Many young adults might be thrilled that a “classic” game like Guitar Hero is making a comeback with the next generation consoles, but a closer look at the tracklist might leave long-time fans scratching their heads.
Although Guitar Hero Live promises to keep releasing a consistent stream of playable music, the standing tracklist includes tons of songs already featured in previous titles.
To name a few:
- Living Colour – “Cult of Personality” (Guitar Hero 3)
- Slipknot – “Before I Forget” (Guitar Hero 3)
- Warrant – “Cherry Pie” (Guitar Hero 2)
- Pat Benatar – “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (Guitar Hero 3)
- Megadeth – “Hangar 18” (Guitar Hero 2)
- Boston – “More Than A Feeling” (Guitar Hero)
I personally don’t know the tracks on Guitar Hero titles after World Tour, but I do know that these first six were picked out of the first twenty-six tracks available to the public online.
A quick peek at the tracklist had me sharing Lenny’s expression.
Recycling songs isn’t something new to Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles.
Throughout the years, the rival companies have remastered both each others’ songs and their own songs from previous games. I realize that there are some serious “anthems of rock” out there, but that doesn’t mean music games need to reuse them over and over and over again.
I’ve played The Killers’ “When You Were Young” enough already, I don’t need to play it again.
This issue brings some pretty scary thoughts to my attention. Is Activision preying on our nostalgia for these songs? Do they know that many fans adore older Guitar Hero games and still go back to play certain songs? Maybe they’re just extremely ignorant and don’t even notice that they are putting the same tunes in every Guitar Hero installment. Perhaps there’s only one guy in charge of the tracklist and he just loves The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black.” Whatever the reason is, it needs to be fixed before hardcore fans take note.
Guitar Hero Live is a fresh start for Activision, so it would be wise to be creative and include songs that we haven’t played before.
The studio is making some attempt to do this, by inserting never-before-seen genres and artists such as Skrillex. As long as future track releases keep the genres balanced, and Activision stops focusing on bringing back songs from the past, Guitar Hero might be around a little longer.
If Guitar Hero fans are indeed nostalgic for older songs, the ideal granting of this wish would be purchasable track packs containing entire tracklists of previous games. Pay one price, get all of Guitar Hero 2‘s songs remastered for Guitar Hero Live. This way, players who don’t want to “relive the glory days” can get fresh songs, while players who didn’t keep their last gen equipment can experience their childhood once more. And it’s more money for Activision. Everybody wins.
