While I understood the potential of the concept, I knew it had a high probability of failure, and I was concerned for how it would turn out. History hasn’t been kind to games that utilize FMV sequences in place of computer-generated graphics. While I was skeptical about the new guitar controller that does away with the single row of five buttons in favor of two stacked rows of three buttons, it was the live-action gameplay that had me poking fun at the title. Going into the meeting, I was fairly apprehensive about the direction that FreeStyleGames had decided to take. This past week, I had the opportunity to meet with Activision and FreeStyleGames to see the game that heralds the return of one of my favorite franchises: Guitar Hero Live. To say that I was excited that both Guitar Hero and Rock Band are coming back is an understatement. When both Guitar Hero and Rock Band went on hiatus, I felt as though a part of my gaming life was forever going to be behind me. In addition to being a genre that I spent at least a couple thousand dollars on and poured untold hours into during my college years, it was also the genre that allowed me to transition from music journalism to game journalism. The word is that this is primarily an issue on specific versions of the game, and unfortunately the Wii U version is one of those versions.The rhythm genre is a special subset of games for me. Bouts of slowdown cropped up regularly when I played, and I even had a few instances where the music video backgrounds would just disappear. With all this streaming and online connectivity comes a cost, woefully. As you level up, you also unlock a versus mode and some customization options such as new note highways. The rhythm game purist in me is disheartened by this, but it gave me more of a reason to play through songs and earn credit to upgrade my guitar. Improvement is experiential mostly, but you can also level up and unlock the ability to upgrade your guitar so you can get more points per note or increase your max multiplier. It’s nothing groundbreaking or major, but it certainly made me strive to get better and improve. To the side of the screen, you go from first to 10th depending on how well you’re doing on the song. Every time you play a song, whether it’s on a channel or on-demand, you’re competing with nine other players. One of my favorite aspects of GHTV is how you’re never playing alone. It’s a neat concept, but it’s also very dependent on future support. The Premium Content at launch ranges from several live songs, from Avenged Sevenfold to upcoming songs from Queen and more. In addition to the lengthy list of songs, GHTV also features Premium Content that can be accessed by completing specific songs or buying in-game currency using real money. Fortunately, most every song is fun to play, which is the most important thing. The song library is a sort-of jack of all trades, as it includes perennial Guitar Hero favorites like Queen and Boston, but also includes tunes from Katy Perry, Hilary Duff, and Luke Bryan. I’m also the sort of person that will play just about any song once in Guitar Hero, and if you’re not up for music discovery, GHTV isn’t likely for you. In my more than 10 hours of play, I was never forced to spend any money and was never in danger of running out of plays. Additionally, you can spend money to unlock unfettered access for a limited time. You use in-game or real-life currency to pay for more Plays. Yes, that’s right you don’t technically own any of the songs on GHTV. Additionally, as you play through songs and level up, you earn “Plays,” which can be used to play any song on demand. As of now, there are two channels that you can go between that offer different content. The buttons stuck for me on occasion and there are widespread reports of them being broken almost out of the box (fortunately, word seems to be that Activision is good at replacing broken controllers).Īside from the new-fangled instrument, the clear highlight of Guitar Hero Live is GHTV, which is the meat of the entire experience. Unfortunately, the build quality of this first batch of guitars isn’t too great. If you’re a Guitar Hero or Rock Band veteran, it takes a while to adjust, but it’s a fun new challenge that feels more like playing an actual guitar as you hold down your fingers as if you were playing a chord. Instead of five buttons in a line, it’s now two rows of three buttons next to each other. First off, the idea of the new guitar controller is awesome.
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