ^ Breckon, Nick (2008-12-03). "Guitar Hero 5, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, New Tony Hawk Controller Confirmed by Activision". Shacknews. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
  22. ^ O'Conner, Alice (2009-05-07). "DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Van Halen and Band Hero Announced". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  23. ^ Brudvig, Erik (2009-07-13). "Guitar Hero 5's New Axe". IGN. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
  24. ^ Plunkett, Luke (2009-07-15). "Guitar Hero 5 Gets New Drums, 22 New Tracks". Kotaku. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
  25. ^ "Guitar Hero 5 Scavenger Hunt Announced". IGN. 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  26. ^ Milian, Mark (2009-07-28). "The new model: Naked girls shill for Guitar Hero?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-07-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Mastrapa, Gus (2009-07-30). "Guitar Hero 5 Counter-Programs Against Beatles: Rock Band". Wired. Retrieved 2009-07-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ Shaw, Patrick (2009-07-30). "Bill O' Reilly calls new naked women-filled Guitar Hero 5 ad 'shameless'". GamePro. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  29. ^ Breckon, Nick (2009-08-11). "Buy Guitar Hero 5, Get Free Advance Copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  30. ^ Quillen, Dustin (2009-05-15). "First Guitar Hero 5 Details Revealed". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  31. ^ a b c d Brudvig, Erik (2009-08-07). "Guitar Hero 5 Hands-on". IGN. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  32. ^ Nelson, Randy (2009-08-10). "More on Guitar Hero 5 song import, DLC support (Band Hero will do it, too)". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  33. ^ Nelson, Randy (2009-08-11). "Activision clarifies Guitar Hero 5 song importing process". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  34. ^ a b Faylor, Chris (2009-06-11). "More Guitar Hero 5 Songs Revealed 'Under Pressure'". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  35. ^ Faylor, Chris (2008-09-16). "Guitar Hero World Tour Interview: 'Anything Is Possible'". Retrieved 2009-06-11.
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