Return of Guitar Hero and Rock Band

It was announced yesterday that Guitar Hero, alongside the previously confirmed Rock Band, will be rising from its slumber of the past few years to rock our world again.

Well, hopefully...


As they were doing near the end of the series first time round Activision are setting the track list to appeal to as many people as possible, which is fair enough as it does need to sell and make money, but it can also have the affect of putting people off like myself. Looking at the current list of bands only two would appeal to me (The Rolling Stones and Green Day) and that is only if it's the earlier stuff, if not well I'll be giving them a miss.

Don't get me wrong I think it's good that the series is coming back as it can be a lot of fun solo or with friends but a lot of that is dependant on the set list.

Looking at the positives though it does look like it could be a really good game. Instead of rehashing what came before it looks like a complete overhaul has been given. The guitar itself and the way that it is to be played looks good and the way that the crowd will interact depending on how you are playing also looks good, providing that it doesn't get repetitive.

One big difference between the new Guitar Hero and Rock Band games will be backward compatibility. Activision have already announced that GHL will not be compatible with previous instruments or tracks/games whilst Harmonix have said that they are attempting to do both.

Will the games succeed? I hope so and it's a good possibility. The main games have been dormant for around four years now so the time is ripe for a comeback. I just hope that unlike last time they don't over satuate the market with new main games, as good as they may be.