10 Changes GH5 Players Will Notice Since GHWT, Review Conclusion

Song Restarts Now Load Instantly From RAM Instead of Disc

When you Pause and Restart a song in GH5, it reloads almost instantly now from RAM.  Past games like Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Metallica reloaded the entire song from disc just as slowly as the first time.  In GH5, song reloads are fast – even from SD Card.

Party Mode Is Just As Good As They Claim

What makes Party Mode so great?  It's the perfect thing when you're trying to show Guitar Hero to new or impatient players.  Simply put – every single barrier is removed, allowing players to jump directly into playing a song without interruptions.  No failing, no pausing, no worries.

Party Mode is good enough that they should have had it in since Day 1.  Complete "no brainer" way to play it.  You can switch instruments yourself and the song keeps playing.  Anyone who's demo'ed GH to a crowd knows how quickly you can lose their attention while you navigate through the menus or make sure all the songs are unlocked (on previous games).

Same for new players.  Often they're too intimidated to try, because nobody wants to look foolish by failing within the first 30 seconds.  With Party Mode, all this goes away.

New Nintendo DS "Roadie Battles" Are Surprisingly Well Done, Replace Battle Mode

When I heard about the Nintendo DS connectivity to the Wii versions of Guitar Hero 5, immediately I thought it must be a cheap gimmick.  After trying out the Roadie Battles, I was totally mistaken.  The DS Roadie Battles are fun as hell, VERY well done and highly polished.  Vicarious Visions clearly put full effort into this mode. The graphics are fantastic and it just works great.  (BTW, this mode is completely free over WiFi, and does not require Guitar Hero On Tour, nor does it have anything to do with On Tour.)

Roadie Battle replaces the old Battle Mode of previous GH games, but instead of collecting star-shaped Battle notes to earn powerup Attacks to throw at your opponent, it all happens on the Nintendo DS now.  Guitarists team up with DS players, and the DS player's job is to use the really clever little WiFi minigames to "build" attacks, which can then be fired at the opponent.  However, when your Guitarist teammate gets attacked from the opposing team, the DS player is also responsible for "repairing" the damage.

For the DS player, it all plays out in a series of clever microgames based on real rock show equipment. For example, one microgame might require you to turn all dials on an amp to 11.  Another has you adjusting a series of sound mixer sliders back to the "correct" level.

The brilliant part is how the game keeps things interesting by randomly changing the controls of each microgame.  You can't simply memorize each one and become a pro at it.  Instead, the game might double or triple the sensitivity of the mixer sliders, so it always takes you a bit to figure out the "sweet spot" and solve the puzzle.  The touch-screen controls work just like you'd expect and the animations are superb.  They're so good, it's fun to play Roadie Battle just to see the DS microgames over and over again.

GH5 Includes Free Guitar Hero Van Halen Offer, Plus $5.00 Coupon on Next Guitar Hero Game Purchase

If Hot for Teacher in GHWT is any indication, Guitar Hero Van Halen ought to be a lot of fun.  And it contains the first Killswitch Engage song ("The End of Heartache") since Guitar Hero 3.  GHVH Free + $5.00 discount coupon = Fabulous bonus.  The Free GHVH offer only lasts through September 2009.  The $5.00 coupon is good for Smash Hits, Band Hero, World Tour, and a few others.

Loading Screens Now Rotate Ads for Guitar Hero: On Tour (Nintendo DS)

Guitar Hero 5 Wii: Loading Screen now displays Guitar Hero: On Tour advertisements

Some gamers might find this an annoying form of self promotion and product placement.  I don't mind it as much since I own & enjoy the Guitar Hero On Tour games.

New Player's Lobby Has Per-Player Options for Hyperspeed, No Fail, Free Drum, Star Power Tilt, and Touch Strip

Now you can easily change your preferences per player right from the new lobby system.  Hyperspeed is no longer a "cheat", and there's a new No Fail and Free Drum option.

However, there does seem to be a bug in GH5 Wii with the Star Power Tilt option.  I prefer to disable it when I'm using my GHWT Guitar with the big Star Power button under your palm.  My friend prefers to use Star Power Tilt on the GH3 Les Paul Guitar.  The problem?  25% of the time when I disable my Star Power Tilt, it strangely causes my friend's Les Paul to disable Star Power Tilt instead.  And the Star Power button on a Les Paul is rather difficult to access, leaving us crippled.  This is apparently a bug in the game, as it occurs inconsistently, but often enough that I'm sure it's a bug.  (I even double-tested it back to back to be certain.)

Quick Song Failure = Suggestion to Calibrate TV Lag

When you fail a song right away, the game now offers a choice to "blame it on the TV and attempt Calibration?"  Good design on Neversoft's part – some players were unaware you could even calibrate the game and were suffering with HDTV lag on their notes.  Now they will at least be aware of it.

The Vocals Character Is No Longer Gender-Specific (Women Sing With Men's Voices)

GH5 breaks Guitar Hero tradition by no longer matching the character vocalists' gender to that of the song.  I cannot fathom why they would have done this, and it seems strange and goofy to hear a man singing a woman's voice, or vice versa.

Guitar Hero 5 Has the Longest Guitar Hero Song Ever at 13 Minutes, 40 Seconds

Guitar Hero Metallica's 11 minute "Mercyful Fate" was previously the longest.  GH5 beats that with Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)", clocking in at 13:40.  (Check out the full Guitar Hero 5 song list.)

Review Conclusion – Guitar Hero 5 Fulfills Many Long-Standing Player Requests

Complaints about past Guitar Hero games' song menu systems, Wii weaknesses, and overly convoluted user interface are all addressed with serious effort in Guitar Hero 5.  Gamers waiting for these improvements were disappointed when Guitar Hero Metallica and Guitar Hero Smash Hits did not make any major changes to the basic GHWT formula.

Guitar Hero 5 takes the next step forward with major features like GHWT/GHSH song importing, 8 Player online multiplayer modes, killer lifetime player statistics, and a major overhaul to the Nintendo Wii code to bring it as close to the Xbox360 experience as possible.

I tip my hat to Neversoft and Vicarious Visions on a job well done, this time around.