I received my free copy of Guitar Hero Van Halen in the mail this past weekend, so I decided to give it a try. The first thing that I sadly discovered was that the game shipped in a little cardboard sleeve, with no instruction manual or anything. It also wasn’t so nice to see “FOR PROMOTION ONLY NOT FOR RESALE” slapped across the sleeve and disc – but hey, the game works and I guess that’s what really matters. Apparently this game isn’t going to sit in a box in my 360 collection on the shelf.
Anyway, let me first say that I don’t even know any Van Halen songs at all. With my teenage years in the ’90s, I was raised on alternative rock like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Green Day so I was either not even born yet or still an infant when Van Halen was putting out hits. What actually drew me in to wanting to play this game was not even Van Halen, but the guest artist songs on Guitar Hero: Van Halen.
And you know what’s surprising? Guitar Hero Van Halen has a tracklist consisting of more songs I’ve enjoyed than any other music game released so far except perhaps Guitar Hero 2. While everyone’s musical tastes are different, I’m pleased that I can play stuff like Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom”, Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life”, and Blink-182’s “First Date”. And then there’s other bands I recognize as well, such as Foo Fighters, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, and The Offspring. Of course, when Band Hero and Lego Rock Band come out, those will probably have tracklists I find even more enjoyable than Guitar Hero Van Halen since they will be more pop oriented. But in any case, my point is, unlike Guitar Hero 5’s terrible setlist (for me at least), I actually want to play through Guitar Hero Van Halen to hear all the songs. I’ve even found some Van Halen songs I enjoyed, so that was a bonus.
Surprisingly, Guitar Hero Van Halen does sport a dated interface and doesn’t have the “advances” that Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 5 have implemented. In fact, it feels like I’m back to playing Guitar Hero 2 again, and to be honest, I’m actually happy with that. The game is simple to play – I go through career mode and choose whatever difficulty I want to play, earn money from each song, and just progress along. It’s the formula I enjoyed in the earlier Guitar Hero iterations, until Neversoft went all crazy and started making it more and more complicated. I still believe that Guitar Hero should just focus on guitar, and leave it at that. While Guitar Hero Van Halen does allow for drums and mic, the game still feels more guitar oriented, which is what more serious Guitar Hero fans desire. I’m not sure if I can be considered a serious Guitar Hero fan or not since I only play on Hard difficulty, but I’m certainly pleased with the way the game turned out.
It’s strange but while Guitar Hero 5 sports several improvements to the series, I’m enjoying Guitar Hero Van Halen a lot more. So far I find not only Guitar Hero Van Halen’s setlist more enjoyable to play than Guitar Hero 5, but the charting seems to be better thought out too. I wonder if the development teams behind Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero Van Halen were different – I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. It just goes to show you – even if a music game is easier to pickup and play and has more features, the music is ultimately what keeps you playing. If you didn’t already get this game free with your Guitar Hero 5 purchase, I’d recommend waiting it out anyway before it goes on sale. With the plethora of music games out now and continuing to be released, there’s no reason to buy one of these games on day 1 at $60 when they drop to less than half price within a year.
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