Guitar Hero 5 Review

(Xbox, PS3, Wii; $59.99 (game only); Rated T for Mild Lyrics/Suggestive Themes; www.guitarhero.com)

(four stars)

The leap from "Guitar Hero" to "Rock Band" was monumental.

What once was a two guitar-maximum experience became a full band rock-fest with guitars, drums, and vocals- "Guitar Hero III" couldn't hold a candle to the band experience.

Activision played catch-up by releasing "Guitar Hero: World Tour" last year and with it, it's own drum set and improved guitar.  However, with "Rock Band 2" already releasing with the promise of being able to import almost all content from the original "Rock Band," I didn't give "World Tour" much notice- it felt too johnny-come-lately to me.

I am glad, however, that I was feeling the need to rock out lately- when "Guitar Hero 5" arrived on my doorstep, I popped it in and had the freshest "Guitar Hero" experience since the first time I held a plastic guitar.

Developers, Neversoft, threw out many of the mechanics of the Rhythm-based genre that had grown old and tiresome.  Most notably, all 85 songs are instantly playable in the game- no more having to wade through the single-player portion of the game in order to unlock songs.  Having all songs unlocked initially, while not only one of the most requested features from fans, also symbolizes an embrace of the "Guitar Hero" franchise as a game meant for parties with a pick-up-and-play mentality.

And pick-up-and play you can.

Unlike normal games which load into a title screen from which players can launch gameplay, "Guitar Hero 5" loads into a random song with accompanying visuals.  Up to four players can jump in and begin playing at any point, without need to pause or restart the song- Players just pick up their guitar, microphone, or drums; choose their difficulty; and begin jamming out once the signature note "highway" appears for their instrument.

In this, "Party Play Mode," players can play for as long or little as they like- there is no failing out of a song, and another song begins to play after the conclusion of another.  Players can also customize the songs that will rotate through "Party Play Mode" to better suit their taste in music.

Effectively, "Guitar Hero 5" has become an interactive jukebox- a playable soundtrack for your next party.

Additionally, "GH5" allows up to four players to play whatever instruments they want, in whatever combination they have available to them- eliminating the conundrum where no one wants to sing certain songs, but everyone still wants to play.

For competitors, there are six different play modes that award points for different scenarios from the traditional highest scorer, to a mode where the lowest scoring player gets dropped at a certain point in the song, and my favorite, "Momentum," where all players begin on Medium difficulty and increase or decrease the difficulty depending on notes hit or missed.

Finally for the budding composer and producer, "GH Tools" allow for the creation and distribution of your own music tracks- think of it as the "YouTube of Guitar Hero," upload your own creations or download and play others.

Of course, this is all topped off with a traditional single-player mode for those who seek to rock alone.

What "GH5" suffers from is a solid soundtrack and a paltry selection of downloadable content compared to "Rock Band."  Though most of the songs from "Guitar Hero: World Tour" and "Guitar Hero: Smash Hits" can be transferred over and played for a nominal fee, there's still not the selection that "Rock Band" offers.

This may change with time, but whereas MTV seeks to release more content for "Rock Band", Activision seeks to release more versions of "Guitar Hero"- "GH: Metallica," "GH: Smash Hits," and "GH5" have already been released this year, with "GH: Van Halen" and "Band Hero" scheduled to be released by the end of 2009.

That's unfortunate, because the "Guitar Hero" drums are so much more fun to play on than the "Rock Band" drums.  Although both drum sets can be played on the other game, neither feel quite right as they do on the franchise they were made for.

What "GH5" does right, it does so well that it's a shame I am only interested in playing about 15 of the 85 songs that are on the game disc.  I've already become a "Rock Band" guy, so I don't see myself beginning to download new content for "Guitar Hero" at this point, but the changes that were made for "Guitar Hero 5" need to become the new standard in music games, and I hope to see the "Party Play" concept show up in "Rock Band 3."

Bravo to Neversoft for making a long-in-the-tooth series feel fresh again.