Los Angeles may be a town known for the highest excesses of rock n' roll debauchery (with legendarily wayward rock acts such as Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses synonymous with the city) but Activision's headquarters - a dull grey box located in sleepy Santa Monica - is hardly the most thrilling place in the world to get my hands on with Guitar Hero World Tour for the first time.
Bed of nails But it doesn't matter, because like Rock Band before it, Guitar Hero World Tour's full instrument line-up, featuring two guitars, drums and microphone, can give even the dullest corporate meeting room the atmosphere of LA's famous Troubadour rock venue. Guitar Hero is back - and in the finest tradition of rock flick Spinal Tap, everything in the game has been turned up to eleven.
If there was one thing that made Guitar Hero III a less popular pick than almost anything else over at my house whenever I had people round for some rocking out, it was the utterly diabolical character redesigns.
Judy Nails was treated worst, given a makeover that the whore of Babylon would have turned down as "a bit much", but Neversoft have owned up to their mistake and returned Judy to her alternative rock roots.
As Guitar Hero World Tour's lead designer Alan Flores told me: "We know a lot of fans didn't like what we did to her. But here at Neversoft we saw it as if Judy made it big and went to LA with Guitar Hero III, falling in with a bad crowd and making a lot of wrong decisions. But she's left LA and has learned her lesson."
Of course, there's still the chance that you aren't going to be satisfied with simply playing as Guitar Hero's usual characters (though it's worth noting they've brought back my favourite, Eddie Knox) or the still-top-secret list of playable rock stars, and that's why Neversoft have implemented a full character creator.
Sex change A first for the series - even though Neversoft has been familiar with them since working on the Tony Hawk's games, you start by picking sex, your "genre" and can then modify everything from the distinct positioning and size of facial features to layering unique facepaint and tattoos, or choosing clothes and piercings.
The customization doesn't stop there. Thanks to a zealous lawsuit from Gibson, there are no in-game licensed guitars, and rather than consider it a loss, Neversoft has turned it into something positive with an instrument creator that allows you to create the axe of your dreams. Or drum kit. Or even mic. You can modify your guitar, for example, right down to the shape of the headstock or the colour of the machineheads. It's up to you.
Custom instruments in game wouldn't mean anything if the real-world instruments didn't feel right, and it's the wireless drums which are the standout. If you've ever played a real drum kit, Rock Band's four-pad drum kit will never have satisfied you, as the tight-and-level layout of the pads mean that playing the hi-hat and snare never feels quite natural (especially if you're used to crossing your arms). Guitar Hero World Tour's drum kit rewrites the book.
High hat The raised cymbals allow you to carry off ultra-realistic (and thrilling!) drum rolls and fills. Perhaps the only place where the drums don't feel perfect is the foot pedal, which like Rock Band lacks the feedback you'd really get from thumping a bass drum. But for all the extreme metal drummers out there, you'll be able to add a second pedal for any fast bass drum segments.
The wireless guitar hasn't been left out of things either, featuring a new Star Power button, and the big addition of a touch slider for slide guitar and two-handed tapping. As a result of these tiny changes, playing guitar and bass at higher levels is a little less 'pick up and play' than it has been in the Guitar Hero series before.
Bass players now have to deal with "open" notes (played without holding down a fret) as well as the potential to play slap bass, while guitarists now have to be prepared for sections that will be near impossible without using sliding or tapping techniques. I've seen some of the patterns for solo sections (for example during Van Halen's Hot for Teacher) and they are literally terrifying.
As a result of all the new instruments and all the changes, none of the original downloadable content from Guitar Hero III is going to work with Guitar Hero World Tour (Boo!), but the game's 85+ master recordings softens that blow a little bit.
Tracks I managed to get hands-on time with included Interpol's Obstacle 1 and the Foo Fighter's Everlong, and while I'm not able to reveal the full setlist, it thankfully includes a decent mix of classic and current tracks that should have a few songs to appeal to everyone, rather than the 'classic rock' heavy Guitar Hero III. It's still very USA-centric, however, but that's no bad thing.
You'll be playing all of these songs in Guitar Hero World Tour's five new Career modes which consists of individual Career modes for each instrument (including vocals) and an online band career, which allows you to play with a band locally, or if you can't manage to get three friends together with you, can be played online with random players or friends. This is especially great as you don't have to choose one or the other, or even play with the same friends every time.
Going on the road The Career modes have been improved greatly too. No longer just a linear trip through a selection of pre-booked gigs, it plays far more like a real "world tour" allowing you to choose between gigs in different cities and experience the band lifestyle the way you see fit.
If you find, for example, that you're stuck on a gig at your current difficulty level, you can drop the difficulty level down for that gig and still progress through the game. If you had problems progressing through Guitar Hero III at thanks to the absurd difficulty level, Neversoft have promised a smoother ride for everyone this time, thank god.
There's less chance of you smashing the guitar into the drumkit in frustration, unless, of course, you're doing it as psrt of a Who-style post-gig instrument-demolition ritual.
Become a rockstar It would be foolish to claim that Guitar Hero World Tour was anything but a response to Rock Band. What surprises me though is that, rather than simply taking heed from what Rock Band did and copy it, Neversoft has made a concerted effort to improve on every single of that game's aspects - from quieter, better laid out, more responsive drums, to incredibly well-rounded characters and easy instrument customization.
We've still got some reservations about the game's complexity (the new custom guitars can be quite bewildering) but this Christmas, it's likely that Guitar Hero is going to be the king.
Having loads of fun (and spent loads of money) on Rock Band, that preview didn't exactly sound fantastic enough to buy a new set of instruments and download new songs... meh
you may not be able to show a set list but no one said i cant and 85+ is only 86
30 Seconds To Mars--The Kill 311--Beautiful Disaster Airbourne--Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast The Allman Brothers Band--Ramblin' Man Anouk--Good God The Answer--Never Too Late At the Drive-In--One Armed Scissor Beastie Boys--No Sleep Till Brooklyn Beatsteaks--Hail To The Freaks Billy Idol--Rebel Yell Black Label Society--Stillborn Black Rebel Motorcycle Club--Weapon of Choice blink-182--Dammit Blondie--One Way or Another Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band--Hollywood Nights Bon Jovi--Livin' on a Prayer Bullet for My Valentine--Scream Aim Fire Coldplay--Shiver Creedence Clearwater Revival--Up Around the Bend The Cult--Love Removal Machine Dinosaur Jr.--Feel the Pain The Doors--Love Me Two Times Dream Theater--Pull Me Under The Eagles--Hotel California The Enemy--Aggro Filter--Hey Man, Nice Shot Fleetwood Mac--Go Your Own Way Foo Fighters--Everlong The Guess Who--American Woman HushPuppies--You're Gonna Say Yeah! Interpol--Obstacle 1 Jane's Addiction--Mountain Song Jimi Hendrix--The Wind Cries Mary Jimi Hendrix--Purple Haze (Live) Jimmy Eat World--The Middle Joe Satriani--Satch Boogie Kent--Vinternoll2 Korn--Freak on a Leash Lacuna Coil--Our Truth Lenny Kravitz--Are You Gonna Go My Way Linkin Park--What I've Done The Living End--Prisoner of Society Los Lobos--La Bamba Lostprophets--Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast) Lynyrd Skynyrd--Sweet Home Alabama (Live) The Mars Volta--L'Via L'Viaquez MC5's Wayne Kramer--Kick Out the Jams Metallica--Trapped Under Ice Michael Jackson--Beat It Modest Mouse--Float On Motorhead--Overkill Muse--Assassin Negramaro--Nuvole e Lenzuola Nirvana--About A Girl No Doubt--Spiderwebs NOFX--Soul Doubt Oasis--Some Might Say Ozzy Osbourne--Crazy Train Ozzy Osbourne--Mr. Crowley Paramore--Misery Business Pat Benatar--Heartbreaker Radio Futura--Escuela De Calor R.E.M.--The One I Love Rise Against--Re-Education Through Labor Sex Pistols--Pretty Vacant Silversun Pickups--Lazy Eye Smashing Pumpkins--Today Steely Dan--Do It Again Steve Miller Band--The Joker Sting--Demolition Man (Live) The Stone Roses--Love Spreads Stuck in the Sound--Toy Boy Sublime--Santeria Survivor--Eye of the Tiger System Of A Down--B.Y.O.B. Ted Nugent--Stranglehold Ted Nugent--Original Guitar Duel Recording Tokio Hotel--Monsoon Tool--Parabola Tool--Schism Tool--Vicarious Trust--Antisocial Van Halen--Hot For Teacher Willie Nelson--On The Road Again Wings--Band on the Run Zakk Wylde--Original Guitar Duel Recording
really cant wat for this RB peripherals can suck it 100 quid pricetag or not, its gonna be GHWT all the way for me, n then RB1/2 for more songs, simple as.
I've just pre-ordered this from game £149.99 for that i get 2 guitars the drums the mic and the game.I was holding out to see how RB2 faired but after seeing the price off the drum kit alone i've decided on ghwt instead lets just hope the drums for this are better then rockband cause they were naff of the highest order
The patch is out for Rock Band to get GH3 guitars working and all the instruments are meant to be cross compatible on RB2 and GH:WT after Sony banged heads together.
So I'll be buying the GH:WT pack with the "free" guitar and a RB2 Solus and enjoying both.
Hopefully they'll have sorted out the bizarre note placements from GH3. Shame that GH3 downloads won't work in World Tour, though.
