Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Game Review
Review by IGN 6/10 (Passable)
It’s a scary world for music games in 2010. Last year, publishers went for broke with release after release – Activision in particular pushed out Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Band Hero, and Guitar Hero: Van Halen – and audiences largely stayed at home. This year, Activision has curbed Guitar Hero’s touring schedule to just one game: Warriors of Rock. The last Guitar Hero title to be developed by Neversoft, it’s been called a return to the series roots. Sadly, Neversoft doesn’t seem to have gotten within sight of the tree. From a confused setlist that doesn’t jibe with the game’s heavy metal aesthetic to wildly varying difficulty and a lack of accessiblilty that might make it the hardest Guitar Hero game in recent memory for casual players to get into, I was left with a final question that I was never able to answer – why Warriors of Rock is here.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock features the heaviest narrative focus of any Guitar Hero yet. The story goes something like this: an epic hero battles an ancient evil with a mighty axe (get it?), but the hero is defeated. Entombed in stone, the hero’s axe is lost, and the evil slumbers. But the evil awakens again, and it’s up to the characters of Guitar Hero titles past to discover their rock-powered true selves in order to take the fight to the Beast. In practical terms, this boils down to unique abilities reminiscent of Call of Duty’s perk system. Each character has a particular talent – Casey Lynch has a streak guardian, which protects a multiplier from a missed note, while Lars Umlaut can build a 5x multiplier rather than the usual 4x, etc.
Review by eurogamer 7/10
For a game promising “warriors”, it’s ironic to note that the sixth major instalment in the Guitar Hero series marks a significant retreat in its scrap with Rock Band.
The direction and focus make it clear: rather than try to compete with Harmonix in pushing the creative boundaries of the genre, Warriors of Rock settles for the safer ground of something more akin to a homecoming tour.
But retreat isn’t necessarily defeat. World Tour matched Rock Band instrument for instrument, but with Harmonix about to unleash a “pro” guitar and keyboard, Neversoft has (probably very sensibly) elected not to give chase. Instead, Warriors of Rock represents an unabashed primal scream to core fans on a comfortably familiar stage.
The headline change this year comes in career mode. Now called Quest, this seeks to liven up the traditional structure with the Brütal Legend-lite story of the “battle to save rock”, portentously narrated by Gene Simmons and punctuated by melodramatic set-pieces.
To an extent, it succeeds. The now-familiar cast of Guitar Hero misfits gets a set of songs and perfunctory narrative vignette each. Once the player has earned enough stars in a given set, the character transforms into their supernatural alter ego, with special powers.
Review by guardian 6/10
Annual updates rarely spring surprises and Guitar Hero hasn’t exactly rocked the boat recently, so what’s new in the latest version?
At first glance, not a lot – in fact, with the loss of those memorable (and controversial, if you count Kurt Cobain) names from GH5, you might be less than impressed with the inclusion of only eight faux axemen like Lars Umlaut, drawn from previous releases. Crowds and guitarists have been given a subtle makeover, but in terms of gameplay not much has changed other than being able to accumulate more stars per song if you perform flawlessly. Narration from Gene Simmons is a nice touch – what a pity he’s not a playable character, because genuine star flamboyance is sorely needed.
The most significant difference is a new story-based Quest mode that allows your chosen axeman to face special challenges and activate their new special powers and transform into a “warrior of rock” – together with the kind of OTT visual makeover that fans of heavy metal (or “very camp” depending on your outlook) should enjoy. It’s a nice idea, but I’m not sure the Street Fighter route of ever more complex combos is really the way to go.
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