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Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (also known as Guitar Hero 6 or GH6) is the sixth main entry in the Guitar Hero series and was released on September 28, 2010 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii consoles. It is the last Guitar Hero game developed by Neversoft since the sales for rhythm game markets dropped rapidly from 2009.[1]

Gameplay[]

As with previous games in the series, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock lets up to four people play in a band on vocals, lead and bass guitar, and drums, to successfully match notes as they scroll down the screen. Official Xbox Magazine (UK) noted that the only change to the core gameplay appears to be the addition of a sustained open-string bass note that was lacking in Guitar Hero 5.

QuestMode-GHWOR

Quest selection screen in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

The main game mode in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is called "Quest" (or "Quest Mode"), which will be narrated to the players by Gene Simmons. Quest Mode is a type of Career where the players attempt to complete songs and challenges to advance the story and game. It is based on a story where the players of the band are attempting to release the "Demigod of Rock" and his guitar from imprisonment by "The Beast", gaining strength through bringing new members to the band. While all four instruments can be played solo in Quest Mode, or any combination of instruments can be played as a Band, the difficulty curve on any instrument is rather inconsistent, because the character order is sorted by full band difficulty and not individual instrument difficulty. For example, Lars Umlaut's set is the hardest warrior set on guitar, but not as difficult on vocals due to "Waidmann's Heil", "I'm Broken", "Dancing Through Sunday", "Bloodlines" and "Psychosocial" all having frequent talkies. Casey Lynch's following set is easier on guitar but harder on vocals.

The Quest culminates into a story section loosely based on the song "2112" by Rush, playable in its entirety within the game, where the player finds the Demi-God's guitar and uses it to overcome "The Beast". These elements will be narrated by Rush members Neil Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson using the 2112 album's original liner notes.[2][3]

GHWoR - Full band gameplay

Full band gameplay of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

Gaming journalists have noted thematic similarities between the story details of Warriors of Rock and Brütal Legend, an action video game with a world based on heavy metal developed by Tim Schafer and Double Fine. Activision at one point were to have published Brütal Legend but later dropped the rights. Project lead Brian Bright commented that their inspiration for the game's story was the covers of metal albums, the same material that led to the world of Brütal Legend.

Due to legal issues with the likenesses of musician celebrities in Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock features only fictional characters, those previously included in the series. As part of Quest, players unlock these characters by completing specific songs which can also unlock alter-egos for each character that have further influence on the game. One example is the character of Lars Umlaut, who can become "Warrior Lars" on completing his challenges, allowing for a maximum 6x scoring multiplier instead of a 4x multiplier. The game includes a perk system comparable to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, in which the player can select two of any of the unlocked play bonuses for future songs. With the combination of these bonuses, it is now possible to score up to 40 stars per song instead of the usual 5 stars. In addition, all venues are now fictional except for the now-defunct CBGB Club in New York City. Some venues are based on Rush's "2112" song, including the caves where the player finds the Demigod's guitar, and a venue based on the "Starman" emblem used on the 2112 album.

"Party Play", where the game automatically plays songs and allows for players to jump in at any time, remains in the game. "GHStudio", which is an updated Music Studio that featured in "Guitar Hero 5", still remains as well, but the GHTunes service was rebranded to "GHTracks". The game also includes an improved "Quickplay+" mode to play any of the in-game songs or downloadable content (DLC) directly. Quickplay+ mode also includes some of the features from Guitar Hero 5's Career mode, such as song challenges that are otherwise not incorporated into the Quest. Each song, both on-disc and downloadable content, has thirteen different challenges to be completed. Players have the opportunity to use the unlocked the Warrior form of the game's characters within Quickplay+ mode in order to take advantage of their gameplay benefits as necessary to complete some of these challenges. The competitive modes introduced in Guitar Hero 5 also carry over into Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The Wii version improves the "Roadie" game version introduced in Guitar Hero 5. In this mode, up to four additional players with their own Nintendo DS wirelessly connected to the Wii (the "Roadies") can assist the other players using instrument controllers. The Roadies can create setlists from the DS, or engage in gameplay through "spells" that improve the performance of the player they are assigned to. Alternatively, in Roadie Battle mode, the Roadies can attempt to distract another player while at the same time removing the distractions placed on their player by another Roadie.

Characters[]

During Quest mode, the player takes on certain characters' story through their journey as the characters go through their warrior transformation, acquiring new abilities, to save the Demi-God of Rock and fight against "The Beast". Characters playable and transformable during Quest mode are Johnny Napalm, Echo Tesla (a newcomer), Judy Nails, Austin Tejas (another new character), Lars Umlaut, Casey Lynch, and finally Axel Steel. The warriors fight against "The Beast"—the "Scourge of Rock"—and free the Demi-God of Rock for one final performance with the toughest of songs in the game.

Besides the main Quest characters, other characters unlockable and playable in the game for Quickplay+ use are Eddie Knox (at Rank 13), Izzy Sparks (at Rank 28), Clive Winston (at Rank 43), newcomer Minotaur (at Rank 58), Metalhead, and the special guest character Arthas Menethil in his Lich King form (along with his Frostmorne "guitar" at Rank 71) from the Warcraft franchise.

There are no characters based on real-life musicians in the game due to ongoing legal issues with the likenesses of musician celebrities in Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero.[2]

Soundtrack[]

Main article: Setlist in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

The game's setlist features 93 licensed songs songs and 17 premade GHTracks examples (4 new ones along with Guitar Hero 5's and Band Hero's GHTunes example songs) for a total of 110 playable songs on disc. Project director Brian Bright stated that the soundtrack for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is "more focused on rock 'n' roll" than the variety of genres within Guitar Hero 5. All previous downloadable content that was playable in Guitar Hero 5 or Band Hero is compatible with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, allowing for more than 300 tracks to be available to players at launch.

Trivia[]

  • Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is the first home console Guitar Hero video game not to be released for the PlayStation 2 home console, followed by Guitar Hero Live.

References[]

v · t · eGames of the Guitar Hero series
Console games
Main series games Guitar Hero · Guitar Hero II · Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock · Guitar Hero World Tour · Guitar Hero 5 · Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock · Guitar Hero Live
Expansion games Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s · Guitar Hero: Smash Hits · Band Hero (main page)
Band-centric games Guitar Hero: Aerosmith · Guitar Hero: Metallica · Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Portable games
Guitar Hero: On Tour series Guitar Hero: On Tour · Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades · Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits
Guitar Hero Mobile series Guitar Hero III Mobile · Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass · Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile · Guitar Hero 5 Mobile · Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass · Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Mobile
Other games Band Hero (NDS) · Guitar Hero (iOS) · Guitar Hero Live (iOS)
Electronic toys Guitar Hero Carabiner · Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker · Kellogg's Guitar Hero promotional toys · Guitar Hero 2nd Edition Carabiner
Miscellaneous games and apps
Arcade games Guitar Hero Arcade
Cancelled games Guitar Hero 4 (NDS) · Guitar Hero Greatest Hits (NDS) · Guitar Hero 7 · DJ Hero 3D
Companion apps Guitar Hero VIP Pass (X360) · Guitar Hero Live Companion (iOS)
DJ Hero series DJ Hero (Renegade Edition) · DJ Hero Mobile · DJ Hero 2
Bundle packs Guitar Hero I & II Dual Pack (PS2) · Guitar Hero II & Aerosmith Dual Pack (X360) · Guitar Hero: On Tour & On Tour: Decades Box Set (NDS) · Guitar Hero III & Aerosmith Dual Pack (Wii)
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