The Life of an Ex-Hardcore Gamer

I grew up with an older brother that had two favorite bands playing constantly: Metallica and Van Halen.  With the great Metallica released we both had high hopes for the Van Halen version plus it was free making it even better.  Seems like Activision knew they had to give it away.

I do love Van Halen and they have been a band that I have listened to my whole life and have wanted in Guitar Hero ever since playing the original on the PS2.   When I heard that this game was all Roth era songs and no “Van Hagar” songs I was even more excited.  I don’t hate Hagar like some people do, but to me those songs are good but not what I’d be dying to play in a Guitar Hero game.  This game is still the Guitar Hero you know and love with lots of sliding, hammer ons and pulls offs, and still has the open bass notes from World Tour and GH5 and most modes from the other games in the series as well.   You have your usual Career, Quick play, Head to Head plus modes on Xbox Live: Pro Face Off, Face Off, Band Quick Play, Co-Op Guitars, 2 vs. 2 Guitars, and Band vs. Band.  Wait, no online career?  Minor detail since I prefer to have a group of people over and play locally, but that’s the first strike I noticed against the game.

The career mode is single and band again setup like Metallica where you play songs, earn stars, earn money.  After you get a certain number of stars you move onto next venue.  It’s split up by playing 5 VH songs then 5 “support" bands.  These bands are the next major mark against this game.  Very few at all fit the vibe of the game.  Offspring, Yellowcard, Third Eye Blind????  Why are these bands in a game about Van Halen?  In Metallica it was bands that Metallica was influenced by or covered, or toured with them.  These are definitely just random bands that Activision wanted to throw on a bullet point list to get the younger crowd to buy it.  This wouldn’t be so bad if you could export song to Guitar Hero 5 but you can’t.  So now if you did want to have fun playing The End of Heartache by Killswitch Engage or Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne you will have to remember that it’s on your Van Halen game disc and play it there.  This is yet more strikes against the game.

Speaking of songs, there are only 48 songs which makes for a very short short game. I beat it in no time with completing the guitar career after only a couple play-throughs and getting halfway through the bass career in just over an hour.  Even if it were short, if it was done well like Metallica and even Aerosmith (I loved the interview footage put in that game) I could let it pass but instead this game is definitely just thrown together.  Sure you have the character models of the band with some of their signature moves, but that is it.  There are no interviews between levels, heck there aren’t any cutscenes or any kind of intros at all, it is just the band walking on stage.  Once you do get to the ending of the short career there isn’t any kind of ending either it just says “Congratulations on completing career mode.  You have unlocked Classic Van Halen.”  While it’s cool to play as old school versions of the characters, they don’t quite look right and it’s still Wolfgang on bass since they aren’t getting along with Michael Anthony right now.  Classic Wolfgang just doesn’t sound right and it’s weird to see him in the classic Michael Anthony dice shirt.

Despite this game coming out after GH5 don’t expect it to have any of the improvements to it at all, it is just like what Metallica was.  No streamlined menus, no avatar support, no support for any combination of instruments.  It does have the “pop up video” type extras and the lyrics on certain songs though and does support GHTunes.  it also is a full 1000 achievement points like a full retail game.

Basically, we’re getting a stripped down version of the game that could have just been some downloadable song packs.  It is awesome for free, feel bad for those that pay.  One last minor gripe is that it was sent in a cardboard sleeve with no book.  Yes, it was free, but makes it feel even less like getting a “real” game after playing the game that didn’t not feel complete. 

3.5/5 stars – I feel I am being VERY generous for this glorified song pack, but in the end it is still guitar hero, which is still very fun to play, and it is still Van Halen which is, well, very fun to play.  Also, anyone playing right now got it for free.  I do feel bad for those that pay $60 though.