Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a much better game than we had expected, and the devs have actually managed to use the overall theme for something more than a new coat of paint. The quest mode is one of the most fun additions to the series in ages, even if it's just a re-ordering of elements we've seen before. There's enough standout tracks and new ideas for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock to be worthwhile, even if you skipped the previous game because the series was growing stale.

Warriors of Rock is pretty much the same as the previous Guitar Hero, with the exception of the new campaign. Curiously enough this only weakens the game. The tracklist is varied enough to warrant a purchase, but developer Neversoft will have to come up with something more original for the next game in the series.

A step back for Neversoft. [Issue#64, p.91]

It's revealing that Warriors' most famous track, Bohemian Rhapsody, is the one that most clearly highlights its limitations.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a sold title. With that said, there are going to be some people that are disappointed that Neversoft didn't try to push the envelope with anything.

It's also the most resolutely hard-core Guitar Hero title to come off Activision's assembly line in a while; anyone can breeze through the easy setting on this game, but expert level on Warriors Of Rock turns some of the tracks into visceral finger-bleeders.

It's a title that packs a ton of content and gameplay onto a single disc, and its import options for songs from previous titles will pad your song selections nicely. But it's also an experience that feels remarkably similar to last year's offering, and that's unfortunate.

The old Guitar Hero magic is still there but the almost complete lack of new ideas isn't going to do anything to halt the decline in music game sales.

For now, if you just can't get enough of Star Power lightning effects, checking your hit/miss percentage on the second guitar solo of a given song, heavy metal album cover-style art and design, and the Guitar Hero way of doing everything, then you won't have a problem jumping into Warriors of Rock. But if you want a wider range of tracks to pick from, new control schemes that more closely resemble playing real music, and a different range of features to go alongside it all, you're better off keeping your money and waiting for Rock Band 3 to be released in a couple of weeks.

The Guitar Hero franchise has been one of great success over the years and it is a bit disappointing to see Warriors of Rock only manage to be a slight improvement over last years title.

Still, if you're still a plastic guitar aficionado then Warriors of Rock is undeniably fun; it just severely lacks in ambition, and its ostentatious new coat of paint is little more than a sleight of hand designed to trick you into thinking you're in for a different ride this year. You're not.

If Guitar Hero is your game, this is really a love song to you. Let's just hope it isn't the swan song.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock had a lot of promise with an attempt at a more story driven Guitar Hero experience than before. However, even with a voice over narrative by the legendary Gene Simmons himself, the game still feels as unexciting to me as any of the recent music-simulation games on the market.

The majority of those tracks, of which I've kept a list somewhere in this mess of a music hall (thanks to the hordes of music-specific game controllers), still remains undigitised.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock hides beneath the guise of an epic story, which makes it all the more disappointing that it's really the same game all over again.

Great story driven music game at first glance reveals the fact that the new Guitar Hero is actually boring and a so-many-times-seen piece with an odd music list and unbalanced playability. [Issue#197]

Including the famous CBGB venue feels like a desperate grab for legitimacy. Problem is, it doesn't fit with the Simmons-narrated rock 'n' roll fantasy theme at all and therefore comes off as little more than a cynical ploy for street cred.

With its Quest Mode a bit tedious but full of good will, its tracklist full of metal songs and without much compromise, its nice mise-en-scene for gigs and its relatively high difficulty, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will please gamers the most eager for the license.

What could have been a radical new step in the genre is nothing but the same old thing with a new, awkward coat of paint. The gameplay is still good, but it's the same damn thing over and over again. It's disappointing.

The interesting power mechanic and the return to fun, exaggerated rock and metal aesthetics are there to be enjoyed, but this is a series in dire need of a reboot.

They didn't risk too much for this last iteration. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is mostly designed for the gamer fan seeking the Full Combo thrill. Its production values are more than fair, its playlist well furnished, and you can always import tracks from other versions for a small price. If you're fond of the tracklist, you can get it; if you're more like me, expecting more innovations, and expecting to play the plastic guitar somewhat more like you'd play the real one, maybe you'd better wait for its main competitor.

Neversoft placed the lion's share of their eggs in the Quest mode's metal themed basket, and it buckles under the pressure. From a technical standpoint, Warriors of Rock works, but existentially, more than ever, Guitar Hero feels aimless.

There's a great live version of Paranoid featuring both Ozzy and Metallica, but the basic track has been used before – suggesting that without innovation in other departments, the series is simply running out of guitar styles to ape.

Completely overshadowed by the competition's new hardware, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock doesn't quite bring the house down. It's marred by a controversial selection of songs and no real innovations. The 93 songs will keep players busy for away, but it's hard not to think of this as yet another extension of Guitar Hero 5.

Warriors of Rock adamantly refuses to evolve the series in any discernible way, and, as a result, the Guitar Hero formula's gone stale.

It could have been made somewhat better by more accessible, easily relatable songs, but with an otherwise lacking career mode, everything about Warriors of Rock reeks of regurgitated design decisions and a desire to simply make as much money as possible without really trying to add anything new.