After Harmonix gave birth to it in the mid-2000s, Guitar Hero became a widespread cultural phenomenon that became one of the most popular rhythm game series of all-time. Millions of people, from casual to hardcore gamers, tapped buttons and strummed on plastic guitars, living out their rock and roll fantasies. But the years went by and the rock just died, Suzie went and left us for some foreign guy, all thanks to the insane saturation level of games played with musical instrument peripherals that hit in the late 2000s.
Guitar Hero games at that time were being released more often than Madden or Call of Duty plus the novelty was wearing thin quickly. Although now, after years of hiatus, the once monolithic franchise is back with Guitar Hero Live, the winner of our E3 2015 Best Rhythm Game award. The time feels right. I occasionally get asked where Guitar Hero controllers can be purchased and ones for the last generation are growing harder to find. People are hungry for the nostalgia and enjoyment Guitar Hero brought and there’s a new generation of kids and teens who may never had the chance to tilt a plastic guitar to activate Star Power.
Guitar Hero Live could have stuck with the conservative and safe strategy of relying on the same core gameplay and controls of previous entries and still found success. After all, Guitar Hero creator Harmonix is taking that approach with Rock Band 4, which does have benefits such as a faithful gameplay experience and compatibility with older instruments and DLC songs. However, this is a genre in need of more than a fresh-coat of paint and the developers at FreeStyle Games have produced the next evolution in gaming with guitar-shaped controllers.
Check out the Guitar Hero Live track list (so-far)
A new guitar controller is actually the most immediate change you will notice in Guitar Hero Live. Gone are the five colorful buttons lined up along the neck. Instead, six fret buttons laid out in a small grid, two rows of three buttons, lay as frets. Guitar Hero Live’s controller provides an easier experience for beginners by utilizing only the bottom three buttons on lower difficulties. On the other end, higher skill levels use the new grid layout to command more complex, chord-like finger positions, sometimes requiring two buttons in the same column to be held at the same time. The strum, whammy bar, and tilting mechanics remain the same as you remember, along with other core buttons including ones for option (start) and Hero Power (formerly Star Power).
On screen, you have your health meter, Hero Power gauge, and the familiar scrolling note layout as before. The upper row of buttons appear as black guitar picks pointing up while the lower row is represented with white guitar picks pointing down. A black and white square requires both buttons in the column to be held down together at the same time. As in previous titles, successfully completing a sequence of glowing blue notes builds up your Hero Power gauge and a line following a note indicates the need to hold the button(s) it follows. The indicated horizontal point where a button must be hit is no longer shown at all times and is instead only displayed when the button is being held — yet another little alteration to overcome.
Karaoke fans aren’t left out as vocal play is included in Guitar Hero Live via a USB microphone. As I sung to Fall Out Boy and Gas Light Anthem, I noticed no real difference to how singing plays and displays here as it did in Band Hero and other Guitar Hero games with vocals. There’s a side-scrolling highway at the top showing lyrics and oval lines showing the pitch you have to match. Successfully hitting the correct pitch fills up the oval line.
Guitar Hero Live’s presentation as a whole is updated and much more adult-looking. The guitar controller’s skin resembles an actual guitar this time around. The user interface and other on-screen menus sport a clean, modern and flat look compared to the colorful layout seen in previous games. Most of all, gone are the wacky caricature-level CG characters animated in the background visuals. What displays in their place depends on which of the game’s main two modes you are playing: Live or GHTV.
The Live mode presents the most immersive Guitar Hero experience, putting you in the shoes of a guitarist by displaying live-action stage video recorded from a first-person perspective. We originally broke the news that live-action sequences were being filmed in London for the next Guitar Hero and that footage makes up the visuals in Live mode. What makes the experience dynamic is how the reactions of the crowd and your band mates change depending on how well you perform. Start missing a string of notes and you’ll find the crowd booing and members of your band shooting glares and phrases like "What the heck, man?" The transition between the types of reaction video is made seamless thanks to the way the footage was shot. A robot with a long arm containing a camera at the end was programmed to follow the exact same movement path while filming the positive and negative reaction sequences, allowing for consistently the same angle at a point in the song.
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The other mode named GHTV (Guitar Hero Television) is a "24-hours playable music video network" where you play along to whatever song is on, with its official music video playing in the background. Designated genre channels can be selected, allowing you to strum along to songs you’ll have a good chance of liking. There’s a competitive element as well, as players are grouped into a room with a real-time display of how each person is doing. In-game currency can be used to unlock a specific song in GHTV you want to play at any time. An all-you-can-choose option will be provided through a timed subscriptions (similar to Asian-style karaoke rooms or some web karaoke services). Otherwise, you are at the whim of whatever plays next, like with real-life TV or radio. A big reason that will keep players coming back to GHTV is the plan to continually add new songs to play and discover. I have to wonder if there will be less frequent Guitar Hero game releases if Guitar Hero Live’s GHTV is actually used as how Activision describes it: "a living, breathing platform." It certainly would help with avoiding the saturation problem experience last generation.
How was rocking out in Guitar Hero Live? Overall fun, a little familiar, but also challenging. I had to throw out any muscle memory I had of playing with the old Guitar Hero and Rock Band games’ 5 fret button layout. When first starting, I found my hand instinctively shifting down the neck, as if to hit the older games’ fifth orange button, whenever I saw the far right button notes on screen. Hitting buttons on the upper row and pressing two buttons in a column gave me a bit of trouble — both are new motions to get used to. Chords using buttons on both the top and bottom rows are like Twister for the fingers, resulting in trouble for me.
While the old man part of me grumbled at all these changes causing me to stumble, I couldn’t help but want to keep playing so I could get better. Changing a tried-and-true formula is always a risk but necessary here to give virtual guitarists a drastically different challenge that they will be excited to shred.
Guitar Hero Live launches on October 20, 2015 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, and select mobile devices.