Guitar Hero: Van Halen Review

After the past two Guitar Hero releases, Activision has been both criticised and praised. They now have arrived with a third release of 2009, Van Halen. I was fairly sceptical about this title as I am not the biggest of Van Halen fans and some previous games haven't exactly lived up to standards but fortunately I was fairly surprised.

As far as Guitar Hero games go, not much is different in Guitar Hero: Van Halen. You are given a plastic-based instrument and you must point it towards a screen; the enjoyment that follows can be described as nothing less than pleasurable. You must strum along to notes that flow down the screen whilst holding down frets/drum pads to achieve this: a very basic design and yet it brings so much enjoyment. Hammer-ons and pull-offs are still present but as this is Van Halen and they have Eddie as their guitarist, you will notice a lot more Hammer-ons for the ever amazing guitar solos.

Although this game is called Guitar Hero: Van Halen, they are not the only bands to appear in this expansion. Guest bands also accompany them such as Blink-182, Foo Fighters and Tenacious D to name a few: these bands are nothing more than filler. The bands that are here are quite a varied pack so it could keep certain audiences entertained but there are only 28 Van Halen tracks and these extra bands just seem somehow out of place, although that said you do hear a few classic tracks such as White Wedding by Billy Idol which is always a plus for me. Along with these songs seeming strange, they also are very easy and boring to play along to at times. I am not sure if it is the contrast to the complexity of the Van Halen tracks but it is a tad infuriating having to sit through these songs. It does bring the thought to mind why is this not just a downloadable expansion?

Staying with the track list I found it weird and disappointing that the Van Halen tracks only span from 1978 until 1984 which is when David Lee Roth left the band. After this, there are still another 16 years of Van Halen and it seems a tad incomplete to any fan that they would not include the works of Sammy Haggar or Gary Cherone.

The Van Halen songs are complex and also very fun to play. For anybody that isn't a pro at this game, these songs will come as quite a challenge at times and if that isn't enough for the pro's, on drums there is the Expert+ mode (as in the previous Metallica title). I dare not mention how insane this is at the possibility you may end up quivering in the foetal position by the end of one of these tracks.


As for the guitar, the solos that you must master are just as insane. It's like Van Halen are standing in front of you progressively throwing more and more skittles at your face. It really does take a master to complete the last few songs on expert.


The bass player does get a few solos which can be fun but you know what you are getting in for if you choose to be the bass player, a lack of appreciation and you're simply there to enhance the lead guitarist.


The vocals on most songs are fairly simple but like with all previous Guitar Hero titles, it can confusing to keep up with the tune if you do not know the song.

Although these songs are complex and fun, the career that you play them through is not. It's ill informed and random (to say the least). It is only named as a career due to the series' tradition and it does not follow Van Halen's rise to fame at all. It's more of a slap dash effort at putting something together for Christmas 2009. The plus side is that if you only purchased the game to play through the Van Halen songs, you can do so by just skipping out the Guest Acts (although I wouldn't advise it).

The rest of the game is more or less the same as other Guitar Hero titles but lacking. It has no downloadable content except from GH Studio Tunes; a lack of extra content and it seems to have fewer characters than most Guitar Hero titles. Although there is a lack of content, the extras you do get are okay; nothing special but okay. You get a Van Halen soundboard in which you press a two-button combination to hear a memorable riff from selected songs. You also get lyrics for all songs and a feature in which you can listen to the tune and have information on the song shown below however this is only available on specific songs.

All in all, this is not one of the best Guitar Hero games by a long shot and it seems that Activision has not given homage to Van Halen apart from the insane guitar solos. Luckily some fun can be salvaged from this shipwreck. Just like in every other Guitar Hero game, you can get a group of friends round and rock out to the tunes, which is always going to be fun. Other than this, it is one that I would suggest skipping over unless you are a fan of the ‘original' Van Halen alone or would just like a fresh set of tunes to play.