Activision’s never ending exploitation of the Guitar Hero series makes it difficult to get excited about each new release. Neversoft seems to have realised the danger in this, and has set out to add useful features and fix longstanding issues in Guitar Hero 5. It still smells like Guitar Hero (with a little Teen Spirit thrown in), but the latest entrant is much more polished than its predecessors.

Guitar Hero 5’s track list features more than 85 songs, including Cold Play, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones. There’s old, new, light and heavy stuff, though the track list isn’t as instantly recognisable as World Tour’s. You can import a limited number of tracks from World Tour and Greatest Hits for a small fee and all DLC from [i]World Tour is available – two features that should have been supported a long time ago.



There are also a number of famous rockers lending their likenesses to the game – Carlos Santana, Johnny Cash and Shirley Manson to name a few. Nirvana fans are likely to take exception to seeing Kurt Cobain singing Bon Jovi songs and bouncing around like an idiot while rapping like Flava Flav. I imagine he’s rolling over in his grave so fast that he’s turned into some sort of mole drill. Players can also use their Xbox Avatars in place of regular band members.

Guitar Hero 5 has been built with social play in mind. You can launch straight into a song from the menu using any combination of instruments, which is useful if nobody in your drunken party can sing. Players can drop in and out on a whim, or change instruments in the middle of a track. Rockfest mode lets players compete on songs with a variety of stipulations, like eliminating the lowest scoring player after each section of a track, or forcing a player to sit out a section after missing non-consecutive three notes.

Another neat addition is song specific challenges, where players are given a task to complete for bonus stars. These challenges usually apply to a particular instrument or the whole band; players may be required to whammy for a certain number of seconds on holds, nail consecutive phrases on the mic or play a track using only up-strums on the bass. Performances in challenges are rated as gold, platinum and diamond once the goal is reached – the better the rating, the more stars you get.



Many minor improvements have been made to the game’s interface and basic gameplay. The interface has been redesigned for all instruments, and the horrible Star Power bulb meter has been replaced. The note tracks are a lot more rhythmic when compared to the button spam of the third and fourth games. There’s a few new things added to band play too, like Band Moments where extra points are rewarded when all players nail a section of a track, and Band Revival, where remaining players can bring back an eliminated band mate by playing well.

Guitar Hero 5 has the polish and features that have long been missing from the series. The improved interface and more party friendly play options are very welcome changes, but we think a little more respect is required when dealing with the animations of deceased musicians.