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Guitar Hero Van Halen Wii Review: 26 Pros & Cons Players Will Notice
Guitar Hero Van Halen is pretty much the opposite of The Beatles: Rock Band. Where the Beatles game was heavy on the band culture with relatively simple guitar play, Van Halen is very shallow on the band culture but quite technical and challenging on the guitar. If you haven't seen it before, check out the Guitar Hero Van Halen Song List: 25 VH Songs, 3 VH Guitar Solos, 19 Guest Songs.
5Frets.com was among the first to get Guitar Hero Van Halen for Nintendo Wii and quickly shot and posted the first production disc GHVH Wii gameplay videos worldwide.
When you start a new Career, this intro video is what you will see, dropping you directly into Van Halen's famous "Panama" immediately afterwards (similar to Guitar Hero Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls"):
After spending a day with the game, here are 26 Pros and Cons Guitar Hero players will notice compared to past Guitar Hero games:
Pros
Cons
Van Halen's guitar translates excellent to Guitar Hero. Lots of fun and satisfying guitar squeals to play
Many new note chart patterns not seen before
New sustained chords have you tapping purple notes while holding a solid note
Bass charts feature plenty of purple tapping notes unlike previous GH games
Several songs feature blistering "Dueling Banjos outro"-style strumming speeds on Expert skill Guitar, making GH3 "Knights of Cydonia" strumming look slow in comparison. You'll have to strum with everything you've got in order to keep up
Epic "Eruption" guitar solo (among others) satisfies Expert Guitar Hero fanatics' craving for ultimate difficulty songs
You'll be surprised how many Van Halen songs you recognize; great classic VH song selection
"(Oh) Pretty Woman" includes "Intruder" guitar effects intro just like the original album; the entire song is a blast to play from start to finish
No nasty surprises, if you've played Metallica or Smash Hits, you know exactly what to expect
Van Halen band characters have realistic customized animations & movements; Eddie Van Halen slides his hand up and down the guitar neck; David Lee Roth twirls the mic stand and does Karate moves
New technology allows the game's crowd to sing along to the songs, this adds a neat effect and hasn't been seen before in Guitar Hero or Rock Band for Wii
Van Halen themed Rock Rank icons and guitar artwork throughout game
Van Halen Soundboard feature didn't make the cut for Metallica, finally makes it in GHVH
The first Guitar Hero game ever to NOT contain a stupid new scheme for entering letters using a guitar controller
Based on the Guitar Hero World Tour, Metallica & Smash Hits engine, which means:
Only 2 Wii consoles can connect online unlike GH5, making it tough/unlikely to find 3-4 player matches
Every band player has to play a unique instrument, unlike GH5. In other words if you have a Guitar and Bass, finding a 3 player online band match requires a drummer, pretty much impossible to locate
12 digit Friend Codes must be exchanged offline, unlike GH5 which used a global Wii Console ID
No Band Online Career mode (identical to Metallica and Smash Hits which also lacked this feature)
Band Star Power is shared between all players
Game comes in a cardboard "demo" sleeve and heavily labeled "Not for Resale/For Promotion Only" for those who bought GH5 during September, leaving some feeling "tricked" into buying GH5 under the belief they would be getting two $60 games for the price of one. (As opposed to one $60 game and one NFR promo disc in a cardboard sleeve with no case or manual.) One option is to Print Your Own Guitar Hero Van Halen Cover Art
So far, none of the Van Halen songs can export to GH5
Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony strangely missing probably due to personal disputes with former bandmates. Still, it feels like a crime for Michael Anthony to get gipped out of playing his own bass lines
No cartoon band storyline cutscenes like Aerosmith and Metallica featured
Overall, game feels like a shallow "cookie cutter" band release, the total opposite of the depth seen in The Beatles: Rock Band
Poorly chosen guest acts are largely unrelated to Van Halen and many are totally contrary to Van Halen. Worst offenders are gimmick songs like "Stacy's Mom" and "Pretty Fly For a White Guy". You'll want to scratch the Offspring song right off the disc after hearing "Pretty Fly's" corny and juvenile "Give it to me, baby!" chorus over and over. It's interesting how many classic Van Halen songs from the late 70s have stood the test of time and still get radio play today (and warrant their own video game), but the same won't be said for "Stacy's Mom" and "Pretty Fly For a White Guy"
Some songs are re-records, not originals. For instance, "Semi Charmed Life" is not the Third Eye Blind album version.
Song loading times are slow as ever, up to 17 seconds. Song restarts are as slow as the first time. (GH3 and GH5 restarted songs from memory, making restarts almost instant)
You might look at this list and conclude there are more pros than cons to Guitar Hero Van Halen, but that's not the case. By now, a Guitar Hero release like this is so straightforward that you know what to expect – mainly a new set of song tracks to play.
So Do You Really Notice the Lack of Sammy Hagar Van Halen?
In my opinion – no. Sure "Van Hagar" had a few big hits like "Right Now" (1991) and "Why Can't This Be Love" (1986), but I don't think they'd be as much fun to play as "You Really Got Me" (1978) and "Panama" (1984). In fact, after playing this game, I have to admit it seems like Van Halen's best years (judged by the number of classic hits they produced) were the late 70s, early 80s David Lee Roth period this game focuses on.
The Bottom Line: Everyone Wants These Songs to Import Into Guitar Hero 5
GH5 rockers will be in pure bliss if Van Halen song exporting becomes available in the future, because these songs are great fun to play and a big addition to the Guitar Hero music library. After playing GH5 for the past 6 weeks, it's hard to go back to the "old" Metallica/Smash Hits engine with no online lobby, second player always "gets stuck playing bass", and no Band Moments.
Van Halen fans will obviously enjoy the game by itself, regardless of whether the songs export or not. I'm no particular Van Halen fan, but after my first day with the game I found several VH guitar licks stuck in my head. Namely the "Jamie's Cryin'" hook you'll see at 0:45 in the following video. (The yellow note & blue hammer-on… 'Wuh-Uh!')
These songs are a ton of fun converted to Guitar Hero; my heart was racing the first time I finished "Eruption". I couldn't keep from laughing while strumming my ass off on the "Best of You" breakdown, or listening to David Lee Roth's over the top lyrics, on the fun to play "Unchained":
Woo hoo! Take a look at this!
Hey man, that suit is you!
Woo-whee! You'll get some leg tonight For Suuure!
Tell us how you do! Hoo hoo hoo!
(Come on Dave, gimme a break)
Hey hey hey hey! One break, comin' up!
As the band says: "Everybody wants some! How 'bout you?"
