The next Guitar Hero will involve a lot more than guitars. The popular music game will also come with its own set of drums, a microphone and a virtual studio that will let songwriters-in-training make their own tunes for the game. We saw Guitar Hero: World Tour in action at a recent press event, and this game's seriously going to up the ante for fans of the series.
The game's Music Studio offers separate recording channels to set up rhythms for the different instruments. Want to start with a basic drumbeat? Select from one of several pre-made beats or make your own. Simply hit the record button and wail away on whatever rhythm instrument you feel is right for your song. World Tour records several minutes of playing, then provides modification tools to make it just right. You can also set up lead, rhythm and bass guitar riffs to your liking, along with a melody track for people to sing along to. (Unfortunately, the game doesn't include an option for pre-recorded lyrics, due to copyright issues.) From there, you can create a customized album cover for your songs and upload them through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network for others to sample and play.
Creating your own album art is just the beginning. In World Tour, you also have the build your own rocker and musical instruments from scratch. Let's say you want to craft a wildly robust guitar with zebra stripes. Go for it. As for creating your own guitarist, you can modify several areas on them, such as wardrobe, hair, face textures, body sculpting and so much more. It's your call if you want to create a slender rock legend or a stubbly roadie.
Activision revealed a few new songs in the game's pre-recorded set list, all taken from the original master tracks. At this time, though, we're only allowed to reveal three, which the Neversoft crew happily played for us using the in-game instruments. Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell," the Foo Fighters' "Everlong" and Sublime's "Santeria" are available in the selection menu, and other tracks from Van Halen, the Eagles, Linkin Park and others will also be made available upon the game's release.
Now let's talk about the instruments. The microphone appears to be similar in design to Harmonix's Rock Band model (except this one is made by Logitech), with a plug-in cord and a round design that looks as if it'll easily fit into a stand. Activision confirmed that the peripheral is wireless, expanding your options to jump around the stage and sing to your heart's content. The drum set consists of three circular pads and two half-circle cymbal pads, all multi-colored to match the coordinating note colors on-screen. There is also a foot pedal, and it looks like it's made from very sturdy plastic. A metal pedal would be nice, but that would probably increase the cost of the set from its already expensive $180 range. It too is wireless.
Finally, there's the new guitar. It looks like a Gibson-esque model, with a little Stratocaster design thrown in for good measure. It fits nicely into a player's hands, just as previous Activision guitar models do. Along with being wireless, this guitar model also comes with a new slider bar on the neck, between the fret buttons and the base. Utilizing this touch-sensitive bar allows you to mod the sound of your guitar to produce various effects, which come in handy during particular songs. It also gives you easier access to the fret buttons, just in case you're trying to hit a "tricky" part of a song and can't nail every button at once. Although we weren't able to get hands-on with the actual model (it was eyes-on only), it appears to be a superb modification to an already addictive music peripheral.
Thus far, World Tour looks killer, with the promise of weekly song downloads, its song creation mode and its user-friendly peripherals. It may be a little pricey, but the amount of rocking you'll get out of the game should more than make up for it. Look for hands-on impressions over the next few months, right here at RockDaily...er, we mean GameDaily.
Related Links
Guitar Hero: World Tour Xbox 360 Game Guide
Guitar Hero: World Tour Wii Game Guide
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