Metareview: Guitar Hero: World Tour
by Ross Miller 
{ Oct 28th 2008 at 11:55AM }
- 1UP (A-): "Maybe if I squeeze my Rock Band and Guitar Hero together and leave them overnight in the same case, I can come back the next morning to find that they made an über-game that combines the best of both. But until then, Guitar Hero delivers exactly the things I want out of a rhythm game: great peripherals and fun-to-play music. It's not perfect, but I have a great time whenever I turn it on -- and that's what's most important."
- EuroGamer (90/100): "Were Rock Band 2 on the market today, the decision would be more difficult, as the gap between instrument quality would be reduced and the software battle would go in Rock Band 2's favour. But it isn't on the market, we don't know when it will be, and its new guitars and drums aren't so wildly different or superior to justify waiting. And by the time it is available, Harmonix may discover that the tables have turned, and that Rock Band 2 is competing for money "As spent happily on" this instead."
- Official Xbox Magazine (85/100): "World Tour is a big leap in content and polish over last year's game, but we're disappointed by a few unsatisfying creative calls. The extended song endings aren't always enhancements, the unlockable gear doesn't match the effort put forth to earn it, and we prefer Rock Band 2's looser career-unlock structure. Most of all, Rock Band 2 simply feels more musical and organic; we get the suspicion that some World Tour songs had notes added to their charts simply to make them trickier, and not because the music suggested it."
- IGN (79/100): "Guitar Hero World Tour is a fun title, to be sure, but it's also a disappointment in a lot of respects. A number of things it tries to accomplish were already done better in Rock Band, which you might figure would have provided a simple blueprint to be followed and expanded upon, but that's not the case. The music creation tools are a great idea in theory, but the end result isn't as robust as I would have hoped it would be, both in terms of abilities as well as the songs that come out the other end."
Gallery: Guitar Hero: World Tour
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
JerJer @ Oct 28th 2008 11:58AM
lol at eurogamer.
Haggard @ Oct 28th 2008 12:40PM
Should probably point out that Eurogamer is based, oddly enough, in Europe (here in the UK to be precise).
Here, there isn't a release date for RB2.
FSK405K @ Oct 28th 2008 6:30PM
How is it ironic that Eurogamer is based in Europe, in the UK? I would think it was ironic if they were based in Manilla.
Lars @ Oct 29th 2008 5:34PM
Want to borrow some batteries for your sarcasm detector? Apparently it's not working.
Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 12:01PM
Rock Band 2 is the better game.
JJ Rooster @ Oct 28th 2008 12:21PM
Die-hard GH fans are realizing that on the GHWT forums. Many of them are finding out the drums are broken and the band play means no more stupid-hard Dragonforce note charts.
I'm eating it up!
Raikage (Mr. ESC? Mr. ESC? MR. ESSSSSSCCCCCC!) @ Oct 28th 2008 2:34PM
But GH has stupid hard Tool songs... except they are charted as perfect as you could chart a Tool song...
Vicarious, Drums, Expert, :O
Eric @ Oct 28th 2008 12:03PM
This talkback is going to explode. Let me just say I am sticking with Rock Band.
mutd1999 @ Oct 28th 2008 12:08PM
Rock Band is set up very well, but I don't get the same enjoyment out of it as I do with Guitar Hero....the songs just seems so much more satisfying to play guitar in a game, otherwise....i'd just pick up my Gibson.
B3astofthe3ast @ Oct 28th 2008 1:18PM
If you want difficult songs, theres plenty of it via RB DLC. I'd say RB is harder when you factor in all the hard DLC.
Haggard @ Oct 28th 2008 1:24PM
I enjoy playing songs that I can do. Sure, tapping the last part of the Blackened solo is great fun and all, but I'm too busy recovering from the hernia I developed to enjoy it too much.
T @ Oct 28th 2008 1:59PM
I don't think "satisfying" is what comes to mind when I manage to beat some of the later songs in a guitar hero game.
"Lucky" seems more accurate. The game starts off promising, reminding me a lot of GHII...but the time you get to the end of it that feeling of "Oh great, they couldn't just let it be" creeps back in.
Bass Career for sure, I was sailing through that until the very last song in the career mode...which suddenly felt like an excuse to show off that pretty new purple bar.
mutd1999 @ Oct 28th 2008 3:38PM
I didn't say anything about it being difficult, both games have their really easy and rediculous songs. I just find the Guitar Hero tracks more fun to play.
Tiptup300 @ Oct 29th 2008 1:18AM
I was planning on not playing RB2 for a while since I played it too much, well I rented GH:WT to find that it just made me really really really want to play Rock Band 2. So I did, it's like 20x better. Like really, play one then the other, you'll be blown away by how terrible GH:WT really is.
JoeTheBlow @ Oct 28th 2008 12:12PM
Excellent point about us poor Europeans and PS3 owners being shafted, and not having any choice about getting this.
At least the intruments are quality, and we can import RB2 if need be, so all is good.
Dr. @ Oct 28th 2008 2:58PM
I question why you've concluded the instruments are good quality? That's certainly not what I've been hearing so far...
uskali @ Oct 28th 2008 12:15PM
To preempt all the rampant fanboyism that joystiq usually sees on the RB2 GHWT issues:
Neither games suck, they are both equally good with minor differences.
Rock band has an arguably better interface.
Guitar hero has a song creator and more expansive character creator.
Rock band has an arguably better guitar
Guitar hero has a better drum set (sans kick pedal).
Both games have merits and drawbacks, stop just saying OMG SHIT SUX IM STICKING WITH ROCKBAND KTHXBAI.
Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 12:22PM
I disagree that GH has the better drum set. I think the drum set with elevated cymbals actually limits what you can do with the drum notation.
I think that the RB drum layout (Without Cymbals) is actually more condusive to proper notation and representation of the drum lines in songs.
For example GH notation completely ignores the difference between open and closed hihat strikes.
uskali @ Oct 28th 2008 12:25PM
ORLY? Real drums have the cymbals in a straight line? GHWT represents different hi hat strokes them by having you hit them harder.
Probably was a mistake to try to bring sanity to blog comments.
Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 12:29PM
"GHWT represents different hi hat strokes them by having you hit them harder."
Are you for real? I haven't had to hit any note harder than another...you must be playing a different game.
Why are you getting so defensive? I offered an opinion on your opinion and your ready to burn me down.
Neither of the drum sets are an accurate representation, it just seems to me that the added cymbals on the GH set actually limit the sets flexibility rather than generate more realism.
uskali @ Oct 28th 2008 12:31PM
Are you sure you're playing GHWT? The notes with the white outlines, you hit harder for bonus points. Did you not RTFM?
Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 12:35PM
I didn't even notice that and I did not read the manual. My original opinion still stands though I think the cymbals are unecessary and actually more limiting than the RB design.
And just to speak to your outrage in trying to bring teh logicz to the forums, did I not explain my position clearly? Did I not state it in an opinion manner? Your acting as if I said , "HAHA J00 sucks and so does jor game".
Your not interested in bringing "logic" to the forums your just like every other ahole that wants his opinion to be accepted as law.
uskali @ Oct 28th 2008 12:38PM
Haha I'm not saying that GHWT is any better, I like both games equally probably, I havent had enough time to figure out...
Though its funny because you're the one who posted
"Rock Band 2 is the better game"
about three posts before mine. You calling me out on anything is pretty silly.
Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 12:48PM
We agree on a lot of points, I didn't want to argue with you, I didn't realize you were already upset from my previous post, lets just shake hands and move on.
"Rock band has an arguably better interface."
We agree on this 100%. The rectangular notes and cleaner interface design make for much easier site reading and performing of notation. In a simon says game being able to read the interface more quickly and cleanly is very important.
"Guitar hero has a song creator and more expansive character creator."
Haven't fooled with this I just picked the first guy and started playing. Im not interested in anything but the "playing" experience.
"Rock band has an arguably better guitar"
I'm still the only one of my friends that thinks the RB guitar is better due to its more restricted motion of the strum bar and large fret buttons rather than raised buttons.
See can we all just get along now?
DakranII @ Oct 28th 2008 4:17PM
I think you've kept it civil Shag.
As someone who doesn't really like the first Rock Band (I have a Wii) and loves GHIII, I have to say that GHWT is a little underwhelming to me. I will still play it like crazy, but I do admit to liking Rock Band's overall appearance more. It does seem more streamlined and less cluttered.
However, I hate the waving "banner" that songs sit on in RB1. Hopefully that has changed for 2.
And as far as it goes for instruments, I really dislike the RB1 guitar. Maybe it forces me to play "better" but I don't enjoy it. I like the click I get from the GHIII and GHWT guitars.
The drums are up in the air. I think I have an overly sensitive red pad that I need to tend to.
I do plan to purchase RB2 if it comes to fruition that GH instruments work on RB2. That remains to be seen.
Regardless, they're both fun games. It's telling to me that the instruments dictate which I'd rather play.
Dirty @ Oct 28th 2008 12:18PM
The thing that I liked better about guitar hero is that it forced you to replay difficult songs to get more stars on a list. In rock band you are unlocking so much stuff all the time you never really have to battle through anything. I liked that sense of having to improve at a much earlier stage than rock band which didnt push me to improve until way latter in the game.
(I haven't played world tour yet, but both rock band 2 and rock band, guitar only... my wife wont let me get the drums =[).
Kellydude025 @ Oct 28th 2008 11:16PM
I gotta be honest, not having to improve on a song makes rock band more enjoyable to me. I dont want to replay songs i don't like. Battery is a prime example of a bitch song that i want nothing to do with, just let me three star it and move on. If i feel like trying again i will later.
Rockband in nice in the sense that "wow i have all these awesome songs to choose from!"
PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Oct 28th 2008 12:22PM
My fiance loves to play music games and it's one of the few genres that we can play together. With that said we picked up both Rock band 2 & Guitar Hero World Tour (games). They are both great games. Here are some of our personal feelings ...
Rock Band 2 -
*Better in game instrument interface
*Better character creation suite
*The notes flow more in tune with the songs (this could have to do with the RB drums being re-mixed on GH WT)
*Cleaner (less busy) band world tour interface for selecting gigs
GH World Tour-
*Better selection or artist and songs
*Better special features - like the studio mixer
*More difficulty settings and a more appropriate difficulty leap between settings. RB 2's leap from medium to hard is not balanced.
*Better on stage band animations & more ralistic crowd movements
These are just some of the things we noticed from our early impressions with both games. It's hard to go wrong with either game and in all honesty they are equally as good. We can't speak on either new instrument bundles because we continue to use our original Rock Band drums & GH guitars. We haven't played either of them enough online to give an honest comparison.
The more inportant point is that you won't be dissapointed with either. I would say in the end just pick the franchise you prefer because they both stay true to their roots.
jinn35 @ Oct 28th 2008 4:02PM
While I agree with you on most of the points, there are a few that I disagree with.
1. You said GH had better songs or artists. While I agree with this for on the disc songs, if you factor in the DLC, RB wins for sure.
2.Better on stage animation for GH. I just feel like the GH anomations tend to get a little repetative after playing a few songs.
PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Oct 28th 2008 4:09PM
I don't know if Activision plans on doing GH:WT DLC like RB offers. But, I was strictly speaking of the content on the disc.
VaultICEE @ Oct 28th 2008 9:05PM
I agree basically on everything you said, actually.
The only thing I disagree on is onstage movements in GH. They look like robots imo, but its still better than the godawful animations from GH3.
The crowd is definitely better in World Tour though. But once I get to the huge arenas in RB2, I could care less about what the crowd looks like as its usually dark in that area.
ScottG13 @ Oct 28th 2008 12:25PM
I don't play these games for the "game challenge" per say. I just want something that my friends will play and enjoy. Rock Band does that in spades and seems to be moving more towards party game focus while GH innovated with the song creator. Sorry, I never make anything in games. I just play them.
A person @ Oct 28th 2008 12:27PM
Same. I suck at Rock Band compared to all the hard-core players the play on expert. I can do one song on expert on drums....I just play to have fun with friends/family.
ScottG13 @ Oct 28th 2008 12:29PM
I don't even think about those guys. They don't exist in my game universe. I play with friends you are mostly average at best and really only play at my parties. Its just about having fun. Scorehero is a foreign universe for all we're concerned.
Erwos @ Oct 28th 2008 12:26PM
When did IGN start getting harsh? First Fallout 3, now this - I might even start believing their reviews soon!
Hashbrown Hunter @ Oct 28th 2008 12:53PM
Well what the IGN reviewer said about GHWT's music editor is total BS. How is it NOT robust enough? That thing is absolutely insane.
T @ Oct 28th 2008 2:46PM
Going off the songs that come packed on the disc...and from I've played from GHTunes...the review is accurate in describing them as "glorified MIDIs"
For example, I downloaded the Chocobo, Punch Out, and Mario Themes yesterday...while they were fun, the novelty was gone by the time the song was over.
Snowblind @ Oct 28th 2008 12:30PM
I enjoy playing both games, I'm probably more in favour of Rock Band, but I still enjoy Guitar Hero. And Eurogamer bring up some good points. Rock Band was only released here a few months ago, and we have no idea when we'll see the sequel. So that makes the choice for a lot us a little easier.
Guitar Hero for me, until the Rock Band guys decide to stop screwing us over. I won't buy RB now, purely out of princible.
todd @ Oct 28th 2008 1:53PM
Ill stay with RB2, didn't enjoy the GH titles and almost gave up on the rhythm games till I got RB. Loved it and never looked back, sure the create your own music thingie is cool but I'll never use it. With Harmonix releasing new songs every week I'll stay busy.
T @ Oct 28th 2008 1:57PM
"the unlockable gear doesn't match the effort put forth to earn it"
Ain't that the truth. I've beaten ever gig in Guitar Career except the bonus one. And with the exception of two songs, I've beaten every gig on expert.
My rewards? Several new guitar bodies, a few headstock, a new fret board, and some knobs that look like dice.
Same for bass career. Every gig but the last on expert...and again, a bunch of boards, some headstock, and a few knobs. (Oh and also new strings)
And (in typical GH fashion) unlocking the content isn't enough, you also have to spend your in-game bucks to actually use it.
To put things in perspective: In costs $610,000 in-game bucks to buy Ted Nugent once you've unlocked him. By comparison, the top ranked rocker in GHWT currently has only earned $200,000 or so over his WHOLE CAREER!
It's like in-game DLC.
PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Oct 28th 2008 2:06PM
But the game has only been out since Sunday. By that rate it will only take him another week to get 600 big ones.
Christ-ian @ Oct 28th 2008 2:18PM
I think you're missing the point. He's saying that if the top GHWT player is only 1/3 of the way to unlocking a character, how does that compare to the average player's ability to do the same? It's unneccisarily difficult.
T @ Oct 28th 2008 2:58PM
Precisely. I've also "unlocked" Billy Corgan and Sting, but haven't checked how much they cost.
And when you factor in that it's nearly a week's worth of non-stop playing to get enough in-game cash for one character...you don't even account for the fact that each career has 4-5 gigs that cost in-game money (The TRUE final gig is about 3K, the Tool gig is 8k), it looks even more absurd.
Some of it could be I misread the numbers (I really hope that's the case in the Ted Nugent case), but I still think having to spend in-game cash on something that's been "unlocked" is pretty stupid.
The reward is there, but you can't have it until you play MORE to actually afford it. Which feels more like an attempt to forcibly extend game length. It makes the "unlocking" seem pretty superficial.
PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Oct 28th 2008 4:09PM
I agree with the sentiment that it cost to much to purchase what you have already unlocked but that only adds to the longevity of the game. Wouldn't be much fun if you could have everything in a couple of weeks.
Xanto @ Oct 28th 2008 11:11PM
Are we playing the same game?
Ted Nugent costed $10,000, and I already have him.
T @ Oct 29th 2008 9:48AM
I already commented that I may have misread the numbers. I took a second look and that's a dollar sign (I have a standard def TV and can't get the picture to go fullscreen).
I didn't have 10000 either at the time, so I was just getting "Don't have enough" messages.
As far as adding to the longevity, I addressed that approach too. It's artificially extending playtime for something that in reality takes a backseat to the core game.
I continue to play Rock Band because I enjoy the music and the band play experience. Anything I unlock for my characters as a I go is only a side-effect of my enjoyment of the core game.
But for me, earning money to increase my "Rank" and also to go buy the gear I've already "unlocked" seems more like the old RPG standard of grinding, which is typically used to make a game seem longer than it really is.
Playing games shouldn't have to feel like a chore, but that's what the "unlocking" style in GH feels like at times. They're essentially saying: "Congrats on playing the game alot. Here's a new feature. Now play MORE to actually earn the right to use it."
LuckyEMS @ Oct 28th 2008 3:06PM
its a shame in GHWT most of the songs are boring as hell, but yeah i totally remember that guitar, drums and bass in Beat It.
oolz @ Oct 28th 2008 3:24PM
While the core gameplay of both games are nearly identical, RB2 (even rb1) is clearly the better, more refined game. It's obvious that more time went into both the planning and the implementation of nearly every facet of the game compared to GHWT. While it's not perfect, RB/RB2 feels like there was a clear cut vision behind what they were doing. They knew what experience they wanted to deliver and they focused on that. GHWT feels like a loose collection of ideas strapped to the back of an old system in order to get "something" to market quickly, with no real vision behind it all. It feels like a collection of rushed responses to what the competition was doing and not a serious effort at making a top notch full band music game.
Jeff @ Oct 28th 2008 3:45PM
I have both games, and let me say, GHWT seems like it was rushed just a bit. The story mode is disorganized, the music maker UI is not very well thought out at all (and the chord recognition is a little messed up), and the Live interface is a little clunky. Despite all of this, I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
I'll probably come back to RB2 within a few weeks, though, mostly because I still have a few achievements to get, but partly because it has better DLC support and the UI is more streamlined.
So, who cares which one is better, they're both fun.
Martin @ Oct 28th 2008 9:39PM
I've never played Rock Band 2, so I can't comment on that. I did pick up GHWT two days ago, and I have been enjoying the hell out of it.
There's a few things that irritate me about the game though.
First of all, it's clearly obvious this game was designed with HDTVs being the only displays in mind. I still have an SDTV, and the text while playing a song is damn near illegible. Seriously, if you're going to speak, speak up. It's a freaking rock game.
Second, I wish the game were smart enough to detect that I am using the GH3 controller instead of the GHWT controller, and turn off the blue note-connecting-rope thing when playing a song. It's very distracting to me.
And last, poor gig implementation and a DLC WTF. The game, on your first run through each gig, will force you to play all songs in succession to complete the gig. After that you can go back and play through them piecemeal if you like The problem is that after each song is complete, while it's displaying your score, it checks for new DLC from their servers. If it finds it, it restarts your game without the choice to save your progress. So you have to play through the entire gig again. This one has happened to me twice now.
Now I don't want that to take away from the game, it's really all that I wanted it to be. I'm glad for the harder note charts; I was concerned that since the inclusion of other instruments it would skim on the good core guitar stuff.