Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Music
Price: $60
Release: 12/22/09

Key Features:
• Solid Setlist
• Van Halen fans will be happy
• Free with September purchase of GH 5

Dev Spotlight: Neversoft's 5th Guitar Hero game in 2009.

Instant Impressions:

As someone who picked up Guitar Hero 5 early last month, I was able to send in for a free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen. I expected to get the game in December when it will be hitting retail shelves so I was happy to see the game land in my mailbox yesterday.

The first thing you will notice right out of the gate if you are a Guitar Hero fan is that Van Halen is using the old GH engine used in GH: Metallica. This is a major letdown for those who have experience the far superior GH5 engine.  All the old annoying issues with the past games are here including the leveling up system and very small setlist.

The career looks to be a short one similar to Metallica so expect to breeze through this one without much trouble or time. One big positive is that so far I am really enjoying the setlist. Not only the Van Halen songs which are a blast to play but the other artist songs which are much more fun to play compared to the extra songs on GH: Metallica. This of course is a personal opinion.

Van Halen fans will be upset to know that Sammy does not make an appearance and that includes any of the songs the band released during his stint with the band. What you get are Van Halen as they appear today right down to Eddies son on the base. Not a deal breaker but because of the bands long rocky history you get none of hte story telling or band career that both Aerosmith and Metallica got. It really is more of a track pack with a slight VH touch than a full fledged game.

The game comes packed with the Music Studio which was upgraded in GH5 so once again this version takes a step back. Online seems to mirror Metallica which is fine for playing online but a pain when it comes to stats and other important online elements.

Visually it seems on par with Aerosmith of a couple years ago which is too bad. In Metallica you could tell that the band was involved and the Neversoft team captured their every move. This was documented on the game. So far I have yet to see anything but boring animations and no sign of behing the game or other special areas for fans of the band.

Bottom line is that this game is worth about $30 tops if you are not a massive fan of the band. It plays well and has a solid setlist but the lack of GH5 engine and other features that have been in past GH games explains why Activision was willing to give this away to anyone buying GH5 in the first month.

Written by :

U2NUMB

 

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Ethan

Instant Impressions: Guitar Hero: Van Halen Oct 08 2009 20:42:31 A quick question, if you pre-ordered Guitar Hero 5, do you have to message Gamestop to get them to send you your GH: Van Halen, or does the game automatically ship to you?

#13455

U2NUMB

Instant Impressions: Guitar Hero: Van Halen Oct 09 2009 12:08:47 Nope, you have to send in a number of things to prove that you bought a copy of GH5. They have a website describing everything and where you sign up for the program. I can't seem to find the link right now. But you need a copy of your receipt, the stick from the front of the GH5 game that says you get GH VH free and also after signing up at the site the paper that they print out for you.

#13466

Ethan

Instant Impressions: Guitar Hero: Van Halen Oct 13 2009 20:11:15 What if you pre-ordered it online like me? Do you have to print out the pre order confirmation? Is it too late? *proceeds to pray that it isn't*

#13525