Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review

I have already seen Rock Band 3 and I was very impressed. Now Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has landed on our doorstep with its snazzy looking guitar and promising new features, but does it offer enough over its predecessor to make people want to go out and splash their cash?

Activision and Neversoft certainly look as if they have been trying to up the ante this year, with new game modes, new challenges and also quite a different looking soundtrack from those on previous versions of the game. Quest Mode is by far the biggest change, no longer are you trying to start out as a band, wandering through the pit wholes of despair until you eventually reach the arenas and stadiums you where born to play in. Instead the main aim of Quest Mode is to unlock the various band members from previous games (and even some new ones) and work your way through a story that will see you play songs, earn stars and eventually unlocking the almighty rock god power within. Once you have unlocked your rockers true abilities, you will be given a special power which can be used to earn even more stars, multipliers and a load more besides. There are quite a few rockers to unlock before you really get to make use of their powers. My main complaint here was although the game starts off with quite a strong setlist, once you unlock the first set of rockers and the guitar, the setlist for the second set of rockers feels quite a letdown in comparison, although this is obviously based on my taste in music. Things get more interesting once you have unlocked all the rockers and you are asked to use them to earn 40 stars in the further quest challenges. This is good fun because you get to use the rockers new powers, which makes earning stars a little bit easier, but is still challenging enough to keep you hooked to the game. Out with the Quest Mode, Activision and Neversoft have included the Challenge Mode, which sees you tasked with completing challenges based on the requirements given. Challenges range from using certain instruments, using the whole band of even just one individual rocker. This part of the game is certainly for the completionist, given there are three tiers to complete, each of which sees the difficulty become even more gruelling. Quickplay + is similar in nature to challenge mode given that you have to complete certain challenges; the difference here is it’s the way in which you do it. Throughout these challenges you will be asked to play songs in certain ways, be it strumming in a different way or hitting chords. You can even use your newly unlocked rock gods in this mode. It’s great fun and a good way to jump into the action without too much thought. Creating your Rocker is quite fun in GHWOR, there is all the usual tweaks plus the added ability to use your Xbox Live Avatar (if you own the 360 version obviously). There is also some great equipment to unlock in this area, although it depends just how into this you are as to whether it will appeal or not. Another pretty neat feature is the Rewards Tracker, which keeps note of all your information under one simple place. This is handy as you can see stats from not only Warriors of Rock but also from previous games. I was also surprised to see the ability to upload progress to Facebook and Twitter after each song, which is certainly an interesting addition. As far as the game itself goes, not really much has changed in terms of the mechanics, you still hit the notes as they scroll down the screen, and you still have star power available should you want to multiply things up a bit. Perhaps its no surprise to see all instruments remain loyal to previous games, however with Rock Band 3 mixing things up in this area and trying to make things a little more realistic, you have to wonder how long Activision will stick to this tried and tested formula. As you would expect, the graphics and presentation in Warriors of Rock is top notch, everything is bright, big and bold, with a real rock and roll feel being given to everything on offer. The sound helps add to this thanks to the Quest Mode being narrated by none other than Gene Simmons. I personally hate to judge a game based on others, but from what I have seen of Rock Band 3 I’m just not sure Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock has enough under its belt to challenge what is looking to be the next evolution in rhythm action gaming. Don’t get me wrong, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a great game in its own right and I’m sure that fans of the series will lap up the new features on offer, because they are fantastic. If at this moment though you asked me to choose between this and Rock Band 3, my money on this occasion would be going the way of EA.

Rating: 8/10

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