Guitar Hero: Van Halen

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Guitar Hero: Van Halen
North American boxart
Developer(s)	Underground Development, Neversoft, Budcat Creations
Publisher(s)	Activision
Series	Guitar Hero (expansions)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA December 22, 2009[1] EU February 19, 2010[2] AUS February 17, 2010[3]
Genre(s)	Rhythm
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T OFLC: M
Media	DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Wii Optical Disc
Input methods	Guitar controller, drum controller, microphone, gamepad, Wii Remote

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is the third band-specific rhythm video game in the Guitar Hero series. As with the previous games Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: Metallica, the game features 25 songs from Van Halen along with 19 additional songs from selected artists that have been inspired by the group. The game was released in retail for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii systems on December 22, 2009, in North America, and in February 2010 for PAL regions.^[3][2] However, as part of a promotion with Guitar Hero 5, the game was shipped to Guitar Hero 5 purchasers in North America prior to its retail release. The game content was developed by Underground Development, with the primary engine code developed by Neversoft and Budcat Creations. The game is published by Activision Blizzard. The game has received mostly negative reviews from critics, most of which consider the game's quality to be greatly inferior to its predecessor, Guitar Hero: Metallica and other games of the series. The critics identified the lack of former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Gary Cherone, the limited tracks selected from Van Halen's discography, the selection of other tracks included in the game, and the general lack of features introduced in the previous band-centric games and Guitar Hero 5.

[edit] Development

While the game was formally announced by Activision on May 7, 2009,^[4] several sources reported earlier that Van Halen was in development. USK, the German software ratings board, posted a content rating for a Van Halen-based game in the series,^[5] GameStop temporarily listed the game for pre-order during the month of April,^[6] and a list of Xbox 360 Achievements was posted to the Internet in early May.^[7]

For the month of September 2009, people that purchased or preordered Guitar Hero 5 in the US were able to redeem a code with the game to receive a free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen prior to its retail release.^[8] These copies began arriving to customers in early October for Playstation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii players,^[9] while the PlayStation 3 version was delayed due to a printing error.^[10] The game's cover art was slightly changed to note that it was promotional only. The game comes in a cardboard sleeve.

[edit] Gameplay

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is similar to the preceding band-centric game, Guitar Hero: Metallica, featuring support for four players in a single band on lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The game does not feature the additions that are present in Guitar Hero 5, such as drop-in/drop-out play.^[11]

Only the current members of the band—Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen—are playable avatars in the game for the Van Halen songs; former band members Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Gary Cherone are not included.^[11][12][13] The band is represented by their current looks, but by completing challenges in the game, players can unlock their older appearances from the "spandex era […] with the big hair and tight pants"; these outfits are also included for Wolfgang Van Halen who was not yet born during that period of the band's history.^[11][14] Wolfgang will have an outfit that is based on Michael Anthony.^[15] User-created characters can be used to play non-Van Halen songs in the game.^[11]

A demo of the game was released to Xbox Live on December 9, 2009, featuring two Van Halen songs, "Eruption" and "Panama", along with Weezer's "Dope Nose" and Killswitch Engage's "The End of Heartache".^[16]

[edit] Soundtrack

Like the other band-centric Guitar Hero games, Guitar Hero: Van Halen includes 25 songs from the band Van Halen, including 3 guitar solos by Eddie Van Halen, in addition to 19 guest acts.^[4] The Van Halen songs in the game are taken during the time when David Lee Roth was in the band, and do not include any works during the period that Sammy Hagar was a band member;^[14] Activision's head of music licensing, Tim Riley, notes that the lack of such material was not due to any demands or requests made by David Lee Roth.^[17] Riley also stated that most of the guest acts were selected by Wolfgang Van Halen, at the suggestion of Roth.^[17] The following songs are included in the game:^[1][11][12]

[edit] Reception

Early reviews of the promotional version of the game received as part of the Guitar Hero 5 before its retail launch were negative of the game. IGN's Eric Brudvig rated the game a 4.9/10, citing problems with the lack of relevance of Van Halen relative to the culture of the 2000s, including having their avatars based on their older appearance rather than of that during the 80s, the lack of songs from Sammy Hagar's period in the band, and the lack of features since introduced with Guitar Hero 5, and ultimately saying those that got the game free through the promotion "got what they paid for".^[21] Robert Workman of Game Daily was less critical of the title, but still noted that the game lacked features including some mention of Hagar and Gary Cherone and songs from their period with the band, and felt that the title was below the quality of Guitar Hero: Metallica.^[22] Both Brudvig and Workman commented positively on the sound recordings and the note tracking of the Van Halen songs.^[21][22]

Guitar Hero: Van Halen reviews following its release were similarly negative. Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica considered the game's limited coverage of the band's history to be "a sadly revisionist and dishonest take", and felt that the non-Van Halen songs clashed with the band's own material. Kuchera further points to Activision's distribution strategy for the game, with the free copies given with Guitar Hero 5, as a means of undermining any confidence Activision may have had for the game.^[23] Philip Horton of The Telegraph was critical on the failure of the game's set list, the band's modern appearance, and lack any additional extras compared with either the previous band-centric games or Guitar Hero 5, and considered the game "the weakest offering in the series to date".^[24] Kate Carter of The Guardian commented that the game is "neither one thing or the other", as it neither succeeds at bringing anything new to the Guitar Hero series nor fully gives tribute to the band.^[25]

Guitar Hero: Van Halen sold less than 75,000 units across all platforms in North America from December 22 to 31, 2009, according to NPD Group.^[26]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Van-Halen.com - Official site of Van Halen
• Guitar Hero: Van Halen - Official Site