Guitar Hero: Smash Hits performs all the basic functions of an artist's hits compilation, complete with misty-eyed nostalgia for diehard fans, but the core component has been fleshed out and remixed with the best of them. Yeah, it's definitely a shameless grab for cash, but I don't really care about that when I'm shredding out that "Free Bird" solo like it's 2006.

Game Details			Loading Reality Scoring
Format	Xbox 360 (all 360 reviews)		Score Meaning: Slightly above average. There is nothing incredibly special about it, but there are enough good qualities to make it worth a look for fans of the genre.
Publisher	RedOctane
Developer	Beenox Studios
Category	Music		Presentation
ESRB	T		Gameplay
Online Players	8		Graphics
Offline Players	4		Sound
Price	59.99		Value Factor
Release Date	June 16, 2009		Final Score

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits

At first, the comparison seems almost comically easy. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits IS the equivalent of an artist's greatest hits disc, right? A collection of moderate hits that most fans are displeased with because "that one song" isn't anywhere to be found? On the surface, yes, that's all Smash Hits amounts to, but there's more at work here than you'll see at first glance.

Moving forward from Guitar Hero: Metallica, it's an absolute godsend to see that Beenox has ditched the utterly atrocious layout Neversoft shat out for that game. No longer is your difficulty a setting, no longer do your stats evaporate after you perform and no longer can you pass the game half-assedly. Bless you guys for restoring peace and order to my plastic universe.

The obvious hook here is that you can play "your favorites" from past Guitar Heroes as a full band. For a diehard like me, I must admit, the offering of vocals for a Queen song falls just short of intoxicating. However, for the game to work entirely in that capacity the songlist must be top notch. And it's not.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have certain selections; "Godzilla", "Stellar" and "Bark at the Moon" all surprised me by only being more punched up since the original Guitar Hero. But for the most part, I end up disappointed. Where in the hell, for instance, is "Sweet Child 'O Mine"? I honestly want a press release detailing why Red Octane allowed that to be omitted and "Freya" to be left on the disc. "Barracuda" has one of the most epic vocal tracks in the world, but for everything else it's a complete snoozer, so why not choose "Crazy On You" from GHII instead? I'm especially displeased with the GHIII and 80's choices. Notable exclusions include "Paint It Black", "Welcome to the Jungle", "My Name Is Jonas", "Cliffs of Dover", "One", "Holy Diver" and "Wrathchild". What'd we get in return? Pat Benatar.

Still, with that above paragraph nearly damning the game beyond hope, I can't stress how much nostalgic fun I have with Smash Hits. There's something that (oh God, forgive me) hits the right notes for me about playing through these songs again... it's like seeing old friends. Old friends gussied up with new charts, that is. Beenox should be commended: it's their first time charting songs and they do it excellently, actually improving some of Harmonix's crustier tracks from 1 and 2. Gone are the days of Harmonix being the only one who puts out "real" note charts; these guys can compete.

Take the aforementioned career mode: in Metallica you could pass a single venue of 6 songs by simply playing 2 of them. It was done so you could get through the career and unlock songs rapidly, but what it did was effectively strip the game of any tension and excitement. Now we've returned to what is almost the classic mode. You are allowed to skip one song (if you've kept up with getting enough stars per song), but the catch is if you don't play everything in a venue, the encore won't unlock... and the encores are often the best songs available. As someone who hasn't played through a console GH since III, returning to this was comfort food at its best.

Of course, if you aren't a crazy, hardcore Guitar Hero or Rock Band fan like I am, then you may just look at this as a collection of songs. Without any previous knowledge of setlists and the mad frenzy of the game that could have been, this is an excellent newbie catch-all. Most of the songs here are good-to-great and will keep a party going nicely. And that's really all most Guitar Hero fans could ask for.

3 / 5

Written by :

Aaron

 

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