Guitar Hero World Tour: The Best, The Worst, and Everything in Between
by Derek Wilson on October 31, 2008 7:10 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Instruments: The Guitar and Mic
So here it is: the thing we like best about GHWT. The new guitar is terrific. Hopefully in the next version of Guitar Hero we'll see them steal the auto calibration idea from Harmonix, but other than that this is a great controller. First let's compare it with the old Guitar Hero controller.
Aside from the neck slide, the changes are subtle. The strumbar is longer, which is awesome. It's solid and clicks when engaged and not sloppy like the RB2 strumbar (also awesome). There is an added star power button right next to the strumbar with two start buttons on either side. This is a great idea, but for the way I play (not sure about everyone else) I would prefer the star power button be a little lower than the strum bar, lets say about the width of my palm away.
This little bone in the black circle causes my problems ...
Right now it's possible to hit the button, but I've really got to take my hand off the strumbar to do it (which defeats the purpose). When I try and press it, I just hit the start button (along side the star power button) with what I believe is my pisiform bone (or something else that protrudes from the volar surface of the proximal row of the carpus).
This both engages star power (if I'm lucky) and pauses the game. This is not optimal.
Probably the nicest thing is that the fret buttons are easier to push down. They feel the same, but just lightly tapping them activates them now, which is much nicer on strained hand muscles, especially after hours of playing. We still prefer the button style of the RB2 controller, but the major advantage (the decreased forced required to play) is now nullified.
On top of this, the GHWT instruments now feature a connection for the XBox live headset. This is great for online play and is definitely something missing from the RB2 instruments. They also continue to include the RJ11 connector for attaching a pedal to activate star power. Which is a better way to do it than tilt or buttons, but requires the purchase of an add on (or some DIY hacking and an old phone).
So on to the new hardware: the touch sensitive neck slide. This is a pretty interesting feature, but we couldn't get much use out of it. When the "slider gems" pop up it's really difficult to switch between the fret buttons and the neck slide and back again. It's also tough to tap normal notes on the neck slide with the right timing and accuracy. We REALLY want to be able to use this like normal buttons: I want to hold my finger on the green pad and strum a note. Currently this can't be done, which really doesn't make any sense at all. It fells more like a real guitar, would allow easier sliding between notes than any buttons ever, and would really add to the experience.
All in all, the neck slide is a cool idea that fell way too short with this first implementation. Hopefully next time around we'll see them get it right, but right now it's just taking up space on the controller.
Overall, the Guitar Hero World Tour guitar controller is a good balance and easier for me to play than the RB2 controller. Keep in mind I prefer the RB style controller over the original GH controllers, so the subtle tweaks to the rest of the guitar really made a difference for me. Of course, your mileage may vary. Both controllers are good and it will likely come down to personal preference on which one you go with.
Beyond hardware, GHWT extends the functionality of the game a bit. They've added open notes (represented the same way a kick drum hit would be shown on the drums: a horizontal purple line across the highway). These notes are strummed with no buttons held down. It gets really cool with open note pull offs and makes for some more intricate gameplay. With Rock Band 2 I always found myself holding down the lowest note I needed and just playing the upper ones over top, but with the introduction of open notes you've got to be able to lift all the way off and come back. It's really just another subtle step towards better emulation of real guitar techniques. We're still a long long way off on that, but every step in that direction is a good one.
Another really neat feature is that sustained notes can be sustained /through/ other notes. For example, let's say you play a green sustained note. In some songs, you can hold this down and keep playing other colored notes on top of it. It's actually pretty cool and well done in the songs where we've seen it. This and the other tweaks to the guitar really do make it so that GHWT comes out ahead in terms of a guitar and bass for music games. That's not to say that Rock Band 2 is way off, as you can see if you search youtube for head to head videos. But simply playing the guitar and bass on GHWT is more fun with the extras.
As for the mic, it's the same as the Rock Band mic. You have to tap it to activate star power, but this just does not work. It's way too difficult, and we've tried different types and styles of tapping and it's really hit or miss (pardon the pun). The better way to go is to hit any of the 4 main buttons on the XBox controller. This is even easier if you go with a 3rd party mic that doubles as a controller so you don't have to hold two things to sing.
The only other thing to mention about singing is that it is MUCH pickier about getting it right than Rock Band or Rock Band 2. Singing on hard is VERY hard. And that's not just cause I have a hard time with it. It's cause it's actually difficult. You've really got to nail the transitions between notes and words to get by in this game.
On to the drums.
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Desultory - Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - link
I too have some issues with the drum kit and I also had problems with my first guitar. In fact, I ended up taking it back to the store for a full replacement. My down strum broke the first night and the cymbals were at once so responsive that hitting the drum pads activated them and also so unresponsive when I hit them. I'm not a "real" drummer, but I can play about half the RB songs on expert and all of them on hard and I was finding I couldn't hold a streak at all in GHWT. It was seriously ticking me off.After the exchange, I still had an unresponsive yellow cymbal. It was "dead" on one side...no problem though, switched it with the orange cymbal and it's much easier to reach the "good" side.
But the pedal...ferchrissake that thing sucks. Moves all over the floor and it's WAY too sensitive. My style may be to blame, but I learned to play RB drums keeping my foot down on the pedal and "bouncing". That's impossible with this pedal. The simple act of raising my foot often triggers a bass kick and once again it's impossible to hold a streak. I wish I could use my RB pedal with the GHWT kit. I like the kit better (more stuff to do and "real" cymbals) but the foot pedal makes playing drums impossible.
I actually found this article hoping to uncover some tricks for the pedal since I'm not the only person with this issue (Google is rife with people having the same complaint and two of my friends who bought the game are in agreement with me). I like the song selection better in GHWT but not being able to play drums is literally breaking my heart.
/sigh
jdport - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
It kind of bothers me when people write stuff about how Guitar Hero is the original franchise, that players "cut their teeth on". As I'm sure you know, this is true in name only. The creators of the original Guitar Hero moved on to Rock Band, so while "Guitar Hero" maybe have been the original... Guitar Hero World Tour shares nothing in common with it other than its name and the basic concept.
Also, the Rock Band 2 guitars and drums do have a hook up for the XBL headset. You just have to use the adapter that is supplied with the game instead of using the standard plug.
bootay69 - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
I use the standard plug...the adapter is not necessary.afkrotch - Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - link
FYI: Guitar Freaks, Drummania, Piano Freaks, etc. Wiki Bemani. Now Guitar Hero was probably the first music game to be in the US, aside from DDR.EODetroit - Tuesday, November 4, 2008 - link
Honestly I'll never play more than two player mode, so I don't see the point of buying anything beyond my GH3 game.But I do like the commercial that I saw during MNF last night.
MaverickSY19 - Monday, November 3, 2008 - link
Honestly I like RB 1 and 2 better for the reason that they are not to hard! I mean a lot of us can't play expert at all let alone breeze though it. I honestly like playing the songs and having fun with it, because as a kid we all did the air guitar and its nice to actually play a song with a fake one you can at least hold on to. :)Shoot I'll be happy when I can play RB or GH through all the way on hard let alone Expert. Shoot my wife can't even do easy :P I have yet to try her on the beginner level they added to GHWT.
crash resistant - Monday, November 3, 2008 - link
GH isn't harder. It's more pure. RB has silly drum solos in the middle of every song, even on Expert.Singing in GH is harder, as you have to sing more to gain points- and there aren't cheesy tambourine solos that last what feels like forever.
I guess, it's true- GH requires more skill to attain higher scores- but it's relative to the game itself- You can't relate the score system to RB!
If you want to party, buy all 3 games. I'm telling you the truth.
DerekWilson - Monday, November 3, 2008 - link
i disagree that ghwt is "harder" ... neither one is "real" in terms of hitting all the notes. which sucks.if you look at youtube and see the side by side charting, you'll see that some songs are harder on rock band 2 and some songs are harder on ghwt ... the ones that overlap anyway ...
as for the song choice, that does have an impact, and some of the songs that ghwt picked are really hard and some of the songs that rb2 picked are really hard. it all comes out in the wash in my mind.
crash resistant - Sunday, November 2, 2008 - link
Whoever reviewed this game made several errors and assumptions without further testing. They didn't even verify how star power works while drumming....1: You hit both symbols ANY TIME and it activates.. no need to wait for a break- and it DOES NOT lose your streak. Sad...
2: The drum pedal has never slid away from me, on two different carpets (thick and very thin at an office) or on a marble floor. Did they get a pedal with no grips? How unfair.
3: The symbols are very responsive- the problem is the angle. I can barely tap the symbols to get the response even with the little sticks that came with the kit, it just has to be at the right angle.
4: Symbols are symbols. You don't roll around and hit symbols as if they are drums.
5: The interface is waaaaaaaaay more responsive than RB1 and RB2. (Mind you, I love all three games because of song selection)
6: Tool?
Go buy GHWT and RB2, full band kits- now.
DerekWilson - Monday, November 3, 2008 - link
1) you can't physically hit the cymbals anytime -- if you are required to play something else and you miss those notes, you lose the streak. any time you are physically capable of inserting a hit on both cymbals (either when nothing is happening or one cymbal is being played and you can just add the other one in) you'll be fine and won't lose your streak. The point of what I wrote is that it is very difficult if not impossible /in many songs/ to actually activate star power without missing other notes. there are some songs in which it's super easy to activate star power at any time with no problem. But the songs in which it is difficult are the ones you need it the most ...2) i've tried it on carpet and floor with no luck. if there are grips beyond the pads on the bottom of the kick pedal then we did not get anything else (and neither did my parents who also bought ghwt and are havign trouble with the kick sliding).
3) i mean responsive as in feel not activation of the trigger.
4) everlong. other's as well, but that's the big one. also, rolls on cymbals are not uncommon. especially on the hi-hat.
5) i dont know what you mean.
6) yes, sorry i didn't mention tool. tool is awesome. i love tool. i would have bought the game just for those songs ... but not everyone would ;-)