Guitar Hero 5, a break-down of game features and a look at some of the new options

(Neversoft / Activision)

Guitar Hero 5 is this week’s biggest title coming to the Xbox 360, bringing to gamers of the long-standing franchise a whole new set of features and a wide assortment of new songs, game modes, and likenesses of real-world superstar playable characters.

While the core elements of Guitar Hero 5 remain true to those found in the earlier games of the series, gamers will be happy to know that the new title from Neversoft and Activision will also be providing them with some updated forms of enjoyment, including new “Party Play” and “Rockfest” game modes.

“Party Play” is designed to address perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of the previous games, the unfortunate truth that not all GH Rockers can always fit a regular play time into their busy schedules. Party Play allows gamers the much needed freedom of being able to jump into a game at any point during the track, including the option of switching instruments mid-game, and even selecting various difficulties at any point without having to entirely exit out of the song.

While this new feature will certainly make the game more accessible to fans of the series, those looking for more challenging game modes will be finding them in the various “Rockfest” modes that are also to be found in Guitar Hero 5. Perhaps the biggest advancement to Guitar Hero 5 is the long anticipated addition of more players to the game. In Rockfest modes, gamers will now be able to have up to 4 players on a local system, including the ability to play more than one of each instrument type, and as many as 8 players in competitive on-line play.

In addition to these features, RockFest will also include a new set of modes to choose from including “Momentum”, which is a game mode that actually increases the difficulty of the game as a player continues to perform well during the track, progressively becoming more, or less, difficult to accommodate the player’s skill. Overall, it sounds like a perfect opportunity for a player to increase their individual skill level, while still playing the game on a competitive level.

“Perfectionist” is also one of the new game modes, in which player points are awarded to particular sections of the song, and the final score will be calculated upon how well a player performs during each section of the track. Another mode called “Streakers” also focus upon hit accuracy, by awarding the player for performing well and consistently making long note streaks, with points distributed according to each streak length.

Added to well established game modes like “Pro face-Off”, newly introduced competitive modes will also include “Do or Die”, in which a player is penalized if they miss three notes from within a section of a given song, by being forced to wait for that particular section of the song to finish, and then once again return to the competition. And in “Elimination”, the various players will need to perform well in order to remain in the match, with the lowest scoring players slowly eliminated from play until only the best one remains.

That's two drums, and two guitars!

Aside from these new modes, Guitar Hero 5 is also focusing on the “band play” elements that saw their first introduction in Guitar Hero World Tour.

Players can compete with 4 gamers on their own consoles, including various combinations of multiple guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, and actually match up with a total of 8 unique players during a single song through online play. In addition, the various game modes will all be selectable without the need to exit out of the existing gamer group. This is all certainly going to make for far more group play options than was previously found in earlier incarnations of the series. And everyone knows, that when it comes to music games, more players means more fun!

There is also going to be an assortment of Challenges added to the game, many of which are particular to unique songs, such as sustained use of the whammy bar during songs where it would be appropriate, or perfectly matching other performances on instruments like the microphone or drums.

The Music Studio is thankfully also getting a bit of a make-over. Having long been considered a bit too cumbersome for all but the most dedicated users, the studio is now apparently going to be more user friendly and allow gamers to upload even more of their musical creations to GHTunes. Hopefully the advancements will address the complexity of the previous Music Studio and allow users to upload their very own tracks without having to have had much experience doing so in the past. No doubt these adjustments will be weighed heavily by gamers who have also heard of the upcoming Rock Band Network initiative, and are looking to show off their own personal music-making talents to the rest of the community.

On the graphical side, Guitar Hero is pulling out all the stops with the inclusion of some highly detailed models of real-world superstars. Included in the list of playable characters are Carlos Santana, Shirley Manson, Matt Bellamy, Johnny Cash, and most recently announced, Kurt Cobain. Xbox 360 users also will have the added bonus of being able to link their very own Avatars into the system and see them up on the stage as they rock out to the many available tracks.

Cobain finally makes it to GH after 3 years of talk

With the inclusion of new game modes, additional multiplayer support, advanced graphics including new playable characters, and an on-disc assortment of 85 tracks from over 83 unique artists, Guitar Hero 5 is certainly looking to advance one of the most respected rhythmic games to a whole new level. Player response is likely to be positive, but the final verdict will come in shortly, as more players begin the transition to the latest version of one of their favorite games.

Guitar Hero 5 is set for release on September 1st, 2009.

For a full track list and additional information about Guitar Hero 5, please review the previous coverage, found here.

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