Guitar Hero 5 Wii Review: Close Look at the Massive Improvements

Guitar Hero 5 surprises gamers by packing more solid improvements than any previous Guitar Hero game.

Let me repeat that – GH5 is a more significant leap forward than any past Guitar Hero iteration, (unless you factor in Guitar Hero World Tour's introduction of Band play).  GH5 brings a dynamite package of HUGE features:

• Totally overhauled song list menu system (fully explored in Part 1 of this series)
• Ability to create and save custom Setlists
• Song Importing from Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits
• 8 Player Online Mode
• Twice as many online game modes than past games
• Enormous usability improvements in the game's menus (at last!)
• Party Mode – the best way to show Guitar Hero to new or impatient players

Nintendo Wii developers Vicarious Visions have pulled out all the stops and poured their heart and soul into making this the first Wii Guitar Hero game to have "Full Feature Parity" with Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  That's no joke – aside from the obvious lack of HD resolution, the Wii version of Guitar Hero 5 has almost everything its brothers do.  For all the Guitar Hero Wii rockers out there, after 2 years of feeling like "second class citizens" this is a dream come true.

Look around the site, and you'll find my series of Guitar Hero Controller Repair Guides, and a handful of reports on annoying issues and problems with Guitar Hero games.  You might get the impression I have a lot of gripes with the Guitar Hero series.

But with Guitar Hero 5, there's not as much to complain about.  Surprisingly, this game not only lives up to the hype, but surpasses it.

This 5-section review is not your usual "talk about the advertised features and complain about your personal gripes with the setlist" review.  Instead, you'll get screenshots and details of the improvements GH5 has, compared to previous GH games.  I even point out some little details that will make a really big difference to seasoned GH players.

Get started with Part 1, or jump straight to the section that interests you the most: