Guitar Hero Live

 Wii U
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 41
  3. Negative: 12 out of 41
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  1. MiOdd
    Nov 2, 2015
    9
    This is easily my favorite Guitar Hero/Rock Band game. The new controller is fantastic, offering more buttons for more complexity but the redesign also simplifies things at the same time. By reducing the number of lanes to three (verses five) players are able to read the upcoming notes easier. It will take players a little time to get adjusted to the new controller but I think theseThis is easily my favorite Guitar Hero/Rock Band game. The new controller is fantastic, offering more buttons for more complexity but the redesign also simplifies things at the same time. By reducing the number of lanes to three (verses five) players are able to read the upcoming notes easier. It will take players a little time to get adjusted to the new controller but I think these changes are for the better.

    The campaign mode is called GH Live. It features 40 something songs, each with it's own live-action recording of several fictional bands of different genres. Each band has a set comprised of about 3 songs and the production value is extremely high. It has a very feel-good attitude, similar to watching a Disney teen musical, everyone is smiling and acting like they are having the best time of their lives, it's a little cheesy, yes, but it works and it will make you smile. I adore this mode, I think the graphical style is unique and fun, I think the soundtrack is great and as already mentioned, I think the new controller is great.

    Then there is GH TV, a 24-hour music streaming channel, you can tune in at any time and play along. I think this is a great idea and offers a great deal of fun. What I don't like is all the freemium tropes shoved into this mode. I feel being able to purchase coins and upgrades for your guitar breaks the leaderboard. For example, when you start out, the highest multiplier you can achieve is 4x, but there are upgrades that allow you to gain all the way up to 8x, so if I purchase these upgrades, even if I play identically to another player, I could potentially double their score. This is the problem with all freemium games, there is no way to know who earned their high scores verses who bought their high scores. Another issue is you can't choose what to play without spending some type of currency. However, through casual play, I was able to earn enough plays that allowed me to try every song I really wanted to. Despite these complaints, I still love this mode because I don't really care about leader boards in the first place and I'm enjoying playing random songs, I think it's a great way to experience new music, I'm hearing a lot of songs from bands I've never heard of before.

    I think GH Live mode alone warrants my $100 purchase. A tremendous about of care and attention was put into this mode and I greatly appreciate the effort. And when you're finished with Live mode, there is a seemingly endless stream of songs over on GH TV. I think this is a great package for all gamers and music lovers.    … Expand
  2. soccerzz5
    Oct 30, 2015
    10
    Im glad that i can play this fun game on my Wii U. The Live mode makes you a rock star for the audience and GHTV brings free videos to play 24/7, for me is the best guitar hero.
  3. Ireland914
    Oct 21, 2015
    9
    A fresh iteration in the Guitar Hero series. The redesigned controller and visual style are a great change. As a Guitar Hero/Rock Band veteran, it was nice to have to learn a new style of play with the new controller in order to master Guitar Hero again. The "campaign" mode is a bit lacking but it's not exactly the main draw for agame like this. The set list is solid with a massive catalogA fresh iteration in the Guitar Hero series. The redesigned controller and visual style are a great change. As a Guitar Hero/Rock Band veteran, it was nice to have to learn a new style of play with the new controller in order to master Guitar Hero again. The "campaign" mode is a bit lacking but it's not exactly the main draw for agame like this. The set list is solid with a massive catalog of additional songs available in GHTV (which is free). Some might not like the inability to purchase the online songs, but playing the different music channels is addictive and a ton of fun.… Expand
  4. BrushedRed
    May 17, 2016
    5
    I've always loved the Guitar Hero franchise and this game is pretty cool but compared to its previous iterations it's a bit different (and not always in the best way). I'm neither here nor there with the new guitar controller. I think it'd be easier with the regular controller but it feels a bit more like playing a real guitar with the new controller. Just sometimes it makes me madI've always loved the Guitar Hero franchise and this game is pretty cool but compared to its previous iterations it's a bit different (and not always in the best way). I'm neither here nor there with the new guitar controller. I think it'd be easier with the regular controller but it feels a bit more like playing a real guitar with the new controller. Just sometimes it makes me mad whenever I hit both the top and bottom buttons of the first fret when only trying to hit the top one.

    The track list is a bit "meh." It ranges in genre and all and it really has some stellar tracks to boot, but I wonder why exactly some of the songs are on there. Not to mention some of the bands included have a lot better songs that should've been on here as opposed to the ones that were put on here. More metal would've been ideal. Previous games included more heavy music and metal.

    The UI is fantastic btw. Looks incredible. I cannot find a single gripe in that regard.

    Now what I find really hurting this game more than anything is: 1) limited online modes and 2) freemium features. As far as I know you can do co-op songs on free play but I don't think there are any face off modes from what I can tell. There are also no online face off modes to play with friends. The online mode is called GHTV and you just mainly play through stations and can choose a song to play on your own using "plays." Now "plays" are one of the things that I also don't care for, as they add this overwhelming "freemium" feel to the game. As you level up by completing songs on GHTV, you get more plays and coins (which can be used for more plays after hoarding them). This may not seem like a bad thing at first but once you use up a lot of plays and you get past level 12 on GHTV, you stop getting free plays with each level up. You then must grind out playing stations or pay for plays with real money then.

    I can see what guitar hero did and why they did it this way. It makes it to where you can play whatever whenever without necessarily having to pay for a track. It's almost like streaming from Spotify or something like that. And in that case, it works. But in my Guitar Hero playing experience; I like the replay value! So I'm going to play these songs that I like more than once. Problem is that it burns trough my plays which is annoying. I just kinda wish they'd keep it like this but give an option to purchase the songs for unlimited plays in the quickplay section. Or at least offer some sort of monthly price (say $5 or so dollars a month for unlimited plays rather than having to use plays). I find that this feature weighs the game down a lot since this is probably where all the replayability of the game will be, and with it being like this, it makes the replayability quite bleak.

    I also miss the practice feature and being able to restart songs*. This definitely takes away from the game. I'm basically having the learn a whole new guitar and being able to practice songs would be very useful so I can nail some tricky sections, but this game apparently thinks otherwise. And what if I have a bad start and want to change the difficulty and restart the song? No way to restart the song in GHTV mode and if you're playing a set in GHLive, you'll have to start all the way over from the beginning of a setlist (also not fun).

    Also wish there were a volume setting for the audience. At times in GHLive and quickplay mode, the audience drown out the music, and it bothers me a lot. GHTV doesn't have that issue which makes me wish I could use it more, but the limited plays hurts this game majorly. Just think more about these ideas if you want a 9 or 10 Guitar Hero game again. I'm giving this a 5 but this could be a strong 8 if they'd fix GHTV and a 9 or 10 if they'd fix up the GHLive mode (in addition to GHTV mode).    … Expand
  5. Andjelico95
    Dec 8, 2015
    5
    Finally a new Guitar Hero after 5 years, and i am not disappointed. What i liked about this game is the feeling of being on stage. If you are playing bad, you will feel it. Guitar Hero TV is amazing, you can choose many different songs, but you have to pay with in-game money or real money for playing limited amount of songs.

    The new guitar controller is OK, it's fun to learn and easy to    Finally a new Guitar Hero after 5 years, and i am not disappointed. What i liked about this game is the feeling of being on stage. If you are playing bad, you will feel it. Guitar Hero TV is amazing, you can choose many different songs, but you have to pay with in-game money or real money for playing limited amount of songs.

    The new guitar controller is OK, it's fun to learn and easy to master. The problem is: this game isn't addictive for me, and i think it was better with the good old five button guitars.

    The sound quality on this game is too isolated. I used my TV-speakers (it's good sound on other games i played) when i played Guitar Hero, and i had to turn up the volume a lot. It was still hard to listen the songs, because of the isolated sound quality. That frustrated me.

    The in-game set list was horrible, this is absolute not a list for metal-fans. They are focusing on pop and alternative music, and there were only a couple of metal-core songs. There are a couple of good classic rock songs, but i think it's a disappointing set list.

    This game is OK, but not addictive. I prefer the old Guitar Hero games instead.    … Expand
  6. DetectiveDonut
    Mar 1, 2020
    7
    Even without the "GHTV" mode that gave it 600+ additional songs, Guitar Hero Live is definitely worth your time. While not necessarily welcome, the new guitar peripheral shakes up the gameplay enough to make it feel like a fresh new entry in the series.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Nintendojo
    Dec 10, 2015
    100
    Guitar Hero Live impressed me more than I can say, and though the game’s been out for almost two months now, I still play it almost every day, which is crazy, because I rarely have anyone else to play with– and multiplayer used to be a major selling point of music games.
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  2. FNintendo
    Nov 15, 2015
    80
    The return of Guitar Hero is a very welcome renovation of the series. Guitar Hero Live and its new television-like mode are a great help to the feeling of immersion and the design of the new guitar are great additions to a formula which was getting saturated. While the multiplayer mode could be more ambitious, Guitar Hero Live is a very recommended title for fans of music games.
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  3. NintendoWorldReport
    Oct 28, 2015
    80
    This is a fantastic start to a new era of Guitar Hero games.
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