DP Challenge 26/100 - Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

Game: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

Ranking: 73/100

Score: 80.06%

What’s this? Another game from the ‘Guitar Hero’ franchise? Boy, these are popular. Will I run out of things to say by now? Let’s find out.

Wait, this is the sixth one? Sixth? Then why are some things worse than the previous games I've covered?
(Source: qtegamers.com)

Intro

The manual is short, clear and contains the information you need to get up and running. The menu is fairly self-explanatory and doesn't branch off too much; it's easy to navigate without any help. One thing I rather liked was that the names of all the studios involved in making the game were displayed quickly and in the opening animation (the extended animated sequences solely dedicated to each studio that appear in the other games got very old, very quickly).

Sadly, the manual looks boring, with its black and white print, densely packed text  and insipid artwork. Also, although it explains things like how to use Star Power and the like, it is noticeably reticent when it comes to explaining how to use the song creator feature; something that long-time players of the franchise would no doubt be really interested in. The menus are generally clear, but sometimes they use a font that is so tiny, it's very hard to read on your screen. This font is usually used for promoting certain options, but sometimes it's used for valuable information. This is probably a personal thing, but I didn't like the intro sequence at all. Although it looked good - a demon-esque guitar warrior fighting a metal monster - it was played far too straight. The intro wanted me to take the story of an axe-wielding man versus a giant robot seriously. Just read that description again; there is no way I should be expected to take that seriously.

The manual is so few pages that it could afford to have the dense text spaced out a little more to make for an easier read; plus there is ample space to give a more detailed explanation on the more unique features, such as the song creator. The font size ought to be increased enough so I can actually read the information that is displayed, and make the intro tongue-in-cheek. All the other 'Guitar Hero' games I've looked at did this, and they made me laugh. This got me looking forward to what other jokes and fun moments they were going to throw at me. When I get a serious introduction - especially one as daft as in this - then it just makes me feel second-hand embarrassment. Keep it funny!

I think this is funny, you think this is funny. For some reason, the game thinks this is deadly serious pathos...
(Source: gamerant.com)

Getting Going

The tutorial and help sections are useful for newcomers to the game, and they are quite comprehensive and give you plenty of helpful information on everything from the HUD to perfecting your technique. When you play either a quick game or the Quest mode the games works 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 is pretty bland, and there aren't that many opportunities to practise within it; it's rather heavy on the explanation. Also, that help section would be fantastic... if it wasn't all typed in their stupid signature tiny font which strains your eyes to try and read! There are some really funny comments in that font, too - pity I have to destroy my prescription as a result of trying to read them.

The tutorial could be jazzed up a little bit with an animated character to accompany the voice-over, or something a bit more visually stimulating than a black screen with a guitar fretboard. Other games in this franchise have created real characters to perform the tutorial and that has added humour to the experience. Oh, and they need to banish that tiny font to wherever it was dragged up from and replace it with something we can read more easily.

The better you perform, the more stars you'll collect  and the more songs you can skip in Quest mode. Wait, is that what you wanted us to do, game?
(Source: gamebandits.com)

Fun

The game is certainly fun; you have a number of difficulty modes to choose from (and you can specify if you're left handed), so it's easy to tailor the game to your own level of ability. Actions such as the crowd booing and the angry clunking sound you get whenever you miss a note are enough to make you feel a little anxious as you're trying to complete a song. The Quest mode groups tracks into specific styles, which makes it feel more like a genuine level progression and leaves you curious as to what songs and characters you'll get to play next. The HUD was great for showing you the information as close to your eye line as possible, and one thing I particularly appreciated was that you didn't have text messages flashing in front of your eyes to distract you; the game let you know if you had enough Star Power to use it by vibrating the Wii Remote (and therefore the guitar controller) which was a good enough clue without being distracting - at least, when you were using a official Nintendo Wii Remote.

It does suffer from a similar problem to the other Guitar Hero games I've looked at, however - some of the song patterns don't seem to quite work, especially in Easy mode. I often found I had to ignore the guitar track and concentrate solely on the notes appearing in front of me, because if you followed the rhythm of the lead guitar sound, you'd actually miss the notes you were meant to be playing. Oh, and if you're playing with a non-Nintendo Wii Remote? Well, that handy vibration you get through the guitar controller becomes very loud and distracting (at least, it did with the version I had).

Some of the song arrangements could be re-examined when it comes to the note placement, just so that the rhythm you have to play to isn't at odds with the rhythm of the guitar track. Otherwise you feel like you're trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time.

Visuals

The in-game graphics are both aesthetically pleasing and functional. Although the player will never pay any attention to the fancy stages and band animations that accompany each song (as you will be far too busy trying to follow the notes), they are interesting for any spectators to watch while they're either waiting their turn or just watching someone play the game. The fact that everything I needed to see on the HUD to judge performance was so close to the fretboard graphic itself was great; I didn't have to look away from the gameplay area to see if my performance bar was in the green, amber or red, and I could see things such as how many stars I'd accumulated or my bonus multiplier without losing my rhythm. The characters you have to play as in quest mode also each have interesting and unique 'warrior' forms that are both relevant to the characterisation given, and are almost enough to make you want to play through each section just to see what they turn out to be.

I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of all the 3D animation in the cutscenes. It added to the feeling that the game wanted me to take the absurd storyline very seriously. There's nothing wrong with an absurd storyline, but it should feel tongue in cheek and rather jokey. Also, the in-game audiences are clearly copy-pasted clones, which spoils the effect somewhat.

I would have much preferred it if a more cartoony or stylised approach had been taken when animating the cutscenes; it would have made everything feel less serious and the story would have been much more enjoyable that way. i fairly certain the story was meant to be over the top and silly, but that got lost when it was animated in such a straight manner. I'd also like it if you could perhaps turn off or hide the stage animations during play; it's a minor thing, but they can be a little distracting. It may well help beginner players to minimise distractions when they're trying to get to grips with everything.

This is what you get when you collect enough stars per player - a warrior mode. He's a goblin creature because... because he just is, okay?
(Source: IGN.com)

Intelligence

The game's difficulty levels work well and allow you to tailor the game to your own ability; 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 to 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. In Quest mode, there does seem to be a gradual increase in difficulty as you progress through each character, which is a nice challenge.

The biggest problem I found was that the lack of notes in easy mode can throw you a loop; you find yourself playing 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. When this phenomenon causes the guitar track you are hearing to have a completely different rhythm to the notes you are supposed to be hitting on-screen, then it becomes a little frustrating. Also, if you mess up a note, you don't get to hear it. While that's great as a form of negative feedback to encourage you to be better at the game, it takes away one of the elements that is supposed to help you play along with the song.

I would like 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 with a distractingly different rhythm from the one you were hearing.

Immersion

The game's Quest mode makes for a surprisingly addictive game, as it makes you want to see what song groupings you'll get to play and what different 'warrior' types you'll encounter. The quick play mode allows you to just get stuck into the songs and rock out to your heart's content. Plus, in Quest mode you can unlock a few interesting pieces, such as extra costumes, stages and warrior types. These give you incentives to keep playing along as well. Some of the in-game animations that play on stage are unique to the songs, which can be quite amusing while you're getting ready to play your guitar part. The fact that you also have the option to play using a drum kit or sing along using a microphone adds to the variety in the game and makes multiplayer band modes an option if you have friends around.

The way that quest mode is designed means you can't actually play your personalised character, which is rather a shame. Another thing that really pulled me out of the game to the point of irritation was how they used the guitar to play any part of the song that wasn't vocals or drums. A good example of this was when you encounter 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. There is a huge piano section in this song, and the game makes you play this on guitar for some reason. This is especially dumb, because Queen have several famous tracks that don't have any piano sections. Why not pick one of those to get licenced instead of the one that simply doesn't work in a game that is based on playing a guitar throughout each song!

Perhaps if the animations could have been changed so your personalised character would be shown walking up to each 'warrior', that would make you feel a little more involved, rather than being forced to play the in-built characters regardless of how much time you spend in the character editor. Oh, and really? Choose songs for a guitar game that have guitar parts all the way through the track.

Quest mode. Playing rock songs and gathering up caricatures has never been played so straight.
(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 fretboard. 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 intuitive and work in a roughly 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. You can calibrate the controls if you feel the reaction time is off.

The main issue I have with the controls apply to all of these types of game; the controller becomes painful to use after a rather short period of time. This is most likely because I have pathetic, child-like hands (a friend of mine with larger hands was stunned that I found the DS controls less painful), but it meant I stopped playing not because I was bored, but because it was too uncomfortable to keep going. 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, and a miss or crunch the next. I found this even after I completed the calibration process.

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 apart.

The stage is set for some serious rocking! And copy-pasted crowds!
(Source: co-optimus.com)

Ideas

There are lots of fun features to keep you entertained in this game; you can customise your own character from head to toe to rock out with, you can create your own songs and upload them for others to play or even just jam along with backing tracks. The song creator in relatively easy to use, so the lack of explanation in the manual does not become an issue here - you can follow the on-screen instructions, investigate the options and come up with a saved song you can play along to (complete with your specified Star Power segments) within minutes. The Quest mode is absorbing enough to make you want to play along to see what you can unlock and what songs you're going to get. You can even see what songs are available to unlock, which gives you an incentive to obtain that track you're eager to play.

The strange thing about being able to create your playable character is that they never appear in the Quest mode. You're meant to be collecting 'warriors' to help you obtain some ultimate power of rock, so why can't I create a character that is visible in the storyline?  Also, some on the unlockables seem rather strange choices. For example, the very first time you load up the game, you have access to the Megadeth track 'Holy Wars... the Punishment Due'. It's one of their more well-known and popular songs. However, you can unlock their track 'This Day We Fight', which is a more recent song, but arguably not as popular as the track you can play from the outset.

Why would you not make the popular crowd-pleaser track the one you have to unlock when you have access to multiple tracks from a band's back catalogue? People would be itching to get their hands on it and it would be a sure-fire way to get people playing the game to completion. I'd also like to at least be able to select the character I had built in the creator section and have them appear in the Quest mode animations. I can understand why I can't play as them, given the setup of the story, but some way of being able to include them would be fun.

Warrior Echo fuses with machines and generates her own Star Power. That's what it said when I played it.
(Source: IGN.com)

Memory

There was quite a lot to like about this game; you could create your own character for quickplay or multiplayer modes, the Quest mode was quite fun and gave you unlockables a plenty, there was a song creator that was easy to use and even the hints and tips which were randomly generated throughout the menu screen would sometimes pop up with amusing jokey comments. The songs available were right up my street, and a good mix of classic rock to death metal and everything in between. No rock fan would feel hard done by when they took a peep at the tracks available for them to play from starting the game for the first time. I was genuinely impressed by how many sub-genres the game had managed to cover. 

I was rather saddened by how seriously the story seemed to take itself; it was so daft and out there that the fact it was played utterly straight seemed really out-of-kilter. There were also a lot of niggles that marred this game; from the insistence of including songs with a good proportion of non-guitar melodies that you still had to play with the guitar, to those songs that had been mapped out in a way that meant you were playing a rhythm on-screen that was almost the opposite to the rhythm of the song you were listening to. These were all things that took me out of the game experience. Oh, and that tiny font. That barely readable tiny font, which was used for almost every hint and tip in the entire game; why did they use this?

I would have dearly liked to have seen a cartoony style to the cutscenes, and certainly a more obvious mocking tone. It had the odd moment, but a more tongue-in-cheek handling of the storyline in Quest mode would have made it a lot more enjoyable. The idea that I'm collecting random rock stars and turning them into warriors to obtain some mythical item from a robot monster is so ludicrous that I should be laughing at every cutscene, not wondering why it seems to be played so straight. The song choice needed a little more thought as well - a guitar game needs tracks that contain guitar playing for the vast majority of the song, and when notes are removed from a song to make the gameplay easier, then the track should still represent the rhythm of the song, not a rhythm that is completely different and will cause a player to press notes that don't exist. Oh, and make your font bigger, game. Please.

You can assemble a whole band in multiplayer mode. Or half a band, if you prefer.
(Source: IGN.com)

Overall, this is a fun rhythm game and perfectly suited to anyone who's a rock fan; it also benefits from some nice additional features such as being able to create your own songs in a self-explanatory fashion. However, some of the strange song choice with regards to the gameplay, and the set up of certain tracks, may leave you scratching your head a little.