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What's Next For Guitar Hero?
Guitar Hero has followed a pretty recognizable structure since its inception. Play through venues as your band rises to prominence. Warriors of Rock puts some big twists on that staid formula by upping the ante through super-powered rockers, dozens of stars per song, and a sweeping fantasy storyline. The result is more than a little surprising.
Warriors of Rock tells the tale of the demigod of rock (played by KISS's Gene Simmons), a being who embodies the freedom and rollicking spirit of rock 'n roll. Long ago, the demigod battled the Beast, a soulless mechanical creature that defeated him, and imprisoned him within a statue. From his imprisonment, he calls out to the guitar hero warriors, who must answer his call, transform into their mutant-like true selves, and venture forth to revive rock.
If all this sounds a little over-the-top, then you've got a pretty good idea of the direction that Guitar Hero seems to be going this year. Neversoft has adopted a bigger-is-better attitude towards the franchise, with an insane backdrop of epic battles and magical transformations. Players will tackle different chapters, with eight to eleven songs in each. Chapters focus on individual rockers, and the songs within those chapters reflect the character of the given hero. Lars Umlaut's chapter has lots of metal. Axel Steel has more power rock.
Get enough stars from a given character's chapter, and you unlock their transformation, a WWE-entry style cinematic where your favorite Guitar Hero character turns from normal human into a monstrous variation with special powers. Johnny Napalm turns into a nightcrawler-like teleporting blue zombie creature, with the special ability to always maintain a 2x multiplier. Lars Umlaut becomes a giant pig beast with multiplier extender magic. Axel Steel becomes a mummy who can ressurect after failing out. Once you get all these characters on-stage at once, things start to look pretty...unusual.
As the story progresses, the warriors of rock must reclaim the demigod's legendary axe from a hidden cave -- a sequence that is communicated through a full playthgouh of Rush's 2112 album, narrated by members of the band. The first video below reveals elements of the Rush 2112 experience. The recovery of the axe at 2112's conclusion is only the halfway point of the story. From there, players will seek out the demigod, free him from his prison, and venture out to defeat the Beast in one final rocking battle. Beat the Beast, and you'll unlock one final venue presented by the demigod himself – a sequence of ultra-hard tracks.
On the next page, check out the announced song list, and the newest trailer from the game.
Throughout the process, you'll be playing a number of great new tunes, including all the following newly announced songs:
Alice Cooper – “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
Alter Bridge – “Ties That Bind”
Atreyu – “Ravenous”
Bad Brains – “Re-Ignition (Live)”
Blue Öyster Cult – “Burning For You”
Bush – “Machinehead”
Deep Purple – “Burn”
Edgar Winter – “Free Ride”
Five Finger Death Punch – “Hard To See”
George Thorogood and The Destroyers – “Move It On Over (Live)”
Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Call Me The Breeze (Live)”
Pantera – “I'm Broken”
Poison – “Unskinny Bop”
The Ramones – “Theme From Spiderman”
Rise Against – “Savior”
The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb”
Steve Vai – “Speeding”
Strung Out – “Calling”
Styx – “Renegade”
Sum 41 – “Motivation”
Them Crooked Vultures – “Scumbag Blues”
The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
It remains to be seen how Warriors of Rock will shape up in the long term. Our time with the game revealed some great new music, and the addition of superpowers definitely alters the formula in a new way. On the other hand, the over-the-top nature of the experience has the potential to alienate some GH purists who would like to succeed on a song based on their skill rather than on the careful implementation of powers.
Check out the newest trailer for the game, linked below, and let us know if this new approach to the series has caught your attention in the comment below.
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