Band Hero is a spinoff video game as part of the Guitar Hero series of music rhythm games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5, and supports full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5. The console versions use instrument-shaped game controllers, while the DS version uses either the "Guitar Grip" introduced with the Guitar Hero: On Tour series or a new Drum Skin that comes with the game. Like previous games, virtual avatars of Taylor Swift, Adam Levine, and the band No Doubt are presented in the game. Band Hero received mixed reviews from journalists. Some considered the game to be an appropriately flavored version of Guitar Hero 5 for the "Top 40" pop rock hits, while others felt the game was strictly aimed at teenagers. They also contested the cost of the full game, featuring only 65 songs compared with 85 songs in Guitar Hero 5, and considered if the content would have been better in downloadable form. A day after the game's release, the band No Doubt sued Activision, citing similar misuse of their avatars as the Kurt Cobain avatar in Guitar Hero 5.
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I'll be posting reviews of the Guitar Hero / Rock Band games I've played recently. I'll kick it off with my least favourite of the PS3 era: Band Hero.
There's nothing that this game does that's offensively terrible; well, maybe apart from the bizarre lyric censoring, but it's just the most generic game in the series for me. The game is focused on a more pop-centric setlist, and this is a move I'm not a fan of at all. Besides that, and besides the celebrity appearances, there's nothing that sets Band Hero apart from the rest of the series, especially GH5.
The setlist is really the only thing worth talking about here. Since it's a pop setlist, I find that the overwhelming majority of these songs fall into two categories. The first are songs that are boring to play. Many of these tracks follow the generic pop song structure and/or are one-and-done FCs at my skill level. As a result, they just blend together and left little to no impact on me. The second are songs that are okay but have no business being in a Guitar Hero game. I don't know who made these selections, but Band Hero has tracks like Wannabe - Spice Girls, Rock Star - N.E.R.D., Happy Together - The Turtles, Y.M.C.A. - Village People, I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye, American Pie - Don McLean, etc. These songs feel like they don't belong in this type of rhythm game and have strange charts to play.
I'm not a fan of this game. I'll pop it in my PS3 every so often to play the handful of fun songs, but the style of the setlist and the lack of change/innovation on any of the rest of its systems make Band Hero one of the worst in the series for me.
Favourite songs:
- Black Cat - Janet Jackson
- Fascination - Alphabeat
- I Want You to Want Me (Live) - Cheap Trick
- If You Could Only See - Tonic
- Kids - Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue
- Love Is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
- Naïve - The Kooks
- Take a Picture - Filter
- You Belong with Me - Taylor Swift
