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At some point early in Guitar Hero Live's development cycle, I imagine a pivotal meeting was held to determine what would distinguish the upcoming reboot from the recent Rock Band resurrection. The decision was made -- perhaps wisely -- to reinvent the franchise on several fronts. Aesthetically, transitioning from cartoony animation to live action immersion. Physically, by completely changing the iconic 5-button, single row guitar controller. Activision would even modernize the delivery method for new music, opting for a 24/7 playable music video network.
Throughout the course of this fateful meeting, the following questions must have been posed: "Will core players be willing to unlearn a decade's worth of muscle memory in favor of a brand new challenge with the 2 x 3 fret button system? Is this ambitious direction worth abandoning that decade's worth of legacy tracks and DLC? Will those risks pay off?"
The answer needed to be an uncontested "yes" in the eyes of critics and consumers. Unfortunately it's an emphatic "no," at least for this longtime Guitar Hero player.
I've played Guitar Hero since its inception. Rabidly. Obsessively. I loved the franchise, so don't assume my negativity comes from detachment or disinterest. The music rhythm game series reignited my love for the guitar, fueled my passion for discovering new music, kept me sane, and effortlessly succeeded in transporting me into a fantasy world where I was a rock god.
With Guitar Hero Live, that fantasy has crumbled despite what I believe were the developer's best intentions. Instead I'm just frustrated, with a quenchless urge to run back to the warm embrace and familiarity of Rock Band 4. You see, Rock Band feels timeless, while this reincarnation of Guitar Hero -- the story portion at least -- feels topical and temporary.
READ MORE: THE CURIOUS CASE OF ;GUITAR HERO LIVE' AND THE MISSING DLC
Before I explain myself, please understand that I applaud Activision and FreeStyleGames' ambition. Yes, there is some fun to be had here! Yes, there is a genuine allure to the depth and immediacy of Guitar Hero TV, which exists as a sort of playable hybrid of
Remember how those FMV games on Sega CD felt? It's kinda like that but in crystal clear 1080p.
Lavish attention has been paid to the stage dressing, the lighting, the audience reactions, the attitudes and choreography of your live bandmates (they're actually playing the music and nailing it), the instruments, the authenticity of the live experience. Unfortunately, it spends all its attention on these elements and forgets to create an identity for you, the player. The recipient of the developer's intended fantasy. You're just this faceless, nameless, shapeless guitar player drifting between 10 different bands with different styles and different lives and different fans. It's a complete disconnect.
READ MORE: FORBES' 'ROCK BAND 4' REVIEW
Further breaking the immersion is the live aesthetic itself, despite its admittedly impeccable production values. It's almost as if a focus group tried its absolute hardest to target what's cool with the kids these days and landed just left of center. An obnoxious "morning radio" style DJ inserts his eager commentary between performances, trying desperately to convince you that he's "totally stoked" about the next band. Tweet-style comments littered with hashtags tick by on the bottom of your screen. Audience members hold up weirdly positive banners with single words like "Excited" and "URock!" Your bandmates spend as much time singing to you as they do the audience.
Again that disconnect, with every facet of the production just trying too hard. It's jarring, and it gets in its own way.
Sometimes less is more. Sometimes imagination is the best avenue to a fantasy.
(Speaking of immersion, or lack thereof, there is nothing remotely enjoyable about playing an Eminem or Skrillex song on a fake plastic guitar. If DJ Hero was still around? Absolutely!)
There are other questionable decisions, specifically with Guitar Hero Live's local multiplayer component. My wife grabbed the second guitar controller, logged in locally with her PSN account (because she was prompted to), and we anticipated some old-school head-to-head action. Unfortunately, the game registered her as "Guest," informing us that her scores or progress would not be saved. Guest? In an era of connected consoles and highly portable gamertags? Wow, can't a 20 year old arcade machine save scores for a Player 2?
I naturally assumed this was a bug, but Activision confirmed it is the expected behavior.
This "Guest" behavior is replicated on Guitar Hero TV's 200+ tracks, which served to dramatically deflate my wife's enthusiasm to play. So, to compete against each other scores -- on the record and visible to our friends list -- she would actually have to play the game solo. Baffling.
It kills me to lodge all these complaints, because Guitar Hero Live's hardware itself is fantastic and I vastly prefer it to Rock Band 4's guitar controller. Thoughtful touches like dual pause buttons within your pinky finger's reach. A dedicated Hero Power button. Great build quality. Lightning fast syncing. Textured and non-textured buttons to easily differentiate between upper and lower "strings." A great, clicky strumbar and tactile feedback from the buttons. But the note progression and charting in Rock Band 4 still feels more natural, and despite that game's omission of several previously included features, it still boasts more mechanics (like FreeStyle Solos) that inject that sense of fantasy, of pure fun.
As I've tried to indicate, there is some value to Guitar Hero Live. The 42 songs on the disc representing the story mode are balanced and represent a wide range of genres, even if the presentation is cringe-worthy. The 200+ playable songs on GHTV -- musically speaking -- will satisfy even the most hardcore Guitar Hero fans. Some of you won't be distracted by the overly produced live action aesthetic. Some of you won't be deterred by the new button layout as it does present a hefty challenge. On that note, however, I pity the return players who plan to rotate regularly between Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live given their different physical controller layouts. Muscle memory is a powerful friend and a powerful enemy, ya know?
This is going to be a divisive game. I encourage you to play it at a
Disclaimer: Activision provided a PS4 copy of Guitar Hero Live for the purpose of evaluation and review. That said, this is not our official, comprehensive review. For that, look to Forbes Contributor David Ewalt.
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At some point early in Guitar Hero Live's development cycle, I imagine a pivotal meeting was held to determine what would distinguish the upcoming reboot from the recent Rock Band resurrection. The decision was made -- perhaps wisely -- to reinvent the franchise on several fronts. Aesthetically, transitioning from cartoony animation to live action immersion. Physically, by completely changing the iconic 5-button, single row guitar controller. Activision would even modernize the delivery method for new music, opting for a 24/7 playable music video network.
Throughout the course of this fateful meeting, the following questions must have been posed: 'Will core players be willing to unlearn a decade's worth of muscle memory in favor of a brand new challenge with the 2 x 3 fret button system? Is this ambitious direction worth abandoning that decade's worth of legacy tracks and DLC? Will those risks pay off?'
The answer needed to be an uncontested 'yes' in the eyes of critics and consumers. Unfortunately it's an emphatic 'no,' at least for this longtime Guitar Hero player.
Guitar Hero Controller Usb
I've played Guitar Hero since its inception. Rabidly. Obsessively. I loved the franchise, so don't assume my negativity comes from detachment or disinterest. The music rhythm game series reignited my love for the guitar, fueled my passion for discovering new music, kept me sane, and effortlessly succeeded in transporting me into a fantasy world where I was a rock god.
With Guitar Hero Live, that fantasy has crumbled despite what I believe were the developer's best intentions. Instead I'm just frustrated, with a quenchless urge to run back to the warm embrace and familiarity of Rock Band 4. You see, Rock Band feels timeless, while this reincarnation of Guitar Hero -- the story portion at least -- feels topical and temporary.
READ MORE: THE CURIOUS CASE OF ;GUITAR HERO LIVE' AND THE MISSING DLC
Before I explain myself, please understand that I applaud Activision and FreeStyleGames' ambition. Yes, there is some fun to be had here! Yes, there is a genuine allure to the depth and immediacy of Guitar Hero TV, which exists as a sort of playable hybrid of
Remember how those FMV games on Sega CD felt? It's kinda like that but in crystal clear 1080p.
Lavish attention has been paid to the stage dressing, the lighting, the audience reactions, the attitudes and choreography of your live bandmates (they're actually playing the music and nailing it), the instruments, the authenticity of the live experience. Unfortunately, it spends all its attention on these elements and forgets to create an identity for you, the player. The recipient of the developer's intended fantasy. You're just this faceless, nameless, shapeless guitar player drifting between 10 different bands with different styles and different lives and different fans. It's a complete disconnect.
READ MORE: FORBES' 'ROCK BAND 4' REVIEW
Further breaking the immersion is the live aesthetic itself, despite its admittedly impeccable production values. It's almost as if a focus group tried its absolute hardest to target what's cool with the kids these days and landed just left of center. An obnoxious 'morning radio' style DJ inserts his eager commentary between performances, trying desperately to convince you that he's 'totally stoked' about the next band. Tweet-style comments littered with hashtags tick by on the bottom of your screen. Audience members hold up weirdly positive banners with single words like 'Excited' and 'URock!' Your bandmates spend as much time singing to you as they do the audience.
Again that disconnect, with every facet of the production just trying too hard. It's jarring, and it gets in its own way.
Guitar Hero Live
Sometimes less is more. Sometimes imagination is the best avenue to a fantasy.
(Speaking of immersion, or lack thereof, there is nothing remotely enjoyable about playing an Eminem or Skrillex song on a fake plastic guitar. If DJ Hero was still around? Absolutely!)
There are other questionable decisions, specifically with Guitar Hero Live's local multiplayer component. My wife grabbed the second guitar controller, logged in locally with her PSN account (because she was prompted to), and we anticipated some old-school head-to-head action. Unfortunately, the game registered her as 'Guest,' informing us that her scores or progress would not be saved. Guest? In an era of connected consoles and highly portable gamertags? Wow, can't a 20 year old arcade machine save scores for a Player 2?
I naturally assumed this was a bug, but Activision confirmed it is the expected behavior.
This 'Guest' behavior is replicated on Guitar Hero TV's 200+ tracks, which served to dramatically deflate my wife's enthusiasm to play. So, to compete against each other scores -- on the record and visible to our friends list -- she would actually have to play the game solo. Baffling.
It kills me to lodge all these complaints, because Guitar Hero Live's hardware itself is fantastic and I vastly prefer it to Rock Band 4's guitar controller. Thoughtful touches like dual pause buttons within your pinky finger's reach. A dedicated Hero Power button. Great build quality. Lightning fast syncing. Textured and non-textured buttons to easily differentiate between upper and lower 'strings.' A great, clicky strumbar and tactile feedback from the buttons. But the note progression and charting in Rock Band 4 still feels more natural, and despite that game's omission of several previously included features, it still boasts more mechanics (like FreeStyle Solos) that inject that sense of fantasy, of pure fun.
Guitar Hero Live Controller Driver Free
As I've tried to indicate, there is some value to Guitar Hero Live. The 42 songs on the disc representing the story mode are balanced and represent a wide range of genres, even if the presentation is cringe-worthy. The 200+ playable songs on GHTV -- musically speaking -- will satisfy even the most hardcore Guitar Hero fans. Some of you won't be distracted by the overly produced live action aesthetic. Some of you won't be deterred by the new button layout as it does present a hefty challenge. On that note, however, I pity the return players who plan to rotate regularly between Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live given their different physical controller layouts. Muscle memory is a powerful friend and a powerful enemy, ya know?
This is going to be a divisive game. I encourage you to play it at a
Disclaimer: Activision provided a PS4 copy of Guitar Hero Live for the purpose of evaluation and review. That said, this is not our official, comprehensive review. For that, look to Forbes Contributor David Ewalt.