After Activision acquired RedOctane and the Guitar Hero franchise in 2006, Harmonix was purchased by publisher MTV Games for $175 million. In 2007, Harmonix released Rock Band. The game was a critical and commercial success, and it sparked an immediate rivalry with Guitar Hero. Soon, kids of the 2000's were arguing over which game was better, very much like how kids argued over Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat the decade prior.
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Start a Band, Rock the World: A Rock Band Retrospective
After Activision acquired RedOctane and the Guitar Hero franchise in 2006, Harmonix was purchased by publisher MTV Games for $175 million. In 2007, Harmonix released Rock Band. The game was a critical and commercial success, and it sparked an immediate rivalry with Guitar Hero. Soon, kids of the 2000's were arguing over which game was better, very much like how kids argued over Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat the decade prior.
Saturday, March 13, 2021
From Zero to Hero: A Guitar Hero Retrospective
Back in the 2000's, Harmonix made a name for themselves with rhythm-based titles like Frequency and Amplitude. Their gameplay made them a hit with the critics, and word of mouth led them to become cult classics. Meanwhile, hardware manufacturer RedOctane wanted to make a game with a guitar controller after seeing the success of Konami's Guitar Freaks in Japan.
This led to a partnership with Harmonix, and the result was 2005's Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero was both a critical and commercial hit. Non-gamers were appealed by the idea of being able to rock out to music's greatest rock tunes, and for five years, rhythm games dominated the market, until the genre died from over saturation and declining sales.
For now, let's go into the closet, dust off the plastic instruments, and journey back to the late 2000's with a retrospective on Guitar Hero and its many sequels.
Guitar Hero (2005)
Using the plastic guitar, you strum the notes as they scroll down the screen. Four difficulties ranging from easy to expert increase the amount of notes to play and buttons to use. The guitar has five colored buttons. These are green, red, yellow, blue, and orange. On easy, you use the first three buttons. On medium, you use four, and on hard and expert, you use all five buttons.
It's simple to learn, difficult to master. A rock meter on the right keeps track of how well you're playing. If you're doing good, the notch goes green. If it's on yellow, you're doing alright, but if it's red, there's a likelihood you'll fail the song and need to restart. Your score and current multiplier are on the left side of the note chart.
When you see star-shaped notes, that's a chance to earn star power. Star power doubles your score multiplier and lets your character wow the audience with a gravity-defying guitar trick. It's also a lifesaver if you find yourself teetering into the red.
Performing well earns you cash. The higher your rating, the more money you earn. Cash is used to unlock new characters, guitars, and making-of videos. The bonus songs feature tunes from at-the-time contemporary artists, as well as musicians who are also Harmonix employees.
While shredding is fun, it's not perfect. While the game introduces the core idea we know and love, it lacks a lot of refinements and improvements found in the sequels. For starters, there's no calibration. If you don't own an old-school TV, it's impossible to play the first game on an HDTV proper. Secondly, doing hammer-ons and pull-offs is archaic.
From Guitar Hero II and onwards, hammer-ons are done by strumming the normal note then tapping the white note following it. In Guitar Hero, hammer-ons are done by strumming the normal note then tapping the white note while holding the note you strummed. I thought I was missing hammer-ons because of no calibration, but it turns out I was doing them wrong. It's an outdated system that makes playing harder than it should be.
Guitar Hero is also shallow. Career is nothing but playing setlists. With only six venues, it's a short game. Multiplayer is a basic one-on-one where you and a friend trade riffs. The biggest sin is the lack of a practice mode. There are tutorials and that's it. While Guitar Hero is not too challenging, some of the later songs like "Bark at the Moon" or "Ace of Spades" are a bit taxing. Combine no practice mode with a clunky hammer-on system and expect to have a tough time.
Guitar Hero's cartoonish art style gives the game personality. The characters are modeled after different rock styles and have their own special animations when star power is activated. The locations are also diverse. You start off in the basement of someone's house, then move on to clubs, a theater, an outdoor venue, and finally a giant arena.
The setlist features a decent variety of well-established artists and lesser-known acts. Judas Priest, the Ramones, Sum 41, Queen, and Blue Oyster Cult are featured, but instead of using the original recordings, they're covers. This makes since you are playing in a cover band. Some covers are better than others, but I appreciate the effort put into them.
While the first Guitar Hero has its importance, it's tough to recommend. Many features like practice mode and the ability to play encores are missing. You can't play the game proper on modern televisions since it lacks calibration options. It can be fun and there's some great tunes to rock out to, but newcomers will want to jump to the second one.
Final Score: 6/10
Guitar Hero II (2006)
Guitar Hero was a success, going on to sell 1.53 million copies in its lifetime. Knowing Activision, a sequel was greenlit.
Guitar Hero II blows the original out of the water in almost every way. Improved gameplay, practice mode, calibration, and featuring music by Buckethead is one of a few reasons why this sequel is so good. It takes what the original did, fixes the problems, introduces some new ideas, and comes out as a satisfying product.
Career mode is the same as before. After naming your band and choosing a character, you set out to become the biggest name in rock. Instead of playing a series of setlists, career has a proper sense of progression. Little vignettes after each venue show the band traveling cross country in different vehicles. First, in a risky-dink truck, then a van, then a bus, and so on.
Each venue has four songs to play. Once completed, you close out the gig with an encore. Like in the first game, the better your performance, the more cash you earn. Money unlocks an assortment of goodies, including music, characters, guitars, and alternate outfits to dress your rock star with. Three new characters were added to the roster, including Lars Umlaut, Eddie Knox, and Casey Lynch.
Gameplay has many quality-of-life improvements. Hammer-ons aren't annoying to play. After you strum the note, you tap the follow-up note without holding the previous button. This turns hammer-ons into a hassle-free mechanic. Introduced in the sequel are triple notes. These are only in Hard or Expert and require the player to press three buttons at the same time.
Fortunately, the newly added practice mode lets players practice songs giving them a hard time. You can tweak the song speed and choose which sections to play to figure out the best way to beat the song. As they say, practice makes perfect.
Guitar Hero II retains the original's cartoony, rock art style. Characters' clothing and personalities reflect their musical tastes, and the venues are diverse, ranging from high school gyms to Stonehenge. The soundtrack is a step up from before and is an excellent selection. Personal favorites include "Surrender," "Rock This Town," "YYZ," "Last Child," and "John the Fisherman." There's even music from Strong Bad of all things.
Guitar Hero II is a solid sequel. It plays better, has a diverse selection of modes and music, and is an all-around great experience. It's harder, yes, but the inclusion of practice mode mitigates the frustration. It set a foundation later entries would refine and expand, but if you ask me, this was the series at its best.
Final Score: 8/10
Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (2007)
In late 2006, Activision purchased RedOctane and the Guitar Hero series. Harmonix had been planning a third entry, but it was scrapped after the deal. Before parting ways, the studio developed a 360 port of the second game featuring new songs and DLC, as well as Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, an 80's-focused re-skin of the second game.
Guitar Hero Encore is a great idea, but the execution is half-assed. It retains the excellent gameplay, but despite its title, it doesn't take advantage of the premise. With only 30 songs, six characters, and not much else, this game is wasted potential.
At least the setlist is good. The selection encompasses a lot of genres prominent during the decade, including new wave, hair metal, glam rock, and punk. The redesigned characters look nice, though the other bandmates didn't receive the same makeover, neither did the venues.
Overall, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s is best skipped. It isn't bad, but it doesn't do the decade justice.
Also, why is the solo in "Bang Your Head" absent? Inexcusable!
Final Score: 5/10
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2007)
After acquiring Guitar Hero, Activision handed the series to Neversoft. Neversoft was known for the Tony Hawk games, as well as the under appreciated western Gun. The developers stated they were fans of Guitar Hero and would play the games during downtime at the office. When Guitar Hero III released in late 2007, it did so to critical praise and monumental sales.
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Why Licensed Games Deserve Better
On March 2, Aliens Fireteam was announced. The upcoming co-op shooter is one of many games based on licensed properties announced over the last few months. Currently, games based off James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Evil Dead are in the works. While it's great to see our favorite film franchises receive new games, licensed games always miss more than they hit.
For every Goldeneye, Alien Isolation, or King Kong: The Game, there's an Aliens: Colonial Marines, Marvel's Avengers, and 007 Legends. In theory, making a great licensed game shouldn't be a problem, especially with the technology game developers have access to. History proves otherwise.
Unlike movies, video games aren't constrained by a runtime. They can take the world and characters a film explores in two hours and expand upon it. The best licensed games are the ones that take advantage of their source material to create something worthwhile, or even better, an original story.
For example, James Bond. While Goldeneye 007 is considered a classic, I think James Bond video games hit their stride during the 2000's. Agent Under Fire, Nightfire, and Everything or Nothing are solid shooters, but they're also original adventures. Pierce Brosnan may get older, but his digital duplicate never will.
Another great example is Marvel's Spider-Man. Its based on an established character, but it takes the 60-plus years of material out there to spin its own universe and new takes on familiar faces. Newcomers can enjoy the story and be motivated to look into Spider-Man's history, while longtime fans will appreciate the nods the developers peppered in, like including multiple suits based on other incarnations of the web slinger.
However, most licensed games aren't like that. Most are cash grabs that are average at best and poorly made at worst. Movies are a business, games are a business, and companies will always find a way to make a quick buck. The easiest way to do that is with a licensed game.
In the past, it was common for a high-profile movie to receive a video game tie-in. The most well-known example is E.T. for Atari 2600. Developed in five and a half weeks by Howard Scott Warshaw, Atari anticipated it to be a holiday hit. While it sold 1.5 million copies, it didn't do as well as Atari hoped. E.T.'s financial failure, combined with declining sales in general, led to the video game crash of 1983.
Though the industry bounced back, movie tie-in games never went away. It reached a boiling point in the 2000's. You had games based on the Polar Express, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Incredibles, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, and more. This isn't accounting for games based on already-released movies, like Fight Club and Jaws Unleashed. There was almost a Taxi Driver game for Pete's sake!
Because the world was clamoring for a "Starsky and Hutch" game.
People were burnt out, especially those making them. In my interview with Jon Knoles, he told me about how LucasArts was founded to make games that had nothing to do with Star Wars, but after the prequels were announced, that's what the company became devoted to. It led to a creative burnout within the company, and its something I'm sure other studios felt. It does't help when a licensed game leads to a studio's demise. For example, developer Eurocom being shut down after 007 Legends failed critically and commercially.
The number of licensed games decreased during the 2010's. They were still around, but not as prevalent. You still had duds like the PS4 Godzilla game, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, and American Ninja Warrior, but we also had some great ones like the Batman Arkham series, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, and even Terminator Resistance.
The recent announcements got me thinking about licensed games, the troubled history, and what it takes to make a good one. While originality trumps brand recognition any day of the week, licensed titles can be enjoyable, it just takes a little effort.
There are three rules I think game developers should follow.
1. Respect the source material...but don't be afraid to take liberties
When you're creating a product based on something people love, it's important to respect the source material. At the same time, be creative. Video games are about doing things you can't do in real life, so don't worry about accuracy. If I'm playing as Godzilla, I shouldn't feel like a lumbering man in a suit slowly trudging through a set, I should feel like an unstoppable force of destruction whose fights with other monsters are spectacles of chaos and action.
2. Give Context
Not everyone who plays a licensed game is familiar with what it's based on, so do a good job at investing players in what's going on, even if they don't know who these characters are. I already mentioned Spider-Man, but another great example is the Batman Arkham games. They do a great job of doing its own thing while alluding to the expanded universe. Files, audio logs, and even solving riddles help flesh out the world of the Caped Crusader. If you don't know who the Condiment King is, at least you'll know about everyone who has been Robin.
3. Be a Good Game
It's the easiest rule to follow, but also the easiest to mess up. Games succeed or fail based on how enjoyable they are. If the story isn't interesting, the gameplay is cookie cutter, and the visuals aren't good, you're going to have a bad time. We still haven't broken free from the licensed game curse, and by now we should have. We have the tools, we have the talent, all that's missing is the effort. My hope is this new console generation gives us more great licensed games than bad ones.