Band Hero Review
For those about to rock, we, like, totally think you're hot.
November 3, 2009 - The unrelenting growth of music games has been nothing short of jaw-dropping. When the first Guitar Hero hit the PlayStation 2 in 2005, I remember thinking it was cute but then recalling the box of light guns in my father's attic and thinking the industry might have moved beyond giant plastic peripherals.
It hasn't, which isn't a bad thing, and Band Hero is the latest example of its proliferation.
No one's ever denied that Activision likes to make money, so I hope no one's offended when I tell you that Band Hero is a clone of the Guitar Hero 5 you know and love/are sick of. You can play as lead guitar, rhythm/bass, drums, or lead singer. You can tackle the 65 songs by yourself or have friends join you for the ride. These buds can play whatever instrument they want (Four drummers? Why not?!) and drop in or out at any time if you'll let them. You can face off against in-house or online buds, there are leaderboards, the ability to create your own tracks, rocker creation, and a career mode. The same gameplay everyone knows (notes descend down a highway and you press the colored buttons) is here, as well.
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Party like a 17-year-old rockstar.
What sets this title apart is its focus. Whereas the Guitar Hero games of the past have focused on rocking with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Police, and other decidedly legit bands, Band Hero takes the Top 40, junkfood pop route. Here you're going to find Jesse McCartney crooning about love and Aly and AJ singing about "Like Whoa." You're going to unlock playable characters such as Taylor Swift and Maroon 5's Adam Levine.
Guitar Hero: Metallica this is not.
I imagine most reviewers will tear Band Hero a new one for its track list, but you won't find that on my complaints list. I'm the guy who just bought Taylor Swift's second album AGAIN because they re-released it with a couple of tracks and music videos. I'm the guy who literally exclaimed "Yes!" when I unlocked Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday" in this game. I'm the guy in love with this kind of music. If you're not, you won't enjoy this game. If you are, you'll have fun here... at least for a little while.
See, just like Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero has a lot of cool stuff under the hood. Each song has a bonus challenge that's either for a specific instrument or for the band and will give your extra stars as well as items and characters if you can string together 30 perfect phrases on the vocals for "Wannabe," strum up 350 times on bass during "Dirty Little Secret," or whatever the challenge might be. You can change the difficulty and instruments you're using in your career at any time simply by hopping back the main menu, there are a bunch of different competitive multiplayer modes such as Momentum (play well to go up in difficulty) and Do or Die (miss three notes and get bounced), and so on.
The trouble is, you've seen all that stuff before. About two months ago. In Guitar Hero 5. This is supposed to be a different franchise, right?
Band Hero packs a career mode, but it's the same stripped-down version you saw in GH5. You start with a venue, earn stars by playing the available songs, and then watch as more venues open up. When you click on each new venue, you get a short animated clip of some generic rockers getting the invite to play at Spring Break or in space or whatever.
For me, this career mode is one of the major failings of Band Hero. Personally, I want the experience of working crappy gigs, earning money, fans, and fame, and feeling like my squad is progressing. Here, you're just playing through setlist after setlist and you can cream the experience in just a couple of hours. I started and completed the career mode on Sunday afternoon without breaking a sweat and with plenty of time to spare before Curb Your Enthusiasm started. I want a deeper experience and scenes that showcase my band – not some generic cartoons.
You can take or leave my criticisms of the career – I know Brudvig actually enjoyed the simplification in GH5, and the ability to name your crew and design a logo for them is still here – but a bigger sticking point with this title is the way it's presented; namely that this is a re-skinned Guitar Hero 5 that you're being asked to pay full price for. See, as soon as you open the Band Hero box, you're greeted with the exact same guitar from GH5 – it still says "Guitar Hero" on the back. It's the same story with the GH-branded microphone. Once you get into the game, you find the pink and purple color scheme, but these are still the exact features and menus that were in GH5.
This isn't a brand new experience – it's a track pack.
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Reach for the stars, kids.
Now, you're getting 65 songs for $59.99, which is what GH5 cost and gave you 85 songs, but that's besides the point. That's cheaper than if you had downloaded all of these songs off of the store, and you can import Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero Smash Hits and (eventually) Guitar Hero 5 tracks to this game for a price. All of that's great, but the lack of effort Activision put into these instruments, gameplay modes, and more hurt this game. It's like they're trying to start this new franchise but they're only willing to use Guitar Hero parts. With the oodles of offshoot Guitar Hero Editions, people have always said the company was taking the easy way out and cashing in on the franchise's success. This repackaging of old things with a new name certainly doesn't help.
I get that Band Hero is aimed at younger gamers and families and such, but some attention to this new franchise should've been paid. I mean, the create-your-own track feature is back, and it's the exact same as GH5 – it's even called GHStudio. Why not change the feature's name to be more Band Hero-ish? I guess it's always a good thing to not strip out functionality, but why include something this complicated in a game aimed at casual gamers? For that matter, why include "Gasoline" by The Airborne Toxic Event – which is clearly about underage sex – but bleep "whiskey" from Don McLean's "American Pie"? Interesting choices for a family game.
Before we wrap everything up, I want to double back to an issue I brought up when I previewed the 360 version of Band Hero. Back then, I wrote about descending notes blurring – you know, getting out of focus and looking like they were having interlacing problems. Playing the retail version of 360 Band Hero at 1080i today, I saw the same issue on my Sony TV and on the IGN demo room projector. Changing the output to 720 stopped the blurring on my TV, but the weird thing is that I tested 1080i on several IGN TVs and couldn't replicate the issue. I popped in Gutar Hero 5 and had the same issue on my TV. So, apparently, my TV is possessed. If your TV has shown no sign of paranormal activity, you're probably fine. Because the problem appeared on such a small number of TVs I tested, I can't dock the game any points for it. Just know that if your name is "Greg Miller," this problem pops up every now and again.
Closing Comments
For better or worse, this is a re-skinned version of Guitar Hero 5. Now, that’s not bad because that game was great, but it is disappointing if you were expecting something special from Band Hero. All the functionality you’d expect from a GH sequel is here (drop-in/out gameplay, GHStudio, etc.) except that it’s framed in a sugary sweet pink/purple motif. The career is shallow, the songs are poppy Top 40 tracks that you’ll either love or hate, and there’s a focus on getting in, playing and getting out.
Band Hero is a good game, but it lacks any kind of spark that makes it feel unique. In the end, this is one of the examples people will point to when they talk about Activision milking the Guitar Hero franchise for all it’s worth – even though this time the milk is quenching the thirst of every Taylor Swift fan out there with a plastic guitar.
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