‘Guitar Hero Live’ Review: Back and Different, But Still Awesome

“Guitar Hero Live” is polarizing. If you’ve never experienced the game before, you’ll quickly want to run back and play all of the old games in the series. However, for many hardcore fans unwilling to embrace change, “Guitar Hero Live” feels like something completely foreign.

Regardless, it’s still one of the deepest games in the series and one, thanks to the immersive new “Guitar Hero TV” gameplay mode, changes things completely, in the best way possible.

This is the thing- although it takes some time to get used to, with a new six-button guitar and brand new look, “Guitar Hero Live” is rooted in what makes the series wonderful. Incredibly tough on the difficulty levels higher than casual, “Guitar Hero Live” will challenge all those old fans of the series in ways they don’t expect. It’s fair to say that they’ll have to basically learn how to play all over again. As a result, some veteran players may be hesitant to get into the game at first, but after a few songs, that same feeling you used to get from a perfect score is still there.

Amid all of the changes, “Guitar Hero Live” is still a game from the “Guitar Hero” series. You’ll never forget that during playing. Just like the older games in the series, you’ll be introduced to music you’ve never heard before and plenty of favorites from a variety of genres and time periods. With a solid story mode and a Netflix-esque live mode that features 24/7 programming, it’s easy to say that it’s one of the most comprehensive guitar-based rhythm game ever created.

Although it’s easy to see how one could spend a small fortune paying for “plays” in the GHTV mode and access in quickplay mode to just less than 50 songs hurts the overall fun, it’s free to just jump in and start playing whatever videos are on the channel. It’s also worth noting that you never have to spend a dime to play unless you want access to content- when you want it. Since its creation, the Guitar Hero series has been about discovering new music and this is quite possibly the strongest element of “Guitar Hero Live.” There’s so many songs that there’s no way to just play for one song and leave. A devourer of time, “Guitar Hero TV” is great by yourself and even more fun with friends.

What does hurt however is the inability to upload gameplay or broadcast it via Twitch. Games like this that thrive on competition and high scores are meant to be played online. With no way to share the experience on the web, it’s a much more insular experience than you’d expect. Score tracking and playing online is fun and connecting to GHTV is fluid with little lag, but it would have been so much cooler to share your experiences via gameplay on the web, with friends.

Speaking of time with friends, the added microphone is more of a novelty than anything else. More of a way to bring in another friend, there’s no way to exclusively just sing. As a matter of fact, it’s impossible to start the game up unless you have a controller plugged in. That, in its own way, does more explanation of what this game is supposed to be. It’s not “Rock Band.” It’s “Guitar Hero.”

However, gone forever are the cartoony visuals synonymous with the series, replaced by real-life bands and crowds. The end result is a loss of the nostalgia of the previous console and a brand new experience. When you’re playing well, the crowds will sing along with the track and your bandmates will smile and cheer you on to. When you play poorly, you’ll see signs in the crowd change and the faces of your bandmates are ones you’d expect from your parents when you came home late from a party and didn’t call. As a result, there’s not many games that’ll get you this excited while playing. Although the faces from the band are corny and over-the-top at times, you’ll connect with the crowds, who appear to be looking right at you. It’s a feeling that you’ve never experienced before in any rhythm game.

As a result, “Guitar Hero Live” is the closest thing a couch potato can do to feel like a rockstar. With an awesome new mode in “Guitar Hero TV” and a massive setlist, “Guitar Hero Live” is a mammoth of an experience that takes the series in a bold new direction.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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