The two giants of the rhythm-game genre are coming out of retirement. With the impending release of Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4, music games seem poised to make a comeback. In anticipation of Guitar Hero Live, we took a look at the six main entries in the Guitar Hero franchise and ranked them from top to bottom. Read on to find out which of them rock like Led Zeppelin and which might as well be a Kenny G cover band.
Note: Activision has released several offshoot games in the Guitar Hero franchise, including a Nintendo DS title and band-specific games like Guitar Hero: Metallica, but this list focuses on the core series.
6. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, 2010 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii)
Warriors of Rock arrived as popularity waned. Despite some wacky, head-turning ideas, it's clear that the franchise was out of star power. Most notably, the tried-and-true career mode was replaced with the new Quest Mode. Narrated by a bored Gene Simmons, players recruit rockers for an over-the-top journey involving a giant robot and a magical guitar. Series regulars like Johnny Napalm and Judy Nails have upgradeable abilities to help chase after a ludicrous sum of stars (up to 40 per song now). Guitar Hero was never about these characters or their stories. They aren’t beloved mascots like Sonic or Mario that can carry an entire game. Even an epic rendition of Rush’s entire 2112 suite just isn’t enough. The franchise needed a massive overhaul by this point, and Warriors of Rock wasn’t it.
5. Guitar Hero, 2005 (PlayStation 2)
Looking at how expansive the later games would become, it’s hard to believe they all started from such a bare-bones beginning. Guitar Hero now seems quaint compared to its many sequels – there are only 30 main songs, all of them covers ranging from listenable to downright sacrilegious. Campaign mode is a simple march through the soundtrack, with no guitar battles, special abilities, or full band shenanigans to be found. The game hasn’t aged well, sadly, and the lack of a lag calibration option can cause issues when revisiting it on HDTVs. Guitar Hero set the standard for the series, but it can’t stand toe-to-toe with the beefier later entries.
4. Guitar Hero: World Tour, 2008 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, PC, Mac)
By November 2008, Guitar Hero was playing catch-up. Rock Band debuted the cohesive package of vocals, drums, bass and guitar in 2007. The ball was in Guitar Hero’s court, and Activision responded with World Tour. Rock Band offered the superior full band experience at the time, but World Tour had a better drum-peripheral design (when it actually recognized hits). World Tour’s 86-song soundtrack is a survey course on some of the best guitar-driven music of the past 50 years. Classic rock, the series’ workhorse, is well-represented alongside a handful of songs from the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s. However, World Tour lacks the social modes that made Guitar Hero 5 so great. Additionally, technical issues with both the drums and guitar strum bar keep World Tour from being the superior full-band experience in the Guitar Hero catalog.
Up next: DragonForce, South Park, DLC, and more...