My view glances around a wooden backstage as I walk and prep for the show. As I get closer to the stage, there are my band mates and crew clapping and cheering, trying to get me amped to play. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch someone wearing a panda costume and our singer with a flower crown resting on her head. "What sort of show is this?" I think to myself. A stagehand slings a guitar around my neck and I step onto the stage to view hundreds standing in an open-air venue strung up with warm-colored lights up above on a beautiful summer evening. As we perform "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers, the bohemian crowd applauds, sings, and jumps to the beat of our songs. But this is no real band gig I’m playing. This is Guitar Hero Live, and it’s a whole lot more fun than I ever expected it to be.
Guitar Hero made waves in the 2000s, becoming a pop-culture phenomenon and a tent-pole franchise for publisher Activision. Hubris struck and the series, along with competitors like Rock Band from Guitar Hero creator Harmonix, saturated the market with new games year after year. Often times, each new title only brought a different list of songs and soon the same old core gameplay became a gimmick that wore thin. After a five year absence, Guitar Hero is back at a time when people are itching to shred on plastic guitars once more.
But becoming a guitar hero this time around is not necessarily easier for veterans of previous games, and may in fact be harder thanks to the all-new guitar controller. The basic concept remains the same: hold the fret buttons indicated onscreen and strum. The difficulty comes from the fret button layout, which previously was always one row of five buttons. Guitar Hero Live’s guitar sports six fret buttons, laid out close to each other in a two by three grid. Notes are now represented either by black guitar picks pointing up or white-colored ones pointing down to indicate the upper and lower rows, respectively. The new design allows for more intricate finger positions, especially with two frets in a column being able to be held together simultaneously. On the flip side, the lower difficulties are simple for beginners, as only the bottom row of three frets are used. Hero Power (formerly Star Power) is activated by either tilting the guitar upward or hitting the large horizontal button next to the strum switch.
As someone who played Guitar Hero and Rock Band games for years, I found adapting to the new guitar controller a little bit tricky at first. My fingers were not used to reaching around further to hit the upper black fret notes. Previous games had conditioned me to shift my hand to reach the original guitar controller’s fifth orange button whenever I saw a note on the far right of the screen, so sometimes I would unnecessarily slide my fret hand horizontally. Fortunately after a couple of songs, I found myself easily adjusting to the new button layout and enjoying its added complexity. Guitar Hero’s gameplay was in need of more than a fresh coat of paint and the new controller helps re-invigorate the franchise. Guitar Hero Live is the hardest one yet, but the challenge makes it more fun. A warm satisfaction would come over me whenever I pulled off a complex sequence of notes or chords as my fingers nimble tapped successfully along. The game’s renewed difficulty thankfully encourages rather than frustrates the player.
To further the element of fantasy fulfillment, the new Guitar Hero contains a main mode titled Live featuring live-action videos shot in first-person perspective of a guitarist playing at a concert. This could have easily been a half-baked attempt where only a small location and a limited number of band mates and spectator actors were utilized. However, there are a variety of different venues to fit the vibe of each song on the game’s genre-spanning set list, from the outdoor folk festival I described in the intro to huge rock concert stadiums. With each concert setting are band actors and audience extras that look and act the part. Visually, the live-action sequences are solid productions, filled with attention to detail and special effects such as the distant backgrounds and composited crowds of people in the back. Live’s presentation may come across as cheesy at times, but I appreciated the effort and found it to be in good fun.
Meanwhile, the notes highway, Hero/Star Power gauge, and combo indicator return in Live mode, but gone is a health meter. Instead, how well you are playing is conveyed by how the crowd and your band mates behave towards you. Start missing strings of notes and the audience may start booing and hold up signs saying "Go Home," while your fellow drummer shoots you the stink eye and lead singer mouths, "What the heck?" These switches between reactions are made seamless thanks to Live’s filming method. For the sequences, a camera was attached to a robotic arm programmed to follow the same path and angle, resulting in identical viewpoints and locations of corresponding positive and negative footage.
Guitar Hero TV, the other main mode, is easily the more innovative of the two. Described as the world’s first playable music video network, GHTV shows a song’s music video in the background and handles downloadable content in a radically different way. Accessing dozens of tracks on GHTV requires an internet connection since they are streamed to you, cloud gaming-style. Gone are the Guitar Hero’s days of buying and owning specific songs to download.
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In place of DLC, there are several ways to play GHTV’s songs and fortunately some of them require no money. The first is by tuning into one of the two music video channels, where you play along to songs broadcast by developer Freestyle Games, usually in half hour or one hour themed blocks such as pop or indie programs. These music video channels are on 24/7, like old-school MTV or THECOOLTV network in the US. To play specific songs on-demand, you can use Plays, which are awarded as you progress in GHTV, and can be purchased with earned in-game currency or real money. Lastly, a Party Pass granting all-access to GHTV’s entire available song catalog for twenty-four hours is available for $6. The Party Pass is a nice option for binge rocking or a get-together, though a more convenient option would be to purchase $1 four-hour blocks instead.
Additionally, GHTV implements a level up system a lot like Call of Duty’s as another way to keep you playing. In-game currency and experience is earned after completing a song and reaching specific levels opens up the ability to purchase certain upgrades. Some are completely cosmetic such as customizing your notes highway or player card, which others online can see. Your virtual guitar can be upgraded with abilities such increasing the points you score with each note or the chances to gain Hero Power. While Hero Power works like Star Power in Live, it activates custom power-ups in GHTV. The default Clear Highway Hero Power instantly hits all notes on screen and is available in an infinite supply for free. Other Hero Powers have limited uses and can be purchased in increments of 10 using in-game coins.
Some may find GHTV’s system for accessing songs controversial or jarring. Nevertheless, I enjoy the convenience and variety it brings. Playing the free channels proved to be an interesting way to discover new music, watch music videos, and keep me engaged with Guitar Hero Live. I found it addicting at times once I tuned in — sometimes there was the urge to play "just one more," check out what’s playing next, or keep going until a song I like shows up. The streaming works surprisingly well, with my only complaint being the connecting and buffering times being a tad longer than I’d like. Plays are easy enough to earn for free that I don’t feel pressured to spend real currency to play specific songs on-demand. The model is great for someone like me who wants to try out a lot of songs that normally would be sold as paid DLC. And with more tracks to be added as times go on, GHTV is a growing platform to keep players coming back to the game every once in awhile.
Local multiplayer is available in both Live and GHTV with a max of two guitar controllers and one microphone. While just about any USB microphone is compatible, playing with three players requires a USB hub due to the wireless guitars each requiring a USB dongle and the PS4 only having two USB ports. Syncing up and assigning players to the wireless guitars can be a bit confusing at times, but once figured out, jamming with a buddy is how you always remembered it. Vocals, on the other hand, is a frustrating and disappointing experience due to limited options, poor presentation, and shoddy detection. I found the vocal recognition to be lousy and it was trying to scale the pitch up or down too often. The lyrics are presented poorly with un-bolded, smallish font that doesn’t change color when it’s time to sing. Be prepared to carefully follow the words cross a thin line to know when to sing them. The vocals in Guitar Hero Live feel like they were thrown-in as an afterthought sadly.
Online multiplayer is only available in GHTV and works seamlessly thanks to an almost instant matchmaking when starting a song. Since the competitive aspect of Guitar Hero is score-based, some players that show up on the match rankings can even be offline. Your numbered place is updated in real-time so seeing yourself rise or fall adds tension during play. Your overall worldwide ranking for each song is displayed when browsing the song catalog.
Overall, Guitar Hero Live feels more mature presentation and gameplay-wise. The controllers look closer to actual guitars with a less colorful design. Gone are the caricature-looking CG characters in the background. Its user interface is sleek and modern like something you would see in a mobile or tablet app. The game runs smoothly and is very enjoyable thanks to the changes and challenges it brings. GHTV brings a lot of potential and reasons to keep playing when new songs are added. My recommendation: go forth and rock, you won’t regret it.
A Guitar Hero Live kit was provided by Activision for review purposes.