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Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

Game Review | September 30, 2010 11:25 pm

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a music/rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released September 28th, 2010.

This marks the 6th installment of the Guitar Hero series (not including Band Hero or artist-specific releases like GH: Metallica). While the basic guitar gameplay is still the same as in the original title, there have been many refinements and additional modes and options added.

Warriors of Rock uses an enhanced form of the Band Hero engine; this means it supports any configuration of vocalists, guitarists, bassists and drummers, up to 4 people. All the latest refinements to notecharts are presents: guitarists get tap sections, bassists get open notes, drummers get accents and ghost notes on Expert+ difficulty.

The core of WOR's gameplay is in Quest and Quickplay+ modes. Quest has you playing different sets of tracks with specific characters. Each has a unique power that aids you in some way—for instance, Johnny Napalm's set and venue are mostly punk-based and his score multiplier never goes below 2x, and Lars Umlaut has a Norwegian black metal-inspired venue and heavier music and he can attain a 5x multiplier without having to use star power.

Other characters are a bit less genre-specific but still thematic, and all their powers either keep you from failing, help you recover, or increase your score even more. Once you attain a certain number of stars in their sets (either via doing really well on a few songs or getting the minimum on all of them) the character transforms and their power levels up, completing the chapter.

Besides the character-specific sets & venues, there is a special interlude chapter where you play Rush's multi-part epic 2112 in special venues with cinematic visuals and narration by the band.

The game's story revolves around the Demigod of Rock fighting "the Beast" before losing his legendary guitar and being imprisoned in stone. Completing Rush's 2112 chapter unlocks the legendary axe, and once all 8 main characters are transformed you must fight the Beast and release the Demigod so he can finish the job.

The final chapter of Quest mode has you playing as the Demigod of Rock, who uses all the warriors' powers combined, to dominate a set of the toughest songs in the game, including tracks from Dragonforce, Slayer, Dillinger Escape Plan, and 3 from Megadeth, one of which was composed specifically for this game.

Quickplay+ mode lets you play in a loose, more customizable environment. You can use any unlocked character & venue as well as creating your own characters and instruments and even using your MS avatar.

The entire 93 song selection is immediately available in every difficulty for every instrument, though Beginner-level doesn't allow posting scores to the leaderboards or completing challenges. Every track has a set of these challenges and, unlike Band Hero, there are separate ones for each instrument as well as a traditional band.

GH:WOR also offers several competitive mutiplayer modes, like Pro Face-off and Band vs Band, as well as drop-in drop-out Party Play with individually selectable difficulties.

To expand your library, you can import tracks from Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero and GH: Metallica, as well as some content from World Tour and Smash Hits. GHTunes still provides free songs from developers and the community, and the GH Studio has once again been upgraded with features to make it both more comprehensive and easier to use. You can also, of course, hop online through this game, or the Guitar Hero VIP Pass application in XBLA, to purchase new songs to play.

Visually, this Guitar Hero is another step up, with nice character models, excellent lighting, and great note visibility on the highway with no lag whatsoever.

The game's audio is of course very important: all the tracks are masters with full mixing options and Dolby Digital support. The Alice Cooper and Cherrybomb tracks were even re-recorded just for this game. Being able to independently raise the volume of your instrument, lower that of the crowd, or balance out all the instruments not being played is awesome. The narrations by Gene Simmons and the guys from Rush are a nice touch.

The gameplay feels good overall, with the timing window for hitting notes seeming relaxed on guitar and bass. The vocals demand a higher accuracy in pitch than Rock Band or previous GH titles. Many of the songs in the game are difficult but the character powers let you tailor the experience. The addition of QP+ challenges for downloaded and imported content is another nice touch.

As much as I love this game, I have to give Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock a 7.9 because it has lots of content but doesn't really bring anything new to the table. With the upcoming PowerGig and Rock Band 3 games bringing out "pro" modes to teach you how to really play an instrument, us GH geeks are once again reduced to popping Skittles on our Fischer-price plastic guitars. Just a note: the inclusion of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody knocked the score up a half a point.

Extras: the game has several avatar awards, including WOR and Soundgarden t-shirts, Johnny Napalm's jacket, and the Demigod of Rock's legendary guitar-axe and helmet. Early copies of the game ship with a free Soundgarden CD, Telephantasm, so look for a sticker on the case if you buy at retail.

Achievements: most are tied to getting stars & completing challenges in QP+ and dominating Quest mode. You'll also need a full, traditional 4-piece band for a few, and to play each competitive multiplayer mode at least once. Difficulty only matters for 3 Achievements total.

Rating: 7.9 of 10

Reviewed: GH™: Warriors of Rock

Keywords: guitar hero, warriors of rock, activision, neversoft, music games; review

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

09/30/10 11:41 pm | #2

Damn XBA is acting weird tonight.

Anyway, I was trying to post the full song listing:

* A Perfect Circle – "The Outsider"
* Aerosmith – "Cryin'"
* AFI – "Dancing Through Sunday"
* Alice Cooper – "No More Mr. Nice Guy"
* Alter Bridge – "Ties That Bind"
* Anberlin – "The Feel Good Drag"
* Anthrax – "Indians"
* Arch Enemy – "Nemesis"
* Atreyu – "Ravenous"
* Avenged Sevenfold – "Bat Country"
* Bad Brains – "Re-Ignition (Live)"
* Band Of Skulls – "I Know What I Am"
* Black Sabbath – "Children Of The Grave"
* Blind Melon – "Tones Of Home"
* Blue Oyster Cult – "Burnin' For You"
* Bush – "Machinehead"
* Buzzcocks – "What Do I Get?"
* Children Of Bodom – "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War"
* Creedence Clearwater Revival – "Fortunate Son"
* The Cure – "Fascination Street"
* Deep Purple – "Burn"
* Def Leppard – "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)"
* Dethklok – "Bloodlines"
* The Dillinger Escape Plan – "Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants"
* Dire Straits – "Money For Nothing"
* DragonForce – "Fury of the Storm"
* Drowning Pool – "Bodies"
* Edgar Winter– "Free Ride"
* Fall Out Boy – "Dance, Dance"
* Five Finger Death Punch – "Hard To See"
* Flyleaf – "Again"
* Foo Fighters – "No Way Back"
* Foreigner – "Feels Like The First Time"
* George Thorogood and The Destroyers – "Move It On Over (Live)"
* The Hives – "Tick Tick Boom"
* Interpol – "Slow Hands"
* Jane's Addiction – "Been Caught Stealing"
* Jethro Tull – "Aqualung"
* John 5 – "Black Widow Of La Porte"
* KISS – "Love Gun"
* Linkin Park – "Bleed It Out"
* Lynyrd Skynyrd – "Call Me The Breeze (Live)"
* Megadeth – "Sudden Death"
* Megadeth – "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due"
* Megadeth – "This Day We Fight!"
* Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne – "Paranoid (Live)"
* Muse – "Uprising"
* My Chemical Romance – "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
* Neil Young – "Rockin' In The Free World"
* Nickelback – "How You Remind Me"
* Night Ranger – "(You Can Still) Rock In America"
* Nine Inch Nails – "Wish"
* The Offspring – "Self Esteem"
* Orianthi – "Suffocated"
* Pantera – "I'm Broken"
* Phoenix – "Lasso"
* Poison – "Unskinny Bop"
* Queen – "Bohemian Rhapsody"
* Queensryche – "Jet City Woman"
* Rammstein – "Waidmanns Heil"
* The Ramones – "Theme From Spiderman"
* Red Rider – "Lunatic Fringe"
* R.E.M. – "Losing My Religion"
* Rise Against – "Savior"
* The Rolling Stones – "Stray Cat Blues"
* The Runaways – "Cherry Bomb"
* Rush – "2112 Pt. 1 – Overture"
* Rush – "2112 Pt. 2 - The Temples Of Syrinx"
* Rush – "2112 Pt. 3 – Discovery"
* Rush – "2112 Pt. 4 – Presentation"
* Rush – "2112 Pt. 5 - Oracle: The Dream"
* Rush – "2112 Pt. 6 – Soliloquy"
* Rush – "2112 Pt. 7 - Grand Finale"
* RX Bandits – "It's Only Another Parsec..."
* Silversun Pickups – "There's No Secrets This Year"
* Slash featuring Ian Astbury – "Ghost"
* Slayer – "Chemical Warfare"
* Slipknot – "Psychosocial"
* Snot – "Deadfall"
* Soundgarden – "Black Rain"
* Steve Vai – "Speeding" (Vault Version)
* Stone Temple Pilots – "Interstate Love Song"
* Strung Out – "Calling"
* Styx – "Renegade"
* Sum 41 – "Motivation"
* Tesla – "Modern Day Cowboy"
* Them Crooked Vultures – "Scumbag Blues"
* Third Eye Blind – "Graduate"
* Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – "Listen To Her Heart"
* Twisted Sister – "We're Not Gonna Take It"
* The Vines – "Get Free"
* The White Stripes – "Seven Nation Army"
* ZZ Top – "Sharp Dressed Man (Live)"

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

09/30/10 11:44 pm | #3

I'll let you have the first 2 posts like you intended.

Great review and that games looks WAY more badass than all the other GH's...

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

09/30/10 11:47 pm | #4

That wasn't necessary but very kind of you.

Honestly, it IS more badass than any other Guitar Hero. The setlist is obviously focused on classic rock, hard rock and metal so it's right up my alley, but fans of GH5 and Band Hero may be nonplussed.

And my god, the John 5 song is freaking insane on Expert guitar. It makes Dragonforce and Steve Vai's stuff look easy by comparison

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

09/30/10 11:48 pm | #5

GH's always make me think of this pic:

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 12:05 am | #6

Holy shit! 2112 in its entirety!! That's more Epic than Faith No More!

I would've liked to have seen better/more Slayer than what's offered, but I'm sure there will be DLC!

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 1:28 am | #7

Only really wanna play like 5 of the songs on the setlist, really wanna play Dillinger! Im sick of the lame ass achieves on these guitar games, hate having to try and find/organize 4 good people and such for all those annoyin achieves.

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 2:17 am | #8

Great job on the review Meta. I vowed I would never buy another GH title but this definitely looks like it's worth a rent. Not even the entire 2112 Overture is enough to get me to buy this. I just can't seem to stand playing GH games for more than an hour at a time and then I hate having to switch back and forth between difficulty levels to get through harder songs because they always seem to over-chart the guitar parts. Maybe the new modes you mentioned will cut down on that. I also note a number of songs that are already available to play on Rock Band 2 or are announced for Rock Band 3 including Bohemian Rhapsody. They do earn a kudo for making GH5 and Metallica exportable.

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 7:53 pm | #9

@Irish - yeah I know how you feel. Warriors of Rock does a good job because the sets with the really difficult songs also have characters with powers that are practically tailored to helping you out. One gives you a "shield" that regenerates and lets you miss one and later 2 notes without blowing your streak, and another has "ankhs" that you charge up by getting a small note streak and if you happen to get so far in to the red that you fail they instantly "reincarnate" you so, unlike previous titles, you don't have to suddenly drop from Expert to Medium when you run in to a shredfest.

@Evol - There's always the option of importing Raining Blood from Smash Hits and War Ensemble from GH Metallica, giving you a nice 3-song Slayer set. In RB the only option is buying and downloading Black Magic. Music games definitely need more Slayer.

As far as "DLC" goes, they already have some killer stuff in the GH song store. I just bought Amon Amarth's Twilight of the Thunder God a couple days ago, it's awesome.

What I am really waiting for is some black metal for either GH or RB, and not just the overproduced hybrid stuff like Dimmu Borgir. Both games have black metal fans on their dev teams and it shows in small things like the ultimate metal outfit in RB and the Lars character and tons of accessories in GH, but I guess they haven't been able to decide on some black metal that is "true" to the genre yet still palatable to the masses.

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 8:42 pm | #10

Yeah great review Meta. I'll still working my way through the pansy songs to get to the METAL, but the game feels like GH5 with a bit of a better setlist.

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 8:57 pm | #11

Great review Meta, i've always been wanting a Guitar Hero with abit more metal. So this is a definite rent for me.
And i'm loving to see A7X, Slipknot, Slayer, Children of Bodom, Dillinger Escape Plan, and all of 2112 on there. But, one problem, why the fuck is Nickelback and Bodies by Drowning Pool on there?

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 9:53 pm | #12

@Aidan - heh, I was waiting for you to pipe up, I had you in mind when I was writing the review. The last 3 set lists/chapters will tickle your fancy!

@King Mike - They had to include some more pop-ish stuff to get decent sales numbers. The only real upside to that is some folks might hear how goofy and lame that stuff sounds next to the awesome material.

That Drowning Pool guy sure does want the bodies to hit the flow, though. He is very passionate about it.

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 11:16 pm | #13

Yeah Meta I can't wait for the Slayer and Megadeth, and of course Black Widow and Fury of the Storm.

I would also like to point out that playing 2112 was one of the best things I've ever done in a music game since playing through the whole Rust In Peace album on Rock Band 2.

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/01/10 11:43 pm | #14

Dude, that freaking Black Widow song? omfg.

Stretch your fingers and take some ibuprofen beforehand, that's all I'm saying. Maybe chug an energy drink.

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Re: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

10/03/10 12:20 pm | #15

Yeah Meta I was actually a little disappointed in how easy Black Widow was... didn't even drop into the yellow. I guess I was used to seeing all the GH2 customs of it where it was really overcharted.

Fury of the Storm on the other hand, Jesus Christ.

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