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Reviewed by Dev van der Bank

Guitar hero, which is now a well known name in the gaming world has blessed us with another one of their masterpieces, well err… kinda. You see they have taken the horse to the water, beat it, stabbed it, revived it and then drowned it… in your money.

I got the old instruments out, dusted them off, grabbed a beer and got ready to rock.

As the expensive DLC hero loaded up I just thought “meh” it’s Guitar Hero. Know it, played it and loved it, still do, I just don’t have that burning excitement anymore of wanting to throw a whole weekend away just jamming. They just gave us too much of a good thing.

Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock starts up with the usual features as well as somewhat new and exciting ones: Quest mode which is narrated by Gene Simmons, Quickplay+, Party Play and a Competitive mode.

I must warn you at this point that some of the themes (demons, monsters, heavy metal) in Warriors of Rock may not be suitable for a younger audience . Music has now become a religion, where rock and all it’s instruments are being worshipped. There is a running theme that does keep popping up with very subtle hints and icons leading towards the darker side especially with the narration. An example of this is in Quest mode where you have to play through a “Warriors” setlist to upgrade them to their true form which for the first few characters is a demon, later on you start transforming these warriors into emo angels, they have really played on the spikes and armor look for the attire of the characters. Imagine bad 80’s Metal/Punk gear, some demon guitars and we are good to go.

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The problem with this is it doesn’t really appeal to the casual gamer, their biggest target audience. Players who want to just put in a music game might be put off by the hardcore metal themes of the quest mode. The objective of Quest mode is to complete a warriors required Stars to unlock their Power. Some have a multiplier that will rise quickly, gain star power for every 10 note streak, double star power or x 6 multipliers instead of x 2 to name a few. As you progress through the game you will unlock different powers and warriors until you complete your Quest to help the Demi-God of rock take down “The Beast” using your newly gained powers.

These new powers do add to the game and when playing on the more experienced levels it does become increasingly difficult to take full advantage of your new given power. The game has also started moving towards more chord-based structure giving your fingers a good workout. Another new feature is when you pause the game and go back in it will move the fret backwards slightly before restarting the track giving you time to set your fingers up to continue as you were.

Quickplay plus now also offers star challenges where you can unlock items and songs as well as rank up in the quest mode. Unfortunately the slight bummer is that you will need to start the quest to unlock some of the songs, or play the ones you have and gather up some stars to rank up.

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The track listing is average, in my opinion, it’s far from exciting but does have its gems here and there, they even bravely added Nickelback, the true warriors of rock? Seeing it played by a bunch of headless warriors will put a smile on your face. If you do have enough stars to transform however, you don’t have to play all the songs to move on. I don’t understand why the Guitar Hero franchise is so insistent on making new versions of the game, rather release a new Guitar Hero annually and then all of the new games could be released as DLC, where the user can choose which songs he wants to purchase and not have to sit through 45 crappy songs to play 51 alright songs to get to the 20 songs that you really want to play.

I know I’m living in a fabricated world where corporates don’t only see us as walking, plastic peripheral loving bags of money but really, how many more games can Activision still push out of the Guitar Hero franchise?

Conclusion:

On a closing note, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will still rekindle your one true wish of being in a band. It’s nothing new but you will have fun playing it and your drunken friends will love you when you take it out the first time at your next party, but after everyone has left, you will put it right back in your cupboard.

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Scoring

Gameplay: 7.5

The same old Guitar Hero gameplay with new powers and finger-stretching notes.

Presentation: 7.5

Same good-looking graphics, and you can laugh at how out of place your avatar will look on a stage full of “Warriors”

Sound: 8.0

There is large variety that will appeal to almost anyone.

Value: 9.0

It’s still going to be greeted with excitement at any social event.

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Overall: 8.0

Warriors of Rock is like your pair of slippers; they are comfortable, keep you happy at times and you will occasionally bring them out into the general public, but after that, back in the bottom of the cupboard they go.

[Reviewed on Xbox 360]

Last Updated: October 18, 2010

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
8.0

7 Comments

  1. Veen

    October 18, 2010 at 12:38

    Nice Review Dev

    Reply

  2. Cleric

    October 18, 2010 at 12:56

    Can I get a Hell-meh?

    Reply

  3. FreeStanler

    October 18, 2010 at 13:32

    Good review, thanks.

    I am a bit disappointed at the strong metal theme…that is one of the things that put me off of Guitar Hero 5 (and there weren’t that much of it, I guess I’m referring to that Lars rocker fellow). It’s like, I wanna play this with my friends (many who are conservative), but I might feel uncomfortable doing this now. Pretty much what you’re saying.

    Reply

  4. Oom X

    October 18, 2010 at 14:17

    Dankie for this review, my 10 year old wanted it. but if you say its not for the yong ones then i will rather get him something els,
    dankie

    Reply

  5. Nick de Bruyne

    October 18, 2010 at 14:17

    LOL

    Reply

  6. Bobby Kotick for Dummies

    October 19, 2010 at 11:40

    I’m still amazed at how Activision managed to destroy their beloved Guitar Hero franchise over the period of two years, almost to the point where, even metal-heads like myself would rather avoid it like the plague.

    I suppose the irony is that Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is the Guitar Hero game that I would probably enjoy the most (HARD ROCK HALLELUJAH!), yet not even Guitar Hero Metallica could get me to part with my money.

    :silly:

    Reply

  7. Anon

    November 23, 2010 at 03:46

    I just bought the game the Wii. I personally don’t care much for the character animations, Im too concentrated on not sucking to even notice much, however my 11 yr old brother loves the graphics. He finds them hilarious. On a different note, although I like the game I would have much preferred a Rock Band game if they had a bundle like this game does. Guitar Hero doesn’t seem to be designed for multiplayer game. I started a quest as guitarist and. Now no other guests can be played unless other instruments join in. Unfortunately my brother also likes playing the guitar but now he can’t play a quest. Another difference is that in RB you create your character and work through his/her career in GH I’m evolving so many characters it doesn’t give me as much satisfaction with everything that’s completed.

    Something not mentioned in the review is that there are no score points when in quest mode. All you do is collect stars which is fine but multipliers aren’t very useful when there is no score. Overall the game is entertaining and fun, but I would have enjoyed a game with more usable than useless features. (Ex. You can spend torturous time customizing a character but you can’t use you character)

    Thanks for the review, I was looking for the purpose of the quest. It just started and kept asking me to accumulate stars without a clear purpose as to why I was doing it or what I would use them for other than evolving my characters.

    Reply

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