As soon the instrumentation fully kicks in, the curtain falls to the ground, revealing the thousands of people in attendance at the jam-packed tent we’re performing in. In sticking with the theme of the song, the vocalist brandishes a lit road flare during the build up to the song, waving it to the beat. In the Fall Out Boy sequence, the band begins with an opaque curtain obstructing the view of most of the crowd. The mission of Guitar Hero Live is to do a better job of emulating the feel of stepping on stage in a real band, and the pulse-pounding feel of hearing the crowd explode as you walk into their collective field of vision is unrivaled by anything seen in the genre to this point. The closer you get to the stage, the louder the crowd gets, and the more excited the band appears. The crowd’s muffled chants are heard as your bandmates make idle chit chat while navigating toward the stage. Then he handed the new guitar controller to one of his teammates, and they loaded up a sequence featuring Fall Out Boy’s “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark.” The sequence begins backstage as my band is gearing up for the final moments before hitting the stage. I wondered if the excitement could be sufficiently backed up by this version of Guitar Hero. As Jamie Jackson, creative director and studio head at FreeStyleGames, went over the new features, you could tell he was legitimately excited to show it off.
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.
But music fans should still appreciate its high notes.The rhythm genre is a special subset of games for me. That's ironic, since the live-action mode is meant to give you the impression you're really playing in a band. But it also can frustrate players with its new freemium model, questionable songs, and overacting in the GH Live mode that reminds you you're just playing a game. Overall, Guitar Hero Live is a fun game - and, as previously mentioned, an ambitious one - that gets a lot of it right.
GUITAR HERO LIVE BUTTONS STICKING UPDATE
Perhaps a downloadable update can smooth this all out. Play well throughout the entire song and the audience goes crazy for you, but hit a few sour notes near the end and they'll turn on you with boos. Unfortunately, the mode is hampered by cheesy, over-the-top acting by your bandmates, intro sequences you can't skip through, and faulty AI since the crowd seems to only show excitement or distaste. GH Live is an interesting twist it places you on a real stage, with real musicians, in front of a real crowd, in an effort to make you feel like you're really performing in front of thousands of people. There's also a ton of content to sift through, but unfortunately, you'll need to earn virtual currency to pay for a lot of it or spend real money if you don't have the time and interest to earn it, which may make some players resent this "freemium" approach that many mobile games have today. GHTV is a fun new mode that lets you play along with a 24-hour music video network. The new controllers cleverly lay out the buttons in a new but still familiar fashion. It's great to see this music band come back after a long hiatus, and many gamers will immediately appreciate its simple note- and chord-matching mechanic, but its flaws hold it back from truly soaring.
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