| Author | Review |
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Will072
232,027
TA Score for this game: 1,860
Posted on 30 September 10 at 22:03, Edited on 01 October 10 at 19:31 |
This review has 46 positive votes and 7 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Well, here we are ready to unleash a 6th instalment of the GH series upon ourselves. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is now available in both the UK and the US and after playing it myself I think you are in for a treat.
Warning: This guide may contain spoilers (wouldn't label any of it as much of a spoiler myself but you have to be safe).
The last main game GH5 introduced a brand new story mode and now this new game has gone and taken it one step further. The new Quest mode sees you going in search of a Legendary guitar and after acquiring it you go on to free the Demi-god of Rock and ultimately defeat the Scourge by using their combined powers. I think that Activision did put some effort in to thinking up a storyline but, as usual, with Guitar Hero games (and Rock Band also) a story isn't really necessary. Thanks anyway though! The quest is split up into 9 chapters, one for each character (Austin Tejas, Echo Tesla, Johnny Napalm, Judy Nails, Casey Lynch, Lars Umlaut, Axel Steel, Pandora and the Demi-god of Rock) and 2 what you could call Battle chapters (The Cave and The Final Battle).
When you start out you have the basic powers of each individual character and you must earn stars to transform them and release their inner powers. There are a variety of different powers, 8 in total and they are only available when you play as that character in Quest mode. Here is a list of each character's powers and their transformed version's powers (indicated by a + next to the power title in-game).
Austin - Star Power Amplifier - SP earned from phrases is 2x (4x transformed) normal amount
Axel - Resurrector - Earn 2 (5) Ankhs to instantly resurrect you. Save Ankhs to earn extra stars.
Johnny - Speed Freak - 2x Minimum Multiplier that rises quickly. Stay over 3x to earn 2(5) extra stars.
Pandora - Star Power Nova - SP Multiplier is 3x (6x) instead of 2x.
Lars - Multiplier Extender - Max Multiplier is 5x (6x) instead of 4x.
Judy - Crowd Hyper - Rock Meter starts maxed. Overflow Rock Meter to earn 2(5) extra stars.
Echo - Star Power Generator - Get 5% (10%) SP for every 10-Note Streak.
Casey - Streak Guardian - 1(2) Shields guard your Streak. Long streaks earn 5 extra stars.
Using the powers, you play the songs on each character until they transform and then you can move on to the next one. After transforming your characters you will get the option to play the battles. Odd thing about this GH is that the setlist is sorted by music genre rather than difficulty.
The Quest also has a fairly decent replay value as there are a number of achievements linked to it and also a Domination mode.
Quest Rating: 8/10
As usual there is a quickplay mode in this Guitar Hero but in this new one we have a slight twist. They have labelled it as Quickplay+ and this is for a number of reasons. The challenges that were introduced as the career in GH5 are now part of Quickplay and every single song has challenges (excluding GHTunes songs) for each instrument. Obviously some songs do not have vocal/drum/bass parts so there would be no challenge for that but for the most part all songs have at least two challenges for each instrument as well as 2 or 3 band challenges. They are your usual set of challenges (high score, score whilst in SP, note streak etc.). This is a real positive for the game in my eyes. Not only are there instrument specific challenges but there is also something known as a Power Challenge. For this, you can select two powers, play any song (excluding GHTunes again) and try and get as many stars as possible from it. The power challenge is for local play only but the others can be done online. You can even target somebody else's score from your friends list and try and beat their challenge score. If this is all too much for you and you just want to play a song, don't worry. All the songs can just be played as normal without powers although the challenges always run when you play the song.
Quickplay+ Rating: 9/10
The only other new additions to the game are that:
- You receive unlockable items (guitars, extras, characters and the like) when you rank up in Quickplay. You rank up by earning stars. Progress can be checked in the Rewards Tracker and the Star Leaderboard.
- The Hero Feed. This is a small bar at the bottom of your screen showing what your friends with the game have been doing. It shows such things as ranking up, beating your score in a challenge, unlocking items etc. You can share your joy when you level up too through XBL and also there is a Facebook/Twitter capability on the game now.
The setlist is made up of 93 songs, 7 of which are part of the Rush song 2112. In my opinion, this is one of the better setlist in a long while. It still doesn't quite match the GH2 one but that is just me. It has a very good mix of songs in terms of difficulty, genre and decade. A full list of songs is available here - The Entire Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Setlist.
Setlist Rating: 9/10
As well as all these new things, there is the Competitive mode from GH5 with things like Streaker and Do or Die as well as your classic Pro-Faceoff. The in-game shop for you to purchase downloadable content and export songs from previous games is here as well (thanks to Doominatorx6 for noting my mistake). There is also an option for Momentum+ locally. The GHStudio is still there with the possibility to download custom songs in GHTunes, play along in GHJam and create your own songs in GHMix2.0. You can check your stats in the Rock Record section (shows stats from this game only and cumulative ones from GH5, BH and this one).
On a side note, for the first week only, you can import songs from GH:M into this one for free by going here - http://hub.guitarhero.com/metallicaimport/. This offer is only available for US and Canadian residents though I believe.
I got the game on release date as I am a big Guitar Hero/ Rock Band fan and I am glad I did now. This game has not disappointed me in the least and I feel that it is the best GH game since GH2. I would put it on a par with GH3 maybe because that had a slightly better setlist but this new game has a lot more features than that one did. If you are in two minds as to whether to buy it thinking that it will be the same as the last one, just buy it! I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The achievements are not too much of a challenge, most of them just time consuming with only a handful of difficulty specific ones and a few band-related ones but most can be done by yourself or with one other person.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
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Sashamorning
459,902
TA Score for this game: 1,602
Posted on 26 October 10 at 03:35 |
This review has 27 positive votes and 11 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the 6th main game in the GH series, follows closely on the heels of the outstanding Guitar Hero 5 with an incredible playlist (93 songs!) and an all-new Quest mode. For fans of the series, there's a lot to love, but if you're looking for innovation, there's not much to be found.
This is not to say it's a bad game in any way, or any less fun. The game takes the much-improved gameplay of GH5 while bringing back the career modes of the earlier games in the series. For those players simply looking to rock out with a new setlist (augmented by importable songs from earlier games), this outing more than fits the bill.
The highlight of the game is absolutely the Quest mode. The plot-optional mode asks players to complete mini sets for each of eight different rockers (including old favorites Johnny Napalm and Axel Steel, as well as some new faces). When enough stars have been earned for each rocker, the character transforms into a superhero with a special power, such as increasing the multiplier when Star Power is activated, or giving a shield to protect your streak when you miss a note.
One major highlight of the Quest is the inclusion of the full 2112 suite from Rush's album of the same title. This portion of the game is narrated by the band members themselves, and tells the story of the search for a guitar of incredible power, one that the players "use" to further their Quest to free the Demigod of Rock from his shackles and defeat the Beast. All of this is accomplished, of course, by rocking out on your favorite instrument.
As I said, plot-optional. The reality is that this is a ploy to get you to play some really kicking songs. The other really cool thing about this mode is that it coerces players to delve into some classic Rush. If this game doesn't finally get the veteran Canadian band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, then sadly they have no chance.
The special powers you earn through the Quest are carried over to the Quickplay+ portion of the game, where every song (including older imported songs) has a myriad of different challenges that help you earn stars. Unlock more stars, and you can unlock cheats, new rockers, and other perks for the game.
In all, the game is a lot of fun, but ultimately it's really just another collection of songs. With so many music games out there and interest in the genre starting to dwindle, Guitar Hero is going to need to innovate in order to thrive, and simply introducing new songs, as great as they are, isn't going to be enough to keep players' interests in the long run.
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OfficerBarbrady
104,236
TA Score for this game: 1,860
Posted on 13 February 11 at 22:53 |
This review has 13 positive votes and 2 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Guitar Hero: Warriors of rock; the last game in the Guitar Hero series. Does it leave the series with a positive reaction? Read on to find out:
Gameplay: 9.5/10
This game plays almost just like all the other Guitar Heroes. I believe the only difference is the time window for notes is opened up a bit, which makes songs like Fury of the Storm less of a pain.
This game incorporates all of the features in GH5. Including: Party Play, Avatars and the ablility to play with any combination of instruments.
I think the largeest addition to the game is the new Quickplay+ mode. What makes quickplay+ so different is that it adds about 13 challenges for each song. Each challenge can earn you up to 3 stars. The objective of Quickplay+ is to get as many stars as you can to unlock more game content.
As you progress through Quest mode(later on in the review), you will unlock "Powers" for quickplay+. These alter the game experience in ways such as Being brought back right when you fail, increase the maximum multiplier, generate star power as you play, and more.
Story(Quest Mode): 7.5/10
Instead of the career mode we have seen in all the other GH games, this game spices it up a little by adding in "Quest Mode". In Quest Mode, you play through each characters "storyline". Each characters storlyine features a unique set of songs that you need to get enough stars on in order to "Transform" the character. When you transform you unlock a new version of the character you were playing as. Each character has their own unique transformation.
The main objective in Quest Mode is to collect "Warriors" and defeat the Scourge of Rock. The final boss battle consists of 3 Megadeth songs. Also, the entire thing is narrated by Gene Simmons, the bassist from KISS.
Setlist: 10/10
In my opinion, this games setlist is the best in any music game. Neversoft did a good job at choosing the fewest amount of small names as they could. If you like metal, you will totally love this games setlist. It features artists such as Children of Bodom, Steve Vai, Arch Enemy, Megadeth, Dragonforce, and much, much more. The game also features classics from bands such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakes, Edgar Winter, Creedence Clearwater Revival, REM and much more. Also includes the entire "2112" album from Rush.
Here is a link to the full setlist:
The Entire Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Setlist
Visuals: 9/10
The visuals during gameplay are almost exactly like GH5. Although, they added a little meter that measures how far you are in the song.
However, when it says "You Rock!" at the end of a song, its all in baby-blue. It really does not suit the colour scheme of the rest of the game.
The visuals in the menus are very pleasing. There are flames galore. For metal fans, cruising through the menus will be very enjoyable. Also, in the backround, it plays full songs instead of little excerpts like the other guitar heroes have.
Achievements:
Difficulty:9/10
Originality: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
If you expect to get 1000 in this game you will need to own all of the instruments and be quite decent at drums and very good at guitar. I would say the most difficult achievement for casual guitar hero players would be the one for beating Black Widow of La Porte on expert guitar. The rest of them are mostly progress achievements. Getting 2000 stars can be quite time consuming.
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Story: 7.5/10
Setlist: 10/10
Visuals: 9/10
Achievements: 8/10
Overall: 44/50
I would definitely recommend this to be a buy for fans of guitar hero. It is a shame the Guitar Hero series has ended, seeing as this should have been the game to get the series back on track.
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xBrushedRedx
57,809
TA Score for this game: 1,860
Posted on 14 October 10 at 04:22, Edited on 14 October 10 at 04:31 |
This review has 14 positive votes and 6 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Look out Rock Band 3... Guitar Hero is back and better than ever!
Ahh, I was looking forward to this release after seeing GH finally get back on track when they released GH5 back last year. GH6 definitely does not disappoint. It's a very good music game (arguably the best I've played at this moment). GH6 is lots of fun and has some new features this time around. Break down of the game:
Quest (4.5/5)
This time around, instead of a "tour," Guitar Hero has included a quest mode, sorta similar to Guitar Hero 3's set list mode. The story is that you're a regular guy trying to make it big and take down a big monster thing, and the only way to beat it down is by the raw power of rock (kinda corny I know, but it's fun! :)). So you have to unleash all "warrior" types of rockers to make your powers stronger. Each type has its own power, which can be used to gain a boatload more stars.
Basically, what you're doing is going from person to person playing songs. Each person has a list and in the list you have to collect enough "power stars" to transform them into their Warrior mode. After completion of quest mode, you can go back and "dominate" all chapters (get 40 power stars from each song).
One more thing and a very important thing, Guitar Hero has brought back the difficulty to the guitar!!.
Quest is kinda long and pretty corny, but at the same time, it's a pretty cool feature.
I give it a 4.5 out of 5.
Quickplay+ (5/5)
I have yet to figure out what the plus is for, but in GH6, Quickplay is more advertised than in any previous Guitar Hero. And much more fun to play! After going through the long quest mode, you are asked to get 2000 stars in Quickplay+. Each song you can rack up to 42+ stars (42 for doing all challenges, 3 for guitar, 2 for drums, 2 for bass, 2 for vocals, 2 for a standard band, and 1 for non-standard band, usually). Then you can get anywhere from 15-21 stars from a star power challenge.
During the Quickplay+ mode, you rank up by gaining stars, kinda like leveling up in a CoD game, you just rank up and unlock new goodies, such as galleries, characters, extras, etc.
I give it a 5 out of 5.
Setlist (5/5)
Obviously, it's gonna be hard to please everyone when a company releases a new music game, but this game seriously has it all (and I love all the metal in this game!.). Most importantly, a lot of the songs are challenging, at least more challenging than in GH: WT-GH5. Love the inclusion of more Dragonforce 
There are 97 songs (give or take a few). The songs are different genre from Indie to Death Metal. It's got it all! There are songs from various decades and it's actually a joy to play through most of the songs, plus there is DLC out there to download as well. I'm loving the free pack with Muse, Disturbed, and My Chemical Romance!
Overall, the setlist is very impressive and definitely a strong plus for this game. I give it a 5 out of 5! Can't wait to see what's all to be offered in the future through DLC.
Competitive (5/5)
Basically, Competitive mode has stayed the same from Guitar Hero 5, which isn't exactly a bad thing considering that I love GH5's online play. It's a much better experienced than the previous Guitar Heros. Only thing is that the online community is almost dead. Maybe it'll pick up in the coming months. I hate to see a great game not sell a lot!
For those of you who've not experienced Guitar Hero 5 or 6's Competitive mode, then you have
Pro-Faceoff - A battle to see who can get a higher score on a song on the same difficulty
Rockfest - Rockfest is probably the most popular. It has different types of "Competi-rock" which is different types of game modes that players can choose from. There's Perfectionist, Streakers, Elimination, Pro-faceoff, Do or Die, Momentum, and Momentum+ (which is only available in local play).
You can choose from the plethora of those that were just listed (Perfectionist, Streakers, Elimination, Pro-faceoff, Do or Die, Momentum, and Momentum+) on local without having to vote.
The online rocks if you can find someone to play you. I give it a 5 out of 5.
Achievement Whore Score (4/5)
If you can max out any previous Guitar Hero, then this should be no problem. A lot of the achievements are like Guitar Hero 5's. They're pretty easy for the most part if you feel like putting in the time to get them all. There are achievements from completing Quest mode and for collecting stars in Quickplay+. Some are from playing in a standard band and some are for being in a non-standard band. Some are for doing random things with the band & some are just for trying out all the features. Some of the features you'll never return to after getting the achievements (I'm looking at you, GH Jam), but hey, they're worth a visit for an achievement.
Overall, this isn't a hard game to max out and a fun one to max at the same time. The Achievement Whore Score is a 4 out of 5
Final Verdict
Guitar Hero 6 is awesome! It's sad to see how few it sold after being heard about for a while. In fact, I bought this game exactly a week after it came out at Gamestop and the guy told me that I'm the first copy that he's sold. It made me feel special (because I got a cool shiny game case and a free Soundgarden CD), but it made me down because I knew online community would be dead.
After playing the game though, it's so much fun and deserves a 5 out of 5. Seriously one of the best, if not the best, music game I've played.
I'm neutral in the who GH/RB rivalry, but all I gotta say is that RB3 better be pretty darn good to beat out Guitar Hero: Warrior of Rock.
That's all I gotta say :). Hope you enjoyed!
ROCK ON! 
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Sonic Sleuth
211,351
TA Score for this game: 368
Posted on 18 April 11 at 05:17 |
This review has 4 positive votes and 2 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Ah, Guitar Hero, my old nemesis. The king of all plastic instrument games returned to its roots with Guitar Hero 5, eschewing the stupefying Guitar Hero: World Tour song selection system for a more conventional structure, but gamers failed to respond. This time around, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock goes medieval on gamers with a robust swords-and-demons quest and all new character redesigns. But is it enough to reclaim the music genre throne from Rock Band? Sadly, no.
If you're like me, and I mean exactly like me, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock seems like a dream come true. You start the game off with a new song from grunge metal/alt rock veterans Soundgarden, eventually segue into the seven-song Rush "2112" suite, and close with a shredfest threesome by Megadeth. Activision has even tossed the latest Soundgarden CD, Telephantasm, free inside the package (although the DLC songs are not included, but can be purchased for 1440 MSP/$18 PSN). If it sounds like the best music game for hard rock fans, well, that's because it probably is. If you enjoy heavy metal, you won't be disappointed with GH:WOR… unfortunately, pretty much everyone else on the planet will be.
In an effort to distance GH:WOR from the Rock Band behemoth, Activision and Neversoft embraced their traditional Guitar Hero characters, from goofy (Lars Umlaut) to sexy (Pandora), and ditched the celebrity characters, a schtick that grew out of hand when faux rocker Hayley Williams somehow popped into Guitar Hero: World Tour… alongside Ozzy Osbourne and Jimi Hendrix. Their animated characters are forced to embark on a quest to destroy a giant…. well, does it matter? It's big, and robotic, and it has to go. To that end, our heroes each face about seven or eight songs, in their genre, on their way to earning enough stars to mutate their character into a new super-powered being. These superhero versions of the original characters are pretty cool (as Miley Cyrus might say), and range from a Frankenstein monster to a headless horseman, a giant pig-man, a mummy, a snake woman, and more. It's a fun new element to a fairly tired genre, and makes the cinematic cutscenes fun to watch, rather than a button-mashing attempt to see the next track list. Additionally, the heroes each have unique powers that help you retain streaks, gain stars, and avoid failing out, and the powers increase when they become superheroes.
While this mechanic adds to the game's charm, it also sucks away a lot of the fun of the genre… rather than enjoying the music you want to play, you may be forced to groan through Poison's "Unskinny Bop" on your way to unlocking the next character, and if you don't like a particular genre… tough. You have to unlock each super-powered character to beat the final boss, sucker, so you better enjoy Def Leppard, ZZ Top, and Styx. Don't like Atreyu or Rammstein? Too bad! On the plus side, tearing through five or six songs might net you enough stars to move on to the next character (thus avoiding some unwanted songs), but if you don't like 80's music or thrash metal, you still have to suffer through those five or six songs, at the very least.
What's more, if you don't like Rush or Megadeth, you're in a world of hurt, since you have to play through the seven-song "2112" suite and a three-song Megadeth beat-down that will leave you with carpal tunnel syndrome and a bad attitude. I guess we know now why Dave Mustaine is so angry all the time - he has to play these songs every day! The Rush portion of the game is an interesting leaping point for the story, a diversion involving meditating, or preparing for the battle to come… but the sleepy-sounding drollness of the Rush members reading their futuristic mumbo jumbo left me cold. If your idea of a good time is hearing Geddy Lee read L. Ron Hubbard aloud in a bathroom between every song, well, Merry Christmas! For the rest of us, it's a bit puzzling, and reminded my why Jeff Buckley's Rush quasi-cover "Squeakor" was so darn funny.
The gameplay, once playing a song, is fantastic. The notes are drawn relative to a song's actual parts, and there are a number of difficulty levels, from the impossible-to-fail Beginner to the impossible-to-master Expert+. I played through most of the game singing on Beginner or Easy (for fun) while playing Hard guitar, but note that Beginner mode disables Challenges (every song provides Challenges which can be unlocked for achievements/trophies). I'd recommend this approach if you like to sing and have a mic stand, since the harder guitar parts sometimes come out of nowhere, and the beginner vocals give you a safety buffer to keep the band from failing. Of course, you can elect to play bass or drums if you're a rhythm section kind of guy (and you'll love playing as Neil Peart and Geddy Lee on "2112"). Like all recent music games, there are a wide variety of ridiculous achievements and multiplayer local and Live/PSN support. Consider Lucifer's Accountant, which unlocks when your final score is evenly divisible by six, or Mathematic Sharpshooters, that unlocks when you beat a song with a final score ending in 000, as a band. Thanks for nothing, Neversoft!
After the first hour of gameplay, GH:WOR was one of my favorites in the series, and I couldn't wait to see what was next. By the end, I was sorely disappointed with the sheer number of songs I didn't want to play… but had to, in order to complete the quest. Additionally, some of the song choices are completely uninspired, when much better selections by the same bands were available. Yeah, I'm looking at you, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "Unskinny Bop". On the plus side, a trove of achievements/trophies are gifted when you return to replay the songs you did like, with a now fully super-powered band. Another mixed blessing is the final battle - it's cool to have two titans bashing each other's heads in, but when you're shredding away like… well, Dave Mustaine… you can't watch the carnage, so it's lost on you. And a giant fail to Neversoft for employing a Load/Save feature that's nested away in the main menu, leading countless gamers (trust me on this one) to lose their progress after a gaming session. Bad form, guys, Autosave is your friend.
All told, shred-heads will enjoy this game's robust collection of head-banging bands, if not the particular song selections… but even they might groan at the cheesy presentation of "2112" and the presence of some alt-rockers and faux-punk acts. Only the most forgiving music fan will keep a smile on their face through this entire game, but I still recommend a play through to those who enjoy the series and tire of Rock Band's pop leaning and party-game reliance.
Check out our other reviews at www.gamedebateclub.com!
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