Guitar Hero World Tour Review

The industry has been closely following the showdown between dueling blockbusters Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. Having played both of them, it's clear that -- while they both work from the template Harmonix created with the original Guitar Hero -- these games have two different visions for how the genre is going to evolve. At this point, neither is a clear-cut winner.

Harmonix, with its overwhelming selection of downloadable tracks and streamlined interface, clearly views Rock Band as a music service first and foremost -- the iTunes of video games. Neversoft, industry veterans used to delivering Tony Hawk sequels year after year, approach this new Guitar Hero from a gamemaker's perspective, adding new features and gameplay mechanics in hopes of invigorating the long-established ''falling jewels'' design formula.

The changes start with the new hardware peripherals Red Octane created for the game. The drums appear to be a solid first entry for the manufacturer the raised cymbals add a touch of realism to gameplay and they generally feel solid, if not as quiet as we had hoped for. The bigger news is in the guitar controller. The new touch pad (located just above the fret buttons) allows for new tapping and sliding mechanics, the first real innovations in gameplay in the genre to date. As the notes fall down the fretboard, you'll notice clear jewels stitched together by lines. This signifies it's time to get rad, effortlessly sliding on super fast runs, which proves invaluable when tackling some of the Randy Rhodes and Eddie Van Halen offerings on the soundtrack. There are other welcome gameplay touches, like the open notes for bass (displayed as a line across, like the kick drum), and the ability to activate star power by hitting both cymbals instead of Rock Band's awkward fill system.

While Neversoft does more to improve the basics of the music genre than anyone in a long time, there are some fairly obvious ways in which it still lags behind Rock Band. For one, the career mode, though now divided into gigs, doesn't do enough to convince you that you're doing more than just playing through a list of songs. Although the numerous celebrity cameos are entertaining, it feels more like licensing department window dressing than actual substance. As far as the soundtrack goes, it does a much better job of expanding beyond GH's metal core; I loved the addition of acts like Willie Nelson, Steely Dan, and CCR to the mix. That said, far too many songs have already appeared in Rock Band or previous GH games. Even with its largest tracklist to date, it's hard for World Tour to compete with Rock Band 2's enormous amount  of downloadable content. One wonders if the time spent making the recent Aerosmith edition would have been better spent getting their download ducks in a row.

If World Tour has a trump card, it's the groundbreaking new GHMix studio mode. It's basically a full-on set of music creation software, that allows you to write, arrange, and record your own songs, then upload them to be freely shared with fellow players. Even better, the game instantly translates them into fully playable jewels charts on the fly. As much fun as I had tackling ''Hot For Teacher,'' this mode feels like the future of the franchise.

After about a day of experimentation, I had created two songs that -- if I do say so myself -- would have made pretty good theme songs to an '80s cop show. If recent history has shown us anything, it's that putting your tools into the hands of your audience can result in things far greater than you can imagine. For this, one has to applaud Neversoft -- and wait for what all the digital shredders out there have in store for us.