Review Guitar Hero Smash Hits
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Guitar Hero Smash Hits Best Review
Most professional reviews of this game say this is a decent game but too much of a rehash. I can’t say I agree. Obviously, there’s the fact that bass, drums, and vocals are now supported, but there are even improvements on guitar. Some of the songs were originally released as covers and now we get all the original tracks. Additionally, the charts were redone allowing for some of the World Tour innovations like slider notes and extended sustains. Some of the charts changed for the worse (to hell with the new version of “Psychobilly Freakout”), but some are better, and most are at least significantly different, providing somewhat of a new experience. Also, the level of challenge has improved.
Setlist:
PS2 users get one new song, Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” (originally XBox only). Otherwise, you’ve seen it before. The setlist is probably the best out of any Guitar Hero game to date, but only because there was so much to choose from. It’s good but they could have done a better job. Also, 48 songs is a bit skimpy for a full price game.
Graphics/Interface:
Basically the same as Guitar Hero: Metallica. The graphics are good by PS2 standards, and World Tour style setlists are omitted.
Song Progression:
At first glance, it looks the same as Guitar Hero: Metallica. To progress from one tier to the next, you have to get a certain of stars on previous songs. However, it’s a little bit different now. For one, the star requirements have been increased. Unlike Guitar Hero: Metallica, you can’t just beat a small handful of songs to move on to the next tier. Also, encores have returned. When you beat every song in a tier, an encore song is unlocked. Aside from this, you’ll notice the biggest difference when you get to the next to last tier. To progress to the last tier, you have to complete all previous songs including encores. So the system doesn’t let you skip songs altogether like Guitar Hero: Metallica, but there is more flexibility than early Guitar Hero titles. Also, when you complete every song in the last tier, you have to tackle “Through the Fire and Flames” to finish the game. This is appropriate for guitar and drums, but it’s not as appropriate for bass or vocals. It’s one of the more challenging songs on both instruments, but there are definitely harder songs that would have worked better as final songs.
Guitar:
The biggest change I noticed was the difference in difficulty between Hard and Expert. On average, the songs have gotten harder on Expert, but much easier on Hard. I started playing rhythm games with Guitar Hero III, and I definitely remember the giant leap from Medium to Hard. Here, the transition is much, much easier. Naturally, however, the jump from Hard to Expert is worse than ever before. Overall, I think this is good, however. It allows novice players a chance to get used to the orange fret without having to deal with insane song charts, and also increases the challenge for Expert players. Already challenging songs like “Free Bird”, “Cult of Personality”, and “Psychobilly Freakout” are even harder here on Expert. Yet a few songs are easier, most noticebly “Through the Fire and Flames” and the now solo-less “Rock and Roll All Nite”. However, “Through the Fire and Flames” is still brutal, and I never thought they would put a song this hard as a required song on the main setlist. Often rhythm games will have one super difficult song, but it’s a bonus song (e.g. “Jordan”, “Visions”). The main setlist will have some challenging stuff, but nothing ridiculous. The Smash Hits version of “Through the Fire and Flames” is definitely the hardest main setlist song in any Guitar Hero/Rock Band game. In my opinion, “Jordan” and the original version of “Through the Fire and Flames” are the only harder on-disc Guitar Hero songs. Fortunately, it’s not completely impossible. It took me about 15 tries to beat, but unlike the original version, I did at least beat it. Many Expert players will like the challenge of the song, and some will like the fact that it is easier than the original version, but it’s questionable that a song like this should be on the main setlist.
Bass:
Oh my, bass is so easy in this game. Guitar Hero: Metallica upped the challenge on bass from World Tour, and now they’ve reverted back in the other direction. I’d say it’s even easier than World Tour. There’s nothing here like the alt-strumming madness of “B.Y.O.B.” or the simple but awkward “Hollywood Nights”. With regards to fun, it’s a mixed bag. Some songs are boring, but most are fairly interesting. At least it has Rush’s “YYZ”, which seems made for bass, so it’s not a waste.
Vocals:
Overall, vocals are quite easy, but unlike bass, there are a few challenging songs. “Killer Queen” is definitely killer, and there are others. I do have one complaint though: songs are often mistiered. If stuff like “Take It Off” and “Rock and Roll All Nite” aren’t final tier worthy, then “Through the Fire and Flames” is a tier 1 guitar song. Give me a break.
Drums:
Like vocals, most drum songs aren’t ridiculously challenging, but there are a few very hard songs. “Raining Blood”, “Through the Fire and Flames”, and “Caught in a Mosh” are probably the hardest of the lot. They seem harder than anything on “World Tour”, but if you can handle Guitar Hero: Metallica, you should be fine. They’re brutal songs, but they’re not really any worse than “War Ensemble” and “Dyers Eve”. Fortunately, they did a better job at tiering drums than vocals, and most songs are fairly fun to play and not ill-charted.
Overall:
Underrated. You don’t get a bunch of new songs, but don’t look at this game as a rehash. There is still some “newness” to it, and it’s fun plastic shredding as usual. I’m not sure I’d call this the best Guitar Hero game out there, but it’s in the running, and it’s at least better than Guitar Hero: World Tour.
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Guitar Hero Smash Hits Feature
- Experience another dimension of difficulty with the drum kit controller’s double kick-pedal “Expert” difficulty level first seen in Guitar Hero Metallica.
- For the first time, players can rock on their favorite Guitar Hero tracks through the drum kit and mic controllers individually or as a band.
- An epic 48-song setlist made up of the most memorable songs from Guitar Hero games including master recording from: Alice in Chains, Queen, Poison, Rage Against The Machine, Twisted Sister, Joan Jett, Heart, Dragonforce and more.
- Multiplayer gameplay modes allowing up to 4 players to join together and rock as a band.
- In-game functionality including Rock Star Creator, first made famous in Guitar Hero World Tour, as well as Music Studio and GHTunes which allow players to create their own rockin’ hits.
Guitar Hero Smash Hits Overview
The Best of Guitar Hero now for the Full Band! Turn down the lights, crank up the amps and prepare to command center stage with some of the most famous AND infamous tracks from Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. For newer Guitar Hero fans, this is a great chance to catch up and play the best of Guitar Hero, and older Guitar Hero fans have a new reason to expand to the full band. Step into the spotlight in the most epic, full band jam session to date – Guitar Hero: Hits.
Guitar Hero Smash Hits Specifications
In Guitar Hero: Smash Hits players get the best of previous Guitar Hero games, now in a full band gameplay scenario. Turn down the lights, crank up the amps and prepare to command center stage as you rock out to the most fun tracks from Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. And for the first time you can join together as a band and jam to master tracks from the greatest Guitar Hero music on your controllers for guitar, drums and vocals.
A Compelling List of Game Features For the first time players can take the stage and rock on their favorite Guitar Hero tracks from early games in the series using the drum kit and mic controllers. For newer Guitar Hero fans, this is a great chance to catch up and play the best of Guitar Hero, while more experienced Guitar Hero fans now have a new reason to expand to the full band. Key Features:
The Set List:
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Related Products
- Guitar Hero Metallica
- Guitar Hero World Tour
- Guitar Hero 5 Stand Alone Software
- Guitar Hero Aerosmith Playstation 2
- Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80’s
Customer Reviews
“I’m not dead and I’m not for sale” – Brian D. Hughes – Modesto, CA
Well, at least so goes the lyrics to Stone Temple Pilot’s “Trippin on a Paper Heart” which not so un-coincidentally appears in this very game as a playable track. Too bad the makers of this particular installment did not heed Weiland’s words. I bought this game near the release date on the very basis of a few choice cuts, particularly Ratt’s “Round and Round” and Ozzy’s “Bark at the Moon”. Nowhere is the phrase ‘Hammer-on Hero’ no more appropo then on these very tracks. This is one of the many major factors that harm my enjoyment of this game – the hammer-ons are simply not believable and overdone. There are parts of BATM where there are near 20 consecutive hammer-ons. Coupled with the fact that some of the paths from songs that WERE official versions in previous games have been changed and not for the better – the Slayer and Dragonforce paths simply have me scratching my head. I actually hate to admit this but some of the covers are funner to play then the originals, namely Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Night”. And where is “Hangar 18″? Also lacking, well completely absent, are any guest spots. This was simply a cash-in effort.
Guitar Hero Smash Hits – Christine P –
I didnt buy this game on Amazon i bought it at game stop because I only had cash but it was the same price. The game is a good music game but there is some ups and some downs.
The pros of this game is the music is their favorite songs from all the Guitar Heros from 1 to Aerosmith I think. I really loved the feature where you get to make your own custom instruments like guitars on career mode. Career is easy to do you make your rocker then you play the songs but its based on how many stars you get not how many song to go to the new place. The songs are already in Quickplay and you don’t have to earn them by beating the season in career mode. Also there is a new difficulty.
The cons are the game has horrible graphics on PS2 don’t buy for PS2 i dont know how good graphics are on stations like XBox 360 or PS3. The songs are a little to easy on Hard and Medium. The songs seem to be dragged on quite a bit especially on I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett. The game seems to repeat the same line over and over but I am not sure if thats the real song. The game sometimes says that I missed one I am sure I got but that just maybe a lag or something. Only buy this game when it is somewhere in the – price range. If you dont care about the graphics then this game is perfect for you but if your used to semi-good graphics on the PS2 then this game will probably torture you. Hope you took this review helpful.
Solid GH Title – gearbox –
Bought this game as a farewell of sorts since I don’t see myself lasting with GH/RB past this title. It’s got pretty much every great song you can think of from the past GH games if you’re a long time GH player. The older charts have been updated to be either easier or more difficult and its all for the better. Along with the arpeggio sections added in GH:WT, this one makes very strong use of ringing notes. A big thing to look out for on the PS2 version is that the load times (to me) are awful. I counted the load times for loading a song as anywhere from 1 minute to a minute and a half. Compared to next gen hardware (PS3, 360, Wii), and all the stuff they crammed into this one disc (guitar, bass, vocals, drums), the load times become acceptable. I also don’t like that it saves after you turn on progressive scan; another useless 30 seconds, especially when you have to turn it on EVERY time you boot up the disc. Online multiplayer was not a selling point for me so the difference to not get it on 360 was worth it to me. I’m happy with my choice, the pros of this game far outweigh the cons.
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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Feb 02, 2010 02:03:11
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