My Bits and Bytes: Battle of the bands, and guitar
Guitar Hero World Tour (Band Kit) for the Xbox 360
I know, I know. I could spend my money on better things, but I love gaming, music and having fun with my friends. Suffice to say, although I was really happy with Rock Band 2 and their new and improved drum set (and not so much with their crappy “new” guitar), I was really anxious to see where the Guitar Hero camp was heading with the plastic instrument revolution. I'm happy to say that I am very impressed and slightly disappointed with the band package.
First, I'll talk about the good stuff.
The Guitar Hero look and feel remains in the game itself. The graphics look a little bit better (not by much) and many may feel that this is just Guitar Hero 3 with new songs, just like Rock Band 2 was basically tweaked software with improvements (which is debatable) coming from their instruments.
Guitar Hero WT has Rock Band beat with their character customization here. You still have a weird look to most of the characters, but with some work, like adjusting your character's height, chin size, cheekbones, eye size, and more. You can even have a character that does look like the intended person (mine looks pretty close to me, minus the sideburns I can't grow).
Another great thing about GHWT comes from their instruments. The newest GH guitar is simply the best one out there. If you want Rock Band's amazing catalogue of music, buy the game itself and then go buy one of these guitars.
Once again, it boggles my mind how anyone can pick the RB guitar over the Guitar Hero one. This new guitar's strum bar just feels right. It's comfortable and very responsive (the main fret buttons don't seem that much different, though). The new guitar also has a sensitive touch area of the neck where you can solo without strumming. Being able to slide back and forth and not having to worry about skinny soloing buttons is a welcome.
Now for the drums: I think Activision nailed these. I love playing these more than Rock Band 2's drum set. Having the additional cymbal pads makes so much of a difference for this drummer. Even the three other pads (one that represents the snare and the other two that are for the tom-toms) feel like they can endure the hardest beatings. The drums are very responsive (but see below) and I think respond better with the software.
Be forewarned: there have been many issues with the drums that are being reported. There are people that have their red (snare) pad totally crap out on them and I am one of those people. I have no idea how, but my pad didn't work after playing for about two hours. Then after other people just playing around on it, not caring about their score, the pad kicked back in and has been working well ever since. There are many quick solutions on the net but it will void your warranty (check the Guitar Hero Community message board for more details). If you prefer, you can send out for a sensitivity tuning kit (and connect it to your PC) or you can pay to send your drums back and they'll decide what the problem is. Um…Earth to Activision: learn from how Harmonix dealt with their warranty situations and you won't have people cursing your name online.
This leaves us with the track list for the game. There are many similarities between Rock Band 2's set and GHWT. There are some stand out songs that GHWT has the RB2 doesn't, such as three songs by Tool, two songs by Ozzy Osbourne and “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen, but there are more exclusive tracks that Rock Band 2 (and it's mass downloadable content) that still make RB2 the better buy all around. There are some tunes that are exclusive to GHWT that are simply horrid and I don't have the space to list them.
All around, I would suggest the following: buy the Guitar Hero World Tour band bundle if you want a drum set and a mic and then go and buy the Rock Band 2 game. No matter what you choose, you'll have a lot of tunes to play this holiday season and I think that most Guitar Hero fans will really be pleased with this edition…especially if they get a drum set without any problems.
I'm giving this one a 9 out of 10 (not perfect because the set list disappointed me a little bit).
Note: I know that there's a music creator that allows you to create and upload tunes for others to rate, but I haven't had a chance to use it. It may raise the score, but even if it wasn't included, the game is still worth the score I gave it. I just have not had the time (or will have the time) to really get my hands dirty with it until the holiday break.
I know, I know. I could spend my money on better things, but I love gaming, music and having fun with my friends. Suffice to say, although I was really happy with Rock Band 2 and their new and improved drum set (and not so much with their crappy “new” guitar), I was really anxious to see where the Guitar Hero camp was heading with the plastic instrument revolution. I'm happy to say that I am very impressed and slightly disappointed with the band package.
First, I'll talk about the good stuff.
The Guitar Hero look and feel remains in the game itself. The graphics look a little bit better (not by much) and many may feel that this is just Guitar Hero 3 with new songs, just like Rock Band 2 was basically tweaked software with improvements (which is debatable) coming from their instruments.
Guitar Hero WT has Rock Band beat with their character customization here. You still have a weird look to most of the characters, but with some work, like adjusting your character's height, chin size, cheekbones, eye size, and more. You can even have a character that does look like the intended person (mine looks pretty close to me, minus the sideburns I can't grow).
Another great thing about GHWT comes from their instruments. The newest GH guitar is simply the best one out there. If you want Rock Band's amazing catalogue of music, buy the game itself and then go buy one of these guitars.
Once again, it boggles my mind how anyone can pick the RB guitar over the Guitar Hero one. This new guitar's strum bar just feels right. It's comfortable and very responsive (the main fret buttons don't seem that much different, though). The new guitar also has a sensitive touch area of the neck where you can solo without strumming. Being able to slide back and forth and not having to worry about skinny soloing buttons is a welcome.
Now for the drums: I think Activision nailed these. I love playing these more than Rock Band 2's drum set. Having the additional cymbal pads makes so much of a difference for this drummer. Even the three other pads (one that represents the snare and the other two that are for the tom-toms) feel like they can endure the hardest beatings. The drums are very responsive (but see below) and I think respond better with the software.
Be forewarned: there have been many issues with the drums that are being reported. There are people that have their red (snare) pad totally crap out on them and I am one of those people. I have no idea how, but my pad didn't work after playing for about two hours. Then after other people just playing around on it, not caring about their score, the pad kicked back in and has been working well ever since. There are many quick solutions on the net but it will void your warranty (check the Guitar Hero Community message board for more details). If you prefer, you can send out for a sensitivity tuning kit (and connect it to your PC) or you can pay to send your drums back and they'll decide what the problem is. Um…Earth to Activision: learn from how Harmonix dealt with their warranty situations and you won't have people cursing your name online.
This leaves us with the track list for the game. There are many similarities between Rock Band 2's set and GHWT. There are some stand out songs that GHWT has the RB2 doesn't, such as three songs by Tool, two songs by Ozzy Osbourne and “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen, but there are more exclusive tracks that Rock Band 2 (and it's mass downloadable content) that still make RB2 the better buy all around. There are some tunes that are exclusive to GHWT that are simply horrid and I don't have the space to list them.
All around, I would suggest the following: buy the Guitar Hero World Tour band bundle if you want a drum set and a mic and then go and buy the Rock Band 2 game. No matter what you choose, you'll have a lot of tunes to play this holiday season and I think that most Guitar Hero fans will really be pleased with this edition…especially if they get a drum set without any problems.
I'm giving this one a 9 out of 10 (not perfect because the set list disappointed me a little bit).
Note: I know that there's a music creator that allows you to create and upload tunes for others to rate, but I haven't had a chance to use it. It may raise the score, but even if it wasn't included, the game is still worth the score I gave it. I just have not had the time (or will have the time) to really get my hands dirty with it until the holiday break.
