Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock recently hit store shelves from Activision. This year’s version of the annual Guitar Hero franchise features an all new quest mode, social networking features, the biggest track list on a Guitar Hero game to date and much more. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a solid title that is built on a solid formula, however, the developers didn’t bother to innovate much and, for some people, that is going to be a problem. It is hard to keep a series fresh when it is an annual title and Guitar Hero is no exception.

One way that Neversoft tried to freshen things up for this year’s iteration is the all new Quest Mode. This is where you fill find the story of the game and it is where you need to recruit Warriors and claim the Legendary Guitar to free the Demigod of Rock and defeat the Beast. You start out with the regular cast of characters for Guitar Hero with Judy Nails, Casey Lynch, Lars Umlaut and more. You need to essentially unlock their warrior spirit, however, you must prove that you are worthy before that happens. The way that you do that is by rocking out on stage and getting as many stars as you can for your performance. Once you receive the required amount of stars your character will change into his or her warrior form and then you will have to pass one final song with them. Assuming that you pass the final song you will be set for that particular character. You then move on to the next character and do the same thing. Going through the Quest mode is also one of the ways that you will unlock items in the game. One thing that really annoyed me was that some songs weren’t readily available. I don’t know what the development team was thinking with that decision. If you want your customers to be able to play as many songs as they can, and actually invest some time into the game itself, you shouldn’t put up arbitrary roadblocks that are going to stand in the way of them having a good time with the game.

Quickplay+ makes its return this year where you can rock out solo or with a group of friends. It is essentially the “exhibition” mode for this title, although, you will unlock items in this mode too, depending on how much time you spend with it. Each song will boast up to 13 star challenges, allowing you to gain over 480 stars to max out your Rock Rank which can unlock characters, art, video galleries and more. This is also where you can create and store your own playlists, play your downloadable content and disc import tracks and post your high scores for the Star Challenges. In addition to Quickplay+ there is also Party Play. This mode is where you can simply concentrate on having a good time with your friends and not worrying about failing out of a song. Up to four players can jump in or out at any given time which makes it really flexible and easy to use. For the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero you can even rock out with your Avatars on stage.

If you are more of a competitive type of player you will have all of the various modes such as the Pro Face-Off, Momentum, Band vs Band, Perfectionist and more. You can play with up to four people locally or eight people online. If you are one of those creative types you can also try your hand at creating your own music. Utilizing the Guitar Hero Studio you can use the Guitar Hero guitar and drums to create your very own songs. If you aren’t one of those people who like to create music you can also go on to the Guitar Hero Studio store and download music that other gamers have created. There are literally thousands of songs from you to choose from so you shouldn’t run out of music to play and/or listen to.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a sold title. I had fun playing it and that’s really all I can ask for. With that said, there are going to be some people that are disappointed that Neversoft didn’t try to push the envelope with anything. The Quest mode is definitely new, however, if you aren’t in to Guitar Hero or the type of music that is in the game, that will probably get old really quick. If you take the time to try and enjoy everything that Warriors of Rock offers then you should walk away with a fun experience. If you are an existing fan of the series than you should find some enjoyment here. If you don’t really care about music and rhythm games then this probably won’t be the one that changes your mind.

Score: 7/10

Originally posted on Totally Gaming Network