Being the most impatient person alive I decided not to wait in the never ending line for Rock Band 2 and checked out the Guitar Hero World Tour booth. Smack-talkers Activision/Neversoft had four mini-stages set up so getting a chance to play the game wasn’t a problem at all. Of course everyone wanted to try out the new drums so I had to win a game of sudden death rock-paper-scissors to be the drummer for my makeshift band. Always start off with rock by the way, never scissors.
The first thing I noticed once the drum solo for Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher kicked off is how hard it is to transition from the Rock Band drum kit to GHWT’s. Unlike the four-pad paradigm the GHWT drums have five pads; three lower pads (red, blue, green) and two elevated cymbals (yellow and orange). I felt almost completely lost but that isn’t a knock against the new drum kit;I’m sure if I had about thirty minutes with the game I’d get used to them. They do feel extremely solid which is satisfying for someone like me who’s on their second set of RB drums. The were pretty quiet as well. The velocity sensitive pads are a nice addition too especially since the game gives you more points for playing certain notes louder.
My only gripe: the cymbals are no fun. They’re too rigid! When I’m pretending to be Dave Grohl I want my crash cymbal to quiver like a little girl after I give them a good beating. They don’t move at all so it takes away from the sweet realism that could have been.
As for the actual game, it’s really just Rock Band with a coat of that familiar “why-is-my-character’s-jaw-so-hideously-large?” paint on it. No, really. If I came home ass-drunk off Jose Cuervo I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. But then again when I get drunk off tequila I usually can’t tell the difference between Jessica Biel and Ellen Degeneres, so maybe I shouldn’t be talking. The GHTunes and song creation mode weren’t shown at PAX so yeah, GHWT was basically Rock Band but with round notes. Right down to the boxart.
Sadly, I ended up failing the song on Medium. MEDIUM! Hopefully no one saw me crying in a corner of the PAX floor.
- Chu Boi
1 Comment on “Hands, err, Drums On: Guitar Hero World Tour”
[...] been cursing his name out of jealousy. Here are his previews for Left 4 Dead, Mirror’s Edge, Guitar Hero World Tour , and Gears of War 2. - EA is bugging out and moving release dates forward… who does that?!? - [...]
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.