Guitar Hero World Tour Game Play

All About Guitar Hero World Tour Game Play

In order to stay competitive in the music game genre, Neversoft and Activision had to offer something new and exciting with the Guitar Hero World Tour game play. By most accounts, they have really delivered, offering the same kind of complete band experience as that introduced by Rock Band last year.

In addition to the expansion beyond guitars, some other innovations have been introduced in World Tour, sizably differentiating this game from Rock Band 2, another rhythm game that was released around the same time.

New Guitar Elements

The Guitar Hero franchise was founded on your ability to play along with a plastic guitar, so it's not surprising that this is one of the strongest areas in the Guitar Hero World Tour game play.

Veterans of previous Guitar Hero games will already be familiar with game play elements like hammer-ons and sustains, but World Tour introduces an innovative touch strip on the neck of the wireless guitar.

In addition to being used as a set of non-strum fret buttons for hammer-ons and solos, this touch strip is also used in a new section of some songs where the player simply runs his or her finger along the strip to match the pattern on the screen. The touch strip is also used for a "wah-wah" effect during sustains.

Rocking on the Bass Guitar

One of the common complaints that people had about earlier Guitar Hero games was that the bass guitar was a lot more boring to play than the lead guitar. This wasn't much of an issue for beginners and novices, but as people got more experienced, they found the bass guitar experience to be much less satisfying.

In an attempt to balance the difficulty, Activision and Neversoft introduced a sixth "fret" for the bass guitar in Guitar Hero World Tour game play. There are already five fret buttons, but the sixth "fret" is achieved by strumming without holding any of these buttons. This is displayed in the game as a solid purple line, rather than the round single notes.

Introducing Drums and Vocals

Taking the franchise to a whole new level is the full band kit. The guitars are familiar territory for Guitar Hero enthusiasts, but the developers have now expanded to better compete with that other game.

Unlike the Rock Band drum set that consists of four pads and a bass pedal, the drum set in Guitar Hero World Tour consists of three pads, two cymbals, and a bass pedal. The drums are widely acknowledged as the most challenging instrument in the game and for good reason: it best simulates a real drum-playing experience.

In addition to the drums, Guitar Hero World Tour also lets you sing along to all of its songs using a microphone. The vocal "instrument" is played in much the same way as games like Singstar and Karaoke Revolution.

Full Band with Guitar Hero World Tour

While it is certainly possible to enjoy Guitar Hero World Tour game play on your own, the most enjoyable experience is when you enjoy playing as a full band. Full bands, involving four players, can be formed both locally and online. Further still, World Tour has a game mode called "Battle of the Bands" where two complete bands (eight players in all) can face off against one another for rhythm game supremacy? Are you up to task? You'll want to get plenty of practice, because those online players can be really good!