Back in the day we didn’t need microphones or drums. Actually all we needed to get our faux-rock band fix was our fake plastic guitars. Take Me Out chimed over your speakers while everyone else stood by and watched. That was the norm until Harmonix cavaliered off and introduced the rest of the band. So what happens to all of those note charts from the early days? Well, in keeping with the musical theme, they re-release them as a Greatest Hits package of course.
Guitar Hero Greatest Hits is exactly what it sounds like, a collection of tracks from the first 3 Guitar Hero games along with a few Rocks The 80s tunes thrown in for good measure. You’ll find yourself asking why didn’t Activision just re-release Guitar Hero 1 and 80s for current crop of systems? Well it’s because now you can wipe the dust off your microphone and drum kit and play those original songs with a complete band.
The changes that occurred in Guitar Hero over the years are now apparent when you pick up Greatest Hits. Customization and GHTunes aside, it’s the minor details that are noticeable the most. Hammer Ons are incredibly easy, a change that the third rendition improvised on, so it’s jarring to go back to those original Guitar tracks that previously slayed you and inevitability return the favour.
For those that have dipped out of the Guitar Hero series for a while you’ll be happy to hear that GHTunes, the ‘YouTube’ of Guitar Hero tracks’, is fully available to you. Although if you have strayed away from Guitar Hero you’ll probably be wanting to experience some new tracks. See Greatest Hits as something for those that were late to the game as all the major features have already been previously available in fully fledged versions.
We have to question the need for this to be a full priced retail product. Achievements are great and all but this could easily have been DLC for World Tour. You’ll notice this the most while taking the game online. Activision are needlessly dividing the audience by releasing countless spinoffs. Finding an opponent on Guitar Hero is already hard enough with the large number of instruments, game modes and difficulty’s. Then you want to spilt that even more with every game you unnecessary release?
The problem is that it’s hard to pinpoint an appropriate audience for this game. Players who are wanting to replay the same tracks, probably not a massive audience there. Players who want to get into Guitar Hero for the first time, probably not as there are better Guitar Hero games on the market. Greatest Hits for all intents and purposes is a solid title even if it might be hard to figure out who it’s intended for. That’s not to say that Guitar Hero Greatest Hits is a terrible package because it checks the boxes for everything a GH game should be by now.
Leave a Reply