Five Stars for Guitar Hero 5

Taking everything they accomplished with World Tour last year and improving upon it, the Guitar Hero franchise has created a fun, addicting game that might just become a new favorite for both old and new fans of the genre. A more immediately playable set up is user friendly, allowing access to any of the game’s music tracks instead of forcing you to unlock them through the game’s various modes.

However, if different gameplay modes are right up your alley, Guitar Hero 5 definitely delivers. Quickplay offers the option of creating finite playlists, while the impressive and fun Party Play mode allows people to join and leave the game completely casually, without interrupting the flow of the game for other players. A jam session option allows you to rock to your heart’s content without any limiting rules to follow. The rather self-explanatory Career Mode allows you to progress in difficulty of songs and venues, all the while unlocking bonus features of the game that can be either fun or just ridiculous. Bonus challenges allow you to accrue three extra stars on each song, which you can use to unlock new equipment, cheats, and even new playable characters in the face of rock legends like Johnny Cash or Kurt Cobain.

If there’s a downfall in Guitar Hero 5, it’s the import songs option. While you are able to import a few of the songs from World Tour, it’s not even half of them and what’s more, you actually have to pay 280 Microsoft points to do it at all. While it’s disappointing and irritating, especially after previous versions of the game, the varied modes and the vastly improved music studio still make Guitar Hero 5 easily the best game of the franchise so far. Do you agree? Leave a comment and let me know.