DP Challenge 23/100 - Guitar Hero World Tour

Game: Guitar Hero World Tour

Ranking: 21/100

Score:  86.26%

Yeah! All Right! Are you ready to Rock! Guitar Hero World Tour certainly is, so pit slam your inner Rock God, flash those devil horns and let's see if it's as much fun as choking on the dust generated from a mosh pit at an Anthrax gig.

I hope there's not an explosion when I boot this game up...

Intro

The opening animation is fun, if rather cheesy. The use of an edgy cartoony style is nice and sends out the message that the game isn't to be taken too seriously. There are lots of options, and they are generally self-explanatory. The customisation options have some fun write-ups of each character; even the one you create. Using the guitar controller to navigate is reasonably intuitive.

The manual is one of the worst I've encountered; very little illustration, lots of dry text that merely advertises features without explaining how to use then, and a very uninspiring background. Best example of this? There's a paragraph which explains how to collect Star Power and how great it is... but nowhere does it appear to tell you how to use it! Also, for some reason the game seems to save even when you don't change anything. This makes navigation as you explore each option a little slow. There's an interesting moment in the Music Studio where the load screen will tell you that the tutorials can be found in the Training section... only there's no such thing.

A bit more effort could have been made with the manual - even a few more pictures or a bit of enthusiasm in the writing, and certainly better explanation of how to use their USP features. Oh, and if you're going to include things like tutorials, it would be a good idea to label them sensibly; sure, you'll find them in the Music Studio option, but you wouldn't necessarily figure it out from just looking at the options - you certainly won't figure it out if you read one of the loading screens and try to find the non-existent 'Training' option. Perhaps if they displayed the nested option when you highlighted an option, it would be quicker to navigate. This is a tiny thing with regards to the opening animation, but can we please acknowledge that girls can play instruments other than the bass guitar? That would be nice.

Yup. This was a typical experience at my secondary school, too.
(Source: gamespot.com)

Getting Going

There is a tutorial section, and it does give you useful information. The fact that it's included on the computer of a recording studio is kind of neat, just because it tries to tie it in with the overall 'career' theme of the game. The Quickplay mode allows you to select up to six songs at a time to play one after the other, and there is also a career mode. They both work the same; you have to press a fret and strum on the controller at the same time a 'note' passes over your fret line. The game makes it clear when you've missed as you get a loud metallic buzzing sound vaguely akin to missing a fret on an electric guitar. When you get a good streak, your 'notes' change to star shapes - hitting these gives you 'star power'. When you get a bad run, the crowd start booing and the area starts to flash with red tones. It's easy to tell if you're doing well or if you're doing badly.

The tutorial section is quite hidden; if you're new to a game like this, it's most likely the thing you'll want to look at first to get an idea of the controls. I also didn't like the overly-negative feedback employed by playing the guitar - you get a horrible clunking sound if you miss the notes, and it's actually off-putting. It's also erroneous - when I played tracks, they were riddled with screeching clunks and mutes... only for me to find I had a 95% hit rate when the song was done!

I think I prefer the method used in other guitar style games, where the strumming plays the guitar track and missing a note just causes the track to mute or dull. It feels more like that game will let you recover and feels less frustrating to play.

The inviting menu screen, with no mention of a 'Training' section.
(Source: infendo.com)

Fun

You have a range of difficulties - from beginner to extreme - that allow you to play at a level that you find challenging without being frustratingly impossible. The Quickplay option allows you to play up to six songs in a row and choose from any in the game's library. Career mode has you playing along to set tracks; in this, you get incentives to do well on songs in the form of extra money which you can use to purchase customised clothing or guitars for your avatar. When playing the songs, the game adds tension by use of a grating noise whenever you miss a beat by pressing at the wrong time; the more beats you miss, the more your Rock meter drops and the angrier the crowd get. This makes it genuinely stressful when you try and claw your way back to playing without making any errors.

Although it is gratifying to build up your cash flow, up your ranks and unlock customisations, it's also a little frustrating. For one thing, you don't know what you could possibly unlock. For another, unless you really, really care about buying a certain pair of trousers for your avatar, a lot of the incentives aren't really of much use.

A game like this should let you unlock songs. Does it? It's difficult to tell - some of the snippets played in the options screen suggest you must be able to, but I'd prefer to see a list on 'locked' entries on the song list to at least give you a hint. I also would rather have something a little less grating as a sound effect when you mistime a strum; not only is it a horrible sound, but it tends to throw you off your game even more. Perhaps a dull, fuzzy sound - the kind of sound an electric guitar actually makes when you dampen a fret - would be a little kinder to the ears.

In 'Guitar Hero World Tour', green is good. So is fire.
(source: infendo.com)

Visuals

The visuals offer interesting character animations as you play along to the songs, as well as vibrant and unique stages in Career mode. When you miss a note with any sustain, the brightly coloured sustain line vanishes, making it obvious that you've missed. Also, when your Rock meter drops into the red, the guitar neck itself starts to glow; a very useful cue when you're busy staring at the screen trying to time your actions against the beats. The Rock meter is a useful addition; it is placed just to the right of your guitar neck and lights up as you reach each position. This makes it very easy to see if you're safe (green), at risk (yellow) or in danger (red) without distracting you from the gameplay.

The problem with the nice animations and visual information is that at best, you won't pay attention to it because you're busy concentrating on the rhythm part of the game. At worst, it will actively distract you and cause you to lose your rhythm. The first time I played and the 'Star Power' message flashed up at me from the screen, I immediately mistimed a whole section of beats because I was too busy trying to read it. The nice animations at least give any spectators to your gameplay something interesting to look at.

I think it would be nice if you could switch off some of the background animations, as a lot of the time they can be quite distracting. Icons would be a lot more useful than text announcements in-game; for example, a glowing star passing to the right of the guitar neck to signify the player had achieved Star Power would be far quicker to glance at and recognise than a number of words floating past the screen well above your eye line as you concentrate on hitting the beats.

You can form a band with your friends and compete to be the best!  Or, you can form a band with your friends and deliberately try to distract them until you all fail.
(Source: IGN.com)

Intelligence

The game's difficulty levels work fairly well; easy mode only gives you three fret buttons to worry about, whereas the hardest mode makes you deal with all five. In fact, beginner mode doesn't even make you have to worry about the fret buttons; you just need to strum in the right place. The harder the mode, the more notes you have to hit as well - and the more akin it is to the song you are playing. There's not really much one can say about the AI beyond the fact that you can choose a difficulty level and that it recognises your actions. Plus, there's a calibration section so you can tune it to your own playing.

The problem for complete beginners is that if you can't keep up, you will go in the red and then you will be kicked out of the song. This doesn't make it very easy to get the feel for the game, because you can't see how a whole song progresses unless you're good enough to keep up with it. Interestingly, sometimes the lack of notes in easy mode can throw you a loop; you find yourself playing a little against the rhythm of the song. As all you have to go on is the tune you are playing, if you miss the notes, you can't hear what tune you're supposed to be following. You end up relying solely on the beat symbols passing over your guitar neck. This seems rather odd to me in a game that focuses on musical rhythm, not just rhythm itself.

If you could set an option where players cannot get booted off a track for the Quickplay section, it would be helpful in giving players a chance to practise certain songs and make the Careers mode more accessible in the process. I also think that it would be handy to have a rhythm guitar audible alongside your player, so that when you mess up and the guitar track is muted, there was something there to give you a feel for how the guitar parts are supposed to sound. I'd also suggest that some of the note placement on the songs is rethought, as sometimes you felt as though you were playing a song divorced from the one you were hearing.

One of many interesting stages. Is that a church? A church... of METAL!
(Source: juggle.com)

Immersion

The addition of the Career mode does suck you into the world of Guitar Hero and makes you want to keep playing to obtain encores and unlock new gigs. You can also play multiplayer in Career mode, so you and a group of friends can try to play through an entire career together. On the other hand, if you just want a quick game alone or with friends, there is the Quickplay mode. The fact that you can customise almost everything about your avatar, band logo and instruments is also quite absorbing; I spent a good chunk of time doing that before I even started playing. Another great thing is that you have a wide choice of difficulty levels, so the player can be challenged without being overly frustrated regardless of skill.

However, the main issue with this game - which seems to apply to the entire sub-genre - is that it's simply a rhythm game. It's Whack-a-mole, only you can see where each target is going to pop up. It's fun, and you can play along to your favourite songs - providing your favourite songs fall into the category of rock - but that's your core gameplay, and all the gimmicks and secret unlockables aren't really going to change that.

I think if we could see what is available to unlock, such as entries in the song list that are named 'locked' or shaded out avatar items, it would give you something extra to strive for. You'd be able to see how many items you've uncovered and how many are still available. Curiously, I didn't notice any unlocked achievements; I know these exist on the Xbox 360 version, and they exist for things as tiny as calibrating your controller, which is something I certainly did. Maybe if they had included these, it would have given players something additional to strive for in between trying to clear the Career mode.

You can create your own songs! Somehow...
(Source: IGN.com)

Camera

There is really nothing to say about the camera in this game; it is fixed, single screen and focused on a tilted guitar fret board. This is great for the type of gameplay, as when you see up and coming notes, they look further away and it's easier to only focus on them when they get close enough for you to care. This type of perspective also makes the game feel more three-dimensional in a way that, say, using a top-down view would not.

Controls

The in-game controls are fairly intuitive and work in a vaguely similar way to a real guitar - the strum action is what you use to play a note, so you can hold down the fret button long before you have to play the note. Although the tutorial is helpful in showing you the ropes, you don't need it; a player completely new to the genre of game could pick it up fairly quickly. All of the game styles - from guitar based play, drums or vocals - are accurate, so you won't feel as though you're losing due to poor recognition of the game. And if you do, you can calibrate the controls.

The main issue I have with the controls apply to all of these types of game; the controller become painful to use after a rather short period of time. This could just be due to my pathetic, child-like hands, but it does become an issue and it dictates how much time I want to spend playing. At least you can sing or play drums, if you have the necessary equipment. Also, I found the controls seemed to be a little off; no matter how hard I tried to establish when I was supposed to strum, it didn't seem consistent. Using the same timing would result in a flawless note one moment, but a miss or crunch the next. I found this even after I completed the calibration process. This definitely wasn't something I experienced on 'Rock Band: The Beatles'.

Maybe the recognition could do with being a little more forgiving; I do wonder if the window for strumming is so narrow that you have to be pixel perfect to get a good note. This would explain the seemingly inconsistent results I got when strumming. Perhaps if this was an editable option, then it would allow players to retain bragging rights if they were pixel perfect, while allowing newbies to cut themselves a little slack. It would also be nice if the game allowed you to use alternative controls to the guitar, such as the DS finger grip. I'd like to play the game without feeling as though my tendons are about to rip.

You can customise just about everything. If you've got the patience, you could theoretically create every fantasy supergroup ever dreamed up.
(Source: IGN.com) 

Ideas

This game is packed with features and side games to keep things as interesting as possible. On top of the myriad of rock songs you have access to play along with, there is a Music Studio where you can create your own compositions. You can create your own player avatar, complete with their own unique winning, losing and crowd-warming animations. You can also customise not only everything about your avatar, but about your instrument as well. This is actually tied into the game, because the more money you earn from gigs, the more you have to spend on certain accessories, clothes and guitar styles. The other neat aspect to this is that you could feasibly create any existing rocker you feel like to play as. There is even a fun jamming session you can play, where your Mii character can rock out in a variety of musical styles. It's the equivalent of being let loose in the Early Learning Centre to play with the toddlers' musical instruments, but that is precisely what makes it great fun; you just enter and make a load of noise.

The problem with all the cool side-games you can play is that a lot of them seem to be quite thin on the ground, instructions-wise. I attempted to create song and couldn't find any way to ascertain whether I had recorded the track. I tried to mix it, and everything seemed to vanish. It's a really cool idea, but as it stands it seems too difficult to use; I can't envisage the average player having the patience to figure it out. I also couldn't spot any way to record the jamming session, and I think it would be enormous fun to play back the noise you were creating.

At the very least, the song creation section deserves some decent instructions; the manual excitedly advertises the function, but doesn't show you how to use it, and there's nothing in-game that really assists you. I also think it would be great if you could record your Mii jamming sessions. It seems aimed at younger players (or big kids), and being able to playback what you had jammed would be a great boon.

Mii Freestyle is more fun than it has any right to be.
(Source: IGN.com)

Memory

The tongue-in-cheek tone of the whole game is definitely enjoyable, and I especially enjoyed the variety of stages - some rather well known - that were recreated in a stylised cartoony way for you to perform in. The game is one that you can play easily with friends or alone; with friends you'll most likely select a few songs in Quickplay mode and play along, but alone you're more likely to get involved with the Career mode. The game goes out of its way to offer other interesting feature to augment the core rhythm gameplay, such as the extensive editable avatar features, the song creator, and the Mii jam sessions. Not only can you unlock additional songs, but you can also download extra tracks for a nominal fee.

Sadly, the unique additional features that ought to increase the replay factor become far less interesting because they are not given the proper care and attention when it comes to the instructions. It seems quite likely to me that several players will give up on using the song creator because there are no clear guidelines on how to use it either in the manual or as you play it.

There seem to be a lot of niggles that could easily be fixed with this game; spending a bit of time in the instruction manual going through how to use the song creator, or giving the player tantalising hints as to how much is available to unlock (especially when it comes to the songs) would definitely improve the game and whet players' appetites to keep playing through Career mode.

Overall, this is a fun rhythm game with a slightly anarchic feel that does try to introduce several different elements to extend the core gameplay. Sadly, the lack of instructions and explanation for some of these makes them less interesting to the average player, and the way some of the songs are constructed creates some slightly frustrating levels.