Guitar Hero Live

 Xbox One
User Score
4.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 79 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 79
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 79
  3. Negative: 36 out of 79
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  1. mehi
    Oct 24, 2015
    0
    Local multiplayer is a total disappointment (I payed an extra £40 for an extra guitar) as you cant play the campaign with a 2nd player and they can only play as a guest (and only in GHTV or quick play mode), so no points are accrued. Also, player 2 has to constantly rejoin every time a new song starts! The set up was a pain and the signal to the 2nd guitar randomly drops mid-song. WhenLocal multiplayer is a total disappointment (I payed an extra £40 for an extra guitar) as you cant play the campaign with a 2nd player and they can only play as a guest (and only in GHTV or quick play mode), so no points are accrued. Also, player 2 has to constantly rejoin every time a new song starts! The set up was a pain and the signal to the 2nd guitar randomly drops mid-song. When playing the game, you're confronted with far too many,far too complicated menus and are insesantly bombarded with annoying in-game GHTV adverts which you cant skip. The track listing for included songs is much poorer that it's far superior predecesors and its insulting that, after paying over £100 for the game and controllers, the inclusion of micro-transactions means you can only access better songs if you're willing to pay. I feel that the game is very poorly designed and just found myself frustrated when trying to navigate through all the options with the guitar controller. The difficulty settings are also an annoyance, as they jump from boringly basic to very complicated with no inbetween. I wish i hadnt bought this and am really disappointed in activision.… Expand
  2. robbie2608
    Oct 27, 2015
    2
    Game is decent but I had 3 guitars get screwed up. First 2 guitars would skip beats while pressing down on the fret bar after using for a few hours, Third guitar fret bar would stick. After exchanging the game a few times,I got a refund and purchased Rock Band. The GHTV was a nice feature, but the quality of the guitar with Rock Band is MUCH better than the controller with Guitar Hero.
  3. jztigersfan23
    Oct 29, 2015
    0
    Id give it a zero if I could, guitar hero was about rock, not this modern day crap, and contemporary, two three buttons? and third The video is a stereotype of every rocker, not everybody smashes their guitar once they get in the mind set of the crowd not every single rocker is axel rose.
  4. Sonicfishcake42
    Oct 24, 2015
    3
    This would have got a top score from me if it wasn't for the reasons I'll mention below. Firstly I'll go over the good points of the game. The campaign is simply fantastic - Far better than any guitar hero to date. It makes the old guitar heroes look like a cartoon joke. I mean they have honestly impressed me with it! The tracklist from the campaign has some good tracks, mostly mediocre atThis would have got a top score from me if it wasn't for the reasons I'll mention below. Firstly I'll go over the good points of the game. The campaign is simply fantastic - Far better than any guitar hero to date. It makes the old guitar heroes look like a cartoon joke. I mean they have honestly impressed me with it! The tracklist from the campaign has some good tracks, mostly mediocre at best tracks and a great amount of terrible songs... But this is purely down to personal preference.

    Now onto the negative... You will complete the story in a few hours and unlock the tracklist... The issue is the great tracks and the fan favourites are all contained within Guitar hero TV mode. Basically this is a predominantly pay-to-play mode where you unlock tokens to play a song you want... You earn 3 tokens by leveling up... I've played the game for about 24 hours in total and I'm level 10... so 30 free-plays. You can of course buy with real money track plays which in my opinion is FAR too expensive, The whole point of guitar hero for me is practice practice practice trying to get high scores on the songs you love.... This is a very costly business and the paywall completely removes that element of the game. If you don't want to buy free-plays then you can buy a 24 hour access pass for £5 which allows you chose what songs you would like to play.... £5 per day to play what ever tracks you want is stupid considering you pay £250 for the complete package and then have to pay £5 per day to freely play the tracks you want - Seems horrendous doesn't it?!

    You will never be able to buy specific songs or tracklists, you will never own them and you will never be able to keep them and play them when you want... You have to have tokens to play them which you pay for unless you unlock them (at a quite slow rate)

    HOWEVER - the game does have a mode that's like MTV which plays random songs from the tracklist in specific genres, the execution of this is fantastic however keeping on top of which genre your favourite song is likely to be in is a big hassle. You have to check the schedule and come back and play the genre in hope your track comes up... Which at 30 minutes per genre it is probably not going to.

    It's great for a few hours but then you realise that you just want to play the songs you like which you can't without using tokens :(

    all in all this game would have got a 9/10 or 10/10 if it wasn't pay-to-play. The new controls take a bit of getting used to but it's worth it. The campaign is awesome and the MTV-style mode is great.. The tracklist is fantastic but expensive if you would like to play.

    I am so honestly so disappointed, I wouldn't have bought this if i'd have known about the pay-to-play aspect. I've bought a 24hour access pass to play songs for £5, as soon as that runs out I'm taking this game back and buying rockband. I cannot stand pay-to-play when you have to buy the game in the first place... And £250 for the full package and you have to pay again is absolutely disgusting. I've been a fan of guitar hero for a decade but I will never buy another GH again unless this paywall is completely removed. You have lost a fan GH, never again.

    I honestly mean this when I say it... This game is fantastic, it's the best GH to date.... But paying to play the songs you want is disgusting. Like I said, you've lost me and i'm sure hundreds of thousands of other customers.

    Be warned guys - I wish I'd have known before buying this. I hope ASDA will take it back.    … Expand
  5. marklodi
    Oct 21, 2015
    4
    Very disappointed in this game. For me, it's the learning curve from the previous 5-button style to this hybrid. I've heard from others that it IS doable, but the frustration set in immediately. First, there is no auto-calibration. Just a metronome sound hitting a bell you move with your strum bar. Then the game, after a very bare-bones tutorial, immediately throws you into a 3 songVery disappointed in this game. For me, it's the learning curve from the previous 5-button style to this hybrid. I've heard from others that it IS doable, but the frustration set in immediately. First, there is no auto-calibration. Just a metronome sound hitting a bell you move with your strum bar. Then the game, after a very bare-bones tutorial, immediately throws you into a 3 song performance that quickly makes you feel worthless and a failure if you can't adapt. No positive feedback, no help, no easing you into something different after dozens of years of previous GH/RB controls locked in your brain. Even for brand new plastic guitar players, this is a brutal welcome. Also dislike the USB-nature of the controller, taking away one of only three spots on the XB1. Plus, if it's not practically line of sight, you'll get drops, so if you placed the dongle in one of the two rear USB ports, try the side port instead. And then be ready to swap out it for your charging cable or hard wired controller whenever you switch to the game. Why they couldn't go XB1 wireless like Rock Band did, I have no idea. Finally, though I never got to it, I conceptually have issues with the fact - other than the tracks that came on the disc - you NEVER own the content and have to pay to RENT time with your favorite tracks. But again, I did not actually get to that point, so I won't count it against the game. In closing, seriously consider your level of handling frustration, as - in my opinion - this is a seriously difficult game to get into with horrible tutorial. If you have preset conditioning with previous GH/RB games and their controller scheme - especially if you are playing the newly release Rock Band 4 - be prepared for a heck of a shock to the system. For me, the frustration did not justify the $100 price tag.… Expand
  6. Uzi_Lover
    Nov 26, 2015
    1
    Unplayable mess of a game, what's happened to Guitar Hero it used to be so solid. No matter what I tried I could not get it to calibrate properly, I slowed it right down to the easiest difficulty and watched, it makes no sense for some reason it randomly skips so you miss, why???? The game is completely broken, glad I only borrowed it as I would have had to have taken it back!
  7. radzman
    Oct 21, 2015
    4
    Overall, this new entry in the Guitar Hero franchise is not worth the money. i was a big fan of Guitar Hero and Rock Band back in 2009 and i still play Rock band 3 and GH: WoR frequently. this game does not feel like a Guitar Hero game, More an overproduced music video which just happens to have a Rhythm game mashed into it. the controls aren't as good as they look and it's relatively hardOverall, this new entry in the Guitar Hero franchise is not worth the money. i was a big fan of Guitar Hero and Rock Band back in 2009 and i still play Rock band 3 and GH: WoR frequently. this game does not feel like a Guitar Hero game, More an overproduced music video which just happens to have a Rhythm game mashed into it. the controls aren't as good as they look and it's relatively hard to calibrate lag for some TVs. The gameplay is quite repetitive and the soundtrack isn't going to please fans of the old GH series. I can understand that the developers were trying to appeal to a new generation of players but in doing so, they've left all previous fans in the shadows. if you've never played a previous Guitar Hero or Rock Band game, This is the game for you. Not for me.… Expand
  8. norgalax
    Nov 3, 2015
    0
    No training mode. Forced to farm tokens playing crappy songs to unlock a cool song...and only for one play.
    If you like to make scores in guitar hero forget this game. You will waste your time to farm tokens and then you will waste your token trying to master a song with no possibility to slown down, pause etc.
    It cost 6 EUROS PER 24H to have unlimited access to all the songs!!! that's a shame.
  9. Skyguy258
    Apr 2, 2018
    1
    TERRIBLE GAME.

    Terrible music.
    Major Lag.
    Terrible song choice.
    Terrible Multiplayer.

    Terrible physics.

    This will surely be the end of guitar hero.
  10. Alphabrava
    Jan 6, 2016
    3
    This feels like a game ported from the iPhone. Yes the presentation is better but the idea is specifically pay to play. Activision has defended it's Pay to Play ( or Fee to Pay ) approach in a triple A game by saying you have the free guitar hero channels, and you can grind your way through that to "earn Plays". Grinding to earn... not at all a mobile game developers approach. I wouldn'tThis feels like a game ported from the iPhone. Yes the presentation is better but the idea is specifically pay to play. Activision has defended it's Pay to Play ( or Fee to Pay ) approach in a triple A game by saying you have the free guitar hero channels, and you can grind your way through that to "earn Plays". Grinding to earn... not at all a mobile game developers approach. I wouldn't mind this so much if this did't have such an negative effect on gameplay. Tailored around a single players "paying" experience there is no online play support, a shoddy local two player add on that the second person can't sign into and most horribly of all NO PRACTICE MODE... of course a practice mode for songs would mean that you weren't paying for every time you play... No freebies here you guys!

    The setlist they give you is clearly intended to get you paying for other songs. Im sure that any self respecting rocker is going to be "hammering on and pulling off" to such classic rock legends as Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, Rhianna, Eminem and of course every middle age mans worst nightmare - Mumford and Sons... No? Then stump up for some ZZ Top, Megadeth, Pantera, Killswitch Engage one pay at a time!

    Ok now that's over - heres the positive. I Like the set up of the controller. I hated it at first but after a week or so of play I really like it. It's cheap feeling and has a nasty USB taking up a usb slot on the machine for no reason, but I like the six buttons.

    I really also like the FMV video. This presentation is way better than the EMO cartoon you get on Rock band or previous Guitar Hero's. The feedback from the crowd and band is more tangible and displays better the disappointment of those around you who think you are stupid for diving into expert mode when you clearly should be selling popcorn or band t shirts instead.

    Unfortunately the one thing that will always stop me coming back to this iteration of guitar hero, above all the other negatives is the controller lag. You just cannot get this thing to calibrate properly. The calibration tools are a joke... they give you a bell and pretty much say - " you have eyes and ears now get on with it". There is an auto calibration but remember you don't pay for it - so it's worth as much as you paid... nowt.

    I read an article recently on Polygon praising Activision for how well they had integrated guitar hero live into the iPad, iPhone and apple TV and how this is the future of gaming. Personally I truly believe it is the other way around, that activision have successfully ported iPhone gaming into the mainstream AAA genre. Is this the future of gaming?    … Expand
  11. MuchasManzanas
    Feb 6, 2016
    2
    Guitar Hero live is game that just lacks fun. The older games in the series, while easier, were a blast to play with friends and alone. This game just feels like job. The song catalog is **** with appearances from Fall Out Boy and One Republic. The controls are some of the worst in video game history. They're clunky to the point that playing anything past advanced mode is a ****Guitar Hero live is game that just lacks fun. The older games in the series, while easier, were a blast to play with friends and alone. This game just feels like job. The song catalog is **** with appearances from Fall Out Boy and One Republic. The controls are some of the worst in video game history. They're clunky to the point that playing anything past advanced mode is a **** nightmare. Who was this game for? I can't tell. It definitely wasn't for the people that just wanted a classic Guitar Hero game. As I said earlier, the sang catalog is horrendous. Guitar Hero is supposed to be about rock and metal, not this indie hipster garbage. Again, who were they marketing to? I you were thinking about getting it, don't. Get the new rock band instead. I haven't personally played it, but it seems the grass is greener on the other side.… Expand
  12. Spazoutspryte
    Mar 3, 2016
    2
    the game was fun the first 5 minutes....Lefty flip is pointless because if u flip the guitar the other way you are trying not to hit the power button and menu button while strumming... after i flipped it to the normal way the game worked for 2 days then when i would hit notes it would act like it was strumming 2x or not at all. and a long held note would stop in the middle could not earnthe game was fun the first 5 minutes....Lefty flip is pointless because if u flip the guitar the other way you are trying not to hit the power button and menu button while strumming... after i flipped it to the normal way the game worked for 2 days then when i would hit notes it would act like it was strumming 2x or not at all. and a long held note would stop in the middle could not earn score streak. I tried game and video calibration over and over and it would not fix the problem we got the 2 guitar edition and the other guitar works just fine. so over all in the 4 days i tried playing the game discovered the song list lacking and game play impossible. in the process of returning it for a full refund from amazon. im going to be getting plants vs. zombies garden warfare 2 instead..much better game!… Expand

Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Best Xbox One Game of 2015
47
#47 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2015
29
#29 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Dec 8, 2015
    80
    A Bowie-esque reinvention. [Christmas 2015, p.75]
  2. Brash Games
    Nov 17, 2015
    80
    I love the new Guitar Hero experience, but more specifically I love Guitar Hero TV mode, which more than makes up for the forgettable Live mode.
    Read full review
  3. NZGamer
    Nov 3, 2015
    75
    A great evolution to the controller, but lacks the fun of the originals.
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