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Classic tracks, band gameplay. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is the latest game in the “Guitar Hero: World Tour” meaning that it plays identically to World Tour and Metallica not unlike what Encore: Rock the 80s did for Guitar Hero II and Aerosmith did for Guitar Hero III. Smash Hits takes the classic songs of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s and wraps it around the gameplay of World Tour and the improvements of Metallica.
As expected for a Guitar Hero game, the track list is a key component. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits offers nearly 50 songs with an emphasis (33 songs) on songs from Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II, which makes sense since Guitar Hero was never released for current-generation consoles and Guitar Hero II was only released for the Xbox 360. Songs from Guitar Hero I and II include Danzig’s "Mother,” Franz Ferdinand’s "Take Me Out,” Kansas’ "Carry On Wayward Son,” Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ "I Love Rock N' Roll,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s "Free Bird,” Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box,” Ozzy Osbourne’s "Bark At The Moon,” Queen’s “Killer Queen,” The Donnas’ "Take It Off,” and Wolfmother’s "Woman.” Other songs include Rock the 80s’ Judas Priest’s "Electric Eye,” and Twisted Sister’s "I Wanna Rock,” Guitar Hero III’s DragonForce’s "Through The Fire And Flames,” Kiss’ "Rock And Roll All Nite,” and Pat Benatar’s "Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” Even Aerosmith’s “Back in the Saddle” is included from that band’s games. As you can tell, it’s an epic set list. The songs, which were originally chosen for their guitar component, are all a blast to play on vocals or drums and perfect for parties.
Many of the improvements introduced in Guitar Hero: Metallica are also included here. This includes having every song unlocked in quickplay, requiring you to obtain a certain number of stars in career mode in order to move on (instead of having to play each song), the re-designed UI that makes it easier to see your multiplayer and success meter, and the Expert+ difficulty mode that requires the use of a second bass pedal to make things more realistic. Other changes introduced in the series like the new note charting and gentle difficulty curve are present, which is quite surprising if you previously nailed “Woman” perfectly and notice that the note chart isn’t quite what you remember.
All of the content you expect from a Guitar Hero game including singleplayer career modes for the instrument, a band career mode, a thorough character creation system, Music Studio and GHTunes support are all included, as are the expansive multiplayer options including the 8-player “Battle of the Bands” mode. The game even includes a career mode story complete with slick animated scenes to move it forward. The Wii version includes the tailored online environment Vicarious Visions introduced in Guitar Hero: World Tour, which works just as well here.
The biggest drawback with Smash Hits is that while you can access GHTunes from any of the versions, you won’t be able to import any Guitar Hero: World Tour DLC into the game or export Smash Hits’ songs into the other games. It’s possible that Activision will allow content from World Tour, Metallica and Smash Hits to be imported into Guitar Hero V but the publisher hasn’t commented on that yet.
Visually, the game looks a lot like Guitar Hero: World Tour thanks to all of the classic Guitar Hero characters with the improved animation system introduced in Metallica. The environments are all quite diverse and look great, ranging from rainforests to ice caps as you travel to the “Wonders of the World.” In terms of sound, Smash Hits rocks thanks to the inclusion of master tracks for all of the game’s tracks. Guitar Hero I and II had some questionable covers so it’s great to hear the actual master tracks in this version.
Beenox has done a great job with Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. Porting classic songs into the new engine would have been enough to sell dozens of copies but the developer went further by choosing songs that were fun to play as a band, including the master tracks, creating a story that has you playing in varied locales, and keeping all of the refinements the series has made over the years. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is an incredibly fun game and one that will definitely keep you entertained until Guitar Hero V arrives. It’s highly recommended for all platforms, but especially for Wii and PS3 owners since over half of the games haven’t appeared in those platforms at all.
Set List:
Guitar Hero
- Blue Oyster Cult - "Godzilla"
- Boston - "More Than A Feeling"
- Deep Purple - "Smoke On The Water"
- Franz Ferdinand - "Take Me Out"
- Helmet - "Unsung (Live)"
- Incubus - "Stellar"
- Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - "I Love Rock N' Roll"
- Ozzy Osbourne - "Bark At The Moon"
- Pantera - "Cowboys From Hell (Live)"
- Queen - "Killer Queen"
- Queens Of The Stone Age - "No One Knows"
- The Donnas - "Take It Off"
- The Exies - "Hey You"
- White Zombie - "Thunder Kiss '65"
Guitar Hero II
- Alice In Chains - "Them Bones"
- Avenged Sevenfold - "Beast And The Harlot"
- Danzig - "Mother"
- Foo Fighters - "Monkey Wrench"
- Iron Maiden - "The Trooper"
- Jane's Addiction - "Stop!"
- Kansas - "Carry On Wayward Son"
- Lamb Of God - "Laid To Rest"
- Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird"
- M?tley Cr?e- "Shout At The Devil"
- Nirvana - "Heart-Shaped Box"
- Rage Against The Machine - "Killing In The Name"
- Reverend Horton Heat - "Psychobilly Freakout"
- Rush - "YYZ"
- Stone Temple Pilots - "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart"
- The Police - "Message In A Bottle"
- The Sword - "Freya"
- Warrant - "Cherry Pie"
- Wolfmother - "Woman"
Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
- Anthrax - "Caught In A Mosh"
- Extreme - "Play With Me"
- Judas Priest - "Electric Eye"
- Poison - "Nothin' But A Good Time"
- Ratt - "Round and Round"
- Twisted Sister - "I Wanna Rock"
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
- AFI - "Miss Murder"
- DragonForce - "Through The Fire And Flames"
- Heart - "Barracuda"
- Kiss - "Rock And Roll All Nite"
- Living Colour - "Cult Of Personality"
- Pat Benatar - "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"
- Priestess - "Lay Down"
- Slayer - "Raining Blood"
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
- Aerosmith - "Back In The Saddle -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Jun 16, 2009
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