Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s

I wrote video game reviews back in college. It was my first proper foray into publishing anything online, and rewiredmind.com was one of the sites I wrote a lot for. This is one of them.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I find playing a tiny, plastic, small-enough-for-children guitars strangely appealing. And – judging by the popularity of Guitar Hero – so does everyone else. In my eyes, up until Rocks the 80s, the Guitar Hero guys couldn’t do any wrong. Then again, nothing good lasts forever.

Essentially, Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s is an add-on pack. It might be packaged in a new box, and the characters might be wearing different clothes (the same characters), but what you’re getting is 30 new songs in the same game. There’s no new features. I know Guitar Hero hasn’t exactly revolutionised itself since it first came out, but you’d at least expect a new menu, or a new feature, or just something. There’s not even extra songs to buy. To pour the whole sachet of salt into the wound, it’s full price.

It could all be forgiven if the songs were actually good. You know. The main bit of the game. The actual songs you have to play. I admit, I’m a bit biased seeing as though I’ve never really liked 80s rock, but there was always these kind of songs on the other two Guitar Heros, and they were good. Before with the other games they’ve always stuck in songs that you’d want to play, but here there isn’t that X factor with them. They’re all just “alright”.

Adding to that is the seemingly lack of effort that’s gone into it. I’ve been to a lot of gigs, and not once have I ever heard a song fading out on stage. That’s mainly because it’s nigh on impossible. But for the first time ever in the Guitar Hero franchise, it happens. There’s only one thing that that tells me – that they’ve not even bothered to re-record half of the songs and they’ve just laid the button presses over the top. It makes you feel like you’re not even playing the damn song half of the time. Some of it even seems slightly out of time with the button presses. Only slightly mind, but it’s noticeable.

It’s not all bad though. The gameplay that we all know and love is still here, and if anything there are a lot more insane solos to get your fingers around this time. To combat that, the game does seem a little easier, and after going back to Guitar Hero 1 and trying to play a song on Hard after Rock the 80s, my suspicions were confirmed. Take from that what you will, but when I play Hard difficulty on a game I don’t expect to be getting 4 and 5 stars on it the first time through. It’s verging on too easy.

Final word; if you’re new to Guitar Hero, don’t buy this. It will be an unfair representation of what is a ground-breaking franchise. If you’ve got the rest of the Guitar Hero games already, then you might find something you like.

At 30 quid though, it’s almost not even worth finding out.

2 STARS.