INTRODUCTION
Guitar Hero 5 (formerly known as Guitar Hero V) is a music rhythm game and the fifth main installment in the Guitar Hero series. Neversoft developed the game, which was published by Activision and launched in September 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, 3, and Wii platforms. Guitar Hero 5, like its predecessor, Guitar Hero World Tour, is oriented around performing in a four-person band experience, including lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The game is available as a standalone release that allows players to utilize their own compatible instrument controllers and a bundle that includes these controllers.
NEW FEATURES
Drop-in/drop-out play, bands composed of any combination of available instruments, a Rockfest competitive mode consisting of several different scoring mechanisms, and both song-specific and general Challenges to unlock new avatars, clothing, and other extras in the game are all new features in Guitar Hero 5. Many of these improvements made the game more social, allowing players of varying skill levels to play collaboratively and competitively against one another both locally and online. The track list for Guitar Hero 5 contains 85 songs by 83 different artists, and several musicians with works in the game have been modeled through motion capture for playable characters in the game, including Johnny Cash, Carlos Santana, Shirley Manson, Matthew Bellamy, and Kurt Cobain, as in previous Guitar Hero games. Players can even design their own character and instrument to use while playing. The game maintains support for the user-created music studio introduced in World Tour via GHTunes, and new downloadable material for the game is also available. The majority of existing downloadable tracks from World Tour, as well as selected on-disc tracks from World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits, are forward-compatible with Guitar Hero 5, and songs from the game can be exported for a fee to play in its sequel, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, and spin-off game Band Hero.
FEEDBACK
The game was favorably welcomed by critics, who praised the game’s improved accessibility, which allowed players to hop right in and play without spending too much time in the game’s menus. The game also performed well. However, it sold fewer than half as many copies as Guitar Hero: World Tour, selling 1.2 million copies across all platforms. The game’s improvements to both the Career and competitive multiplayer modes were notable highlights. However, the game’s tracklist was deemed too extensive, and debate erupted around the possibility of utilizing Kurt Cobain’s avatar to play in any other song within the game.
