Band Hero Review

By Brian Buckley

A Guitar Hero game which Pop’s appeal

Band Hero is the latest offering in Activision’s Hero franchise and in essence it’s a re-skinned version of Guitar Hero 5. While some might see this as a bad thing, I certainly don’t. Guitar Hero 5 was the first GH game that I actually had fun with again. Having fallen in love with GH with the release of GH3 on the xbox 360, I soon bought up what I could, purchasing GH2, GH: Aerosmith, and GH: World Tour. But I started to grow weary of the product, and its same old song and dance routine. But then GH5 was released back in September and I was in love all over again. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but there were a number of improvements that made the game so much more accessible and perhaps more importantly, more fun than the previous releases.

So when Activision announced Band Hero many saw it as a cash in project and I did too, until I played it. Since it’s effectively a duplicate of GH5 it retains all the great features that made it so much fun. The drop in and out play, the avatar support for xbox 360 owners, the instrument variety (i.e. having any combination of singers, drummers and guitarists) and a set list that was unlocked from the start. But when you take away the already rocking set list from GH5, you want to make sure you substitute it with some great songs, and they didn’t disappoint. Tracks like

Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue – “Kids”
OK Go – “A Million Ways”
The Turtles – “Happy Together”

Let you know your going to have a good time, and add into that some tracks from Maroon 5, No Doubt, Lily Allen and the brilliant Pat Benatar the setlist continues to draw you in. The one thing these songs have in common is their feel good factor. While traditionally the songs in the GH games have been about rocking out and amazing riffs and solo’s, Band Hero reminds you that its ok to have fun with music too. With them being pop songs aswell, you’ll be sure to recognise the songs once you hear a few bars aswell and I found myself singing along while playing the guitar.

While what was great with GH5 transferred over nicely to Band Hero, unfortunately the frustrating things came across aswell. What really bothered me was the position and size of both the star power meter and progression meter. Leaving you to wonder if your star power was full or not, or how close you are to failing a song. Another disappointing aspect of the game is the lack of individuality it has, it’s clearly a GH5 clone aimed at families and kids, and while I praised this above, it doesn’t add one single new feature to help differentiate it from GH5. The only difference being the cut scenes that leads into each song in the career. I feel for Activision to have legitimate stand alone game in Band Hero, it needs to do something else without just relying on a pop soundtrack.

With all being said however, the experience playing Band Hero is a fun one. A game you will be able to play with your friends as chances are they will know more of the songs than if you were playing a standard GH game. If you have grown disillusioned with the music rhythm games of the past year or so, I urge you to try Guitar Hero 5 or Band Hero, and if you’re new to the franchise then Band Hero is a great start.