'Guitar Hero 5' improves gameplay

• By MILES THORPE
• 2theadvocate.com staff
• Published: Sep 25, 2009

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Now in its fifth year, the “Guitar Hero” franchise has now released “Guitar Hero 5.” With more gameplay options and better visuals, it seems the genre has yet to slow down.

While the game offers a very broad spectrum of song choices, ranging from Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash to 3 Doors Down, I was a little disappointed with the overall song selection. Many of the songs didn’t seem all that popular, and there were several that, in my opinion, weren’t “rock” songs at all. ‘Play that Funky Music’ by Wild Cherry is one example.

While I’m not a huge fan of the track list that comes with “Guitar Hero 5,” you can port in songs from “Smash Hits” or “World Tour” for a small fee, which is a great option.

Graphically, the game certainly ups a few notches. There are better looking avatars for the player to build on, and a better overall appearance of the stages and sets that are presented. There are new animations that your avatars can perform, as well as a pseudo-slow-motion camera that swings by your character after scoring high on a song.

The new Party Play mode is probably the highlight of this release. Being able to join into an already running song, with any instrument you want is a nice feature. Want two singers? No problem. Four guitarists at the same time? Sure. You can even do more than one drummer in the same song. That’s wacky fun.

For those wanting a little more wackiness, you can also play as your Xbox 360 Avatar, turning “Guitar Hero” into “Toon Hero” of sorts. While the 360 avatars are smaller on the stage than the other characters, they are fully animated and humorous to watch.

“Guitar Hero 5” also ships with the new GHStudio 2.0 for those who enjoy mixing their own tracks. It does show some improvements over the “World Tour” studio, but I’m not very skilled in the song creation, so I didn’t spend too much time in there.

This time out you don’t have to unlock songs. You still have unlockables, like outfits, equipment sets and playable characters, but all the songs are available from the start. It’s nice being able to just jump on in Quickplay mode and have all the songs at your disposal without having to work through career mode to just have the full set list.

“Guitar Hero 5” continues to push the fun gameplay that it has been known for while steadily improving on its visuals. This release is certainly more party-centric and would be great fun for those times when you invite some friends over and just want to jam without silly restrictions that were in the previous titles.