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Brutal Review - Guitar Hero Smash Hits

Game Review | June 23, 2009 2:52 am
By Meta
Guitar Hero Smash Hits effectively collects the core of the franchise's past and updates it with all the modern trappings--HD visuals, 5.1 digital audio, and the full band experience for every track. Don't mistake this for a greatest hits compilation.

Graphics - Same engine as Guitar Hero World Tour with the minor refinements learned from GH Metallica. Stylized presentation and nice but not distracting lighting. The 4-player screen presents all relevant information without being cluttered BS.

Sound - Using recording masters and their own touch of engineering, every song here sounds excellent, including a few that were muddy or glossed over in their original game/platform. Everything is configurable to your liking, from lowering the recorded vocals to making the background band louder or toning down the bass player so your subwoofer will STFU.

Playability - This is where the details shine: the updated note charting allows the songs to better reflect some musical nuances lacking in their original games' presentations that lead to early ignorant reviews. No it's not the same thing as playing a real instrument but yes it does feel damn close and especially gets the same spirit if you do it with friends. If it's you grinding by yourself at home then pick up a real one instead of using your talents bitching eloquently about how you aren't willing to concentrate on a video game anymore. The difficulty scale is more accurately refined than ever.

Quote by "Reverend M3TA":


Former "gimmicks" like hammer-ons and tap sections will now make much better sense, especially to players brave enough to swim the shark-infested waters of Hard and Expert-level playing. The game won't make you a better instrument player but if you can shred plastic guitars on Expert, your pinky will be stronger & more articulate for it, and you better believe that people getting 4 or 5 stars on a song in Drums' Expert+ mode are the real deal.


Story - While the story seemed unnecessarily tacked-on in GHWT, here it actually makes perfect sense as an entertaining yarn that uses characters/"avatars" established from previous games. Casey Lynch, Johnny Napalm, Lars Umlaut and the thrash metal meathead whose name eludes me are recruited by the God of Rock to purvey their craft to the masses in order to power a mysterious artifact. Cutscenes between loads are quick and to the point while managing to stuff in all relevant details if you pay attention.

Quote by "Reverend M3TA":


Pantera, Lamb of God and Dragonforce fans, take note: skittle-spastic XBL nubs will be able to better appreciate the groove of such intense music, and you will have more fun engaging it in the way only video games can.


Replay Value - As with other GH and Rock Band titles, the replay value depends a lot on what you do with the game itself. If you're grinding alone, there's enough meat here to keep you satisfied--this is a genuine package and not a weak milking attempt. If you ever have "guitar game parties" or even just have an enthusiastic friend who enjoyed GH or RB stuff, then this is worth the purchase no questions asked.

Waffle Factor - The Achievements here are a good spread and in the original spirit of the idea; ergo, there's about 200 points of BS grinding, 200 points of hand-outs, and the rest are earned by actually playing the game's content thoroughly.

To buy or not to buy? - If you are a Guitar Hero fan, buy it. If you are a Rock Band fan, rent it before you decide. If you are genuinely new to the series, this is an excellent jumping-in point.
Reviewed: Guitar Hero Hits
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I thought this game was good, great review!
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Good review Meta. I own the game as well and think it was put together well. Also, since I don't have a PS2, I was never able to play GH1 or the 80s one. So there are quite a few new songs for me. But I think they made a great choice in song selections.
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Great Review Meta! We'll have to play sometime :D

This game is really good. I don't get why people say it is just a waste of Activision's time, GH:SH is a great idea, in my opinion. It gives people who are relatively new to the series a chance to experience all the best songs from the older games (except Take It Off, WTF???), and people who never had a PS2 can play stuff of GH and GH80's, which IMO, those two games had a few of the best songs in the whole franchise.

So as you can see, I pretty much agree with all of Meta's points (I sorta wrote my own little mini-review :p ).
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Awesome review. Thanks. Now if I could only find $60.00 somewhere to buy it:(
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Here's the full 48 track list for Guitar Hero Smash Hits. All of these are masters, and the note charts have been tweaked since their original appearance to include tap sections and sustained notes, as well as open notes for bass and accent notes for drums.

The drum note charts will change slightly depending on whether you are using a kit from RB, RB2 with expansions, or the GHWT one.
+The faster/tougher songs have Expert+ mode for drummers with two kick pedals.+

Guitar Hero:
Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla
Boston - More Than a Feeling
Deep Purple - Smoke On the Water
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
Helmet - Unsung (live)
Incubus - Stellar
Joan Jett and the BlackHearts - I Love Rock N' Roll
Judas Priest - Electric Eye
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon
Pantera - Cowboys from Hell (live)+
Queen - Killer Queen
Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
The Exies - Hey You
White Zombie - Thunder Kiss '65

Guitar Hero 2:
Alice in Chains - Them Bones
Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot+
Danzig - Mother
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
Iron Maiden - The Trooper
Jane's Addiction - Stop!
Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son
Lamb of God - Laid to Rest+
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil+
Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout
Rush - YYZ+
Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart
The Donnas - Take It Off
The Police - Message in a Bottle
The Sword - Freya
Warrant - Cherry Pie
Wolfmother - Woman

Guitar Hero 3:
AFI - Miss Murder
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames+
Heart - Barracuda
KISS - Rock and Roll All Nite
Living Colour - Cult of Personality
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Priestess - Lay Down
Slayer - Raining Blood+

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s:
Anthrax - Caught in a Mosh+
Extreme - Play with Me
Poison - Nothin' but a Good Time
Ratt - Round and Round
Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith:
Aerosmith - Back In the Saddle
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There's a lot better GH3 songs that should have been on there.
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That's a random aerosmith choice.. They could have made a better choice or made multiple better choices, in my opinion.
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Great job on the review Meta but activision isn't getting anymore of my money. They'll be lucky if I rent another of their titles. It seems like they have one coming out every other month. On this particular one I'm disappointed with the track selection. They left out most of my favorite tracks off each disc. Texas Flood and Crossroads off of GH, John the Fisherman (which was 1 of the only 2 masters they had on GH2) and Bad Reputation off of GH2, Bathroom Wall off the 80's and Kings & Queens off GH Aerosmith to name a few. Not to mention they added one of the worst songs in GH history in Hey You from GH1.

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In my opinion, Activision is moving to leverage the Guitar Hero franchise in a manner similar to Rock Band.

Yes, many awesome songs are absent, but don't forget about DLC. And you have to give them massive props for making the guitar & drum stuff so compatible--you can play their newest retail release with an old wired X-plorer (like i am right now :( ) and do drums on a still-functional Rock Band 1 drum kit.

Matter of fact, I think you can even do these on the Rock Revolution drum... thing. (to anyone that received Rock Rev as a gift instead of GH/RB: i'm sorry for you ahahaha)

There are a lot of options regarding this music-rhythm-game thing. I might consult with l337ness and a few other people here and we could maybe come up with a guide for those ready to jump in.

Suffice it to say, this release is a far cry from them repackaging a product and putting a NEW sticker on it.
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Quote by Meta:


lol something about the double bass songs


If I'm not mistaken, Bark at the Moon is double bass also.

Quote by xGrenade:


lol something about gh3 songs


I agree

Quote by IRiSH OH:


lol something about masters and Hey You


There's actually 4 masters in GH2, John the Fisherman, Stop!, Dead!, and Possum Kingdom. And Hey You is a good song :mad: if anything they shouldn't of put in Take It Of.
Re: Re: Brutal Review - Guitar Hero Smash Hits
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Quote by da1337nesMonstr:



Quote by Meta:


If I'm not mistaken, Bark at the Moon is double bass also.



Quote by xGrenade:


I agree



Quote by IRiSH OH:


There's actually 4 masters in GH2, John the Fisherman, Stop!, Dead!, and Possum Kingdom. And Hey You is a good song :mad: if anything they shouldn't of put in Take It Of.




Were there 4 masters on the 360 version? I was referring to the PS2 disc, which Stop & John the Fisherman were the only masters. I've never played GH2 on my 360 cause it wasn't compatible with my RB Fenders. I happen to prefer my RB2 wireless Fender over any GH controller. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about Hey You.
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Oh yeah I was talking about 360.
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