

I learned to play by using the lower finger joints for the white buttons, which let me be effective but was disastrous when moving up to advanced. It actually can feel like I'm playing notes rather than playing 'Simon.' This is true even though I basically learned to play the game the wrong way. For my musically unsound, stupid finger self, the new gameplay is like an awakening. I've seen rhythm game experts get their first tastes of the game, and subsequently seen the blinders come on as they take in the different feel. The new track design, note charts, and guitar frets are without a doubt a major win. After playing the games a few different times during development, I was anxious to get to play the game unfiltered, where I could really learn to play. Notes come on the lower white row, the upper black row, as barre chords (a white and black together in same column), open strums, and even diagonally (infrequent on Regular). The middle (of the five) difficulty, Regular, is the where this new action starts. The first thing to really understand about 'Guitar Hero Live' is that the new guitar enables a new three track design that may have players doing some hitherto unknown finger calisthenics. Overall, the new guitar manages to look a bit more sophisticated than the 'GH' axes of old, but the small footprint is unlikely to convince anyone that it is more than a controller. The white, brown and silver neck is matte. There is a white pinstripe and a new white 'GH' Pick logo. Most of the guitar is a glossy black with gold highlights. There are three posts to support both right and left handed play. In 'GH' fashion' it connects to fixed posts. The only other piece besides the battery cover to think about is the included strap which looks like a fairly classic 'GH' design. This is supposed to be a one-way connection (as in connect once and never disconnect), but I was able to disconnect it a few times in order to take pictures by rotating a recessed button. The guitar comes in two pieces and connects at the neck. Connecting the mic is easy provided you're in the right parts of the game. The guitar is assigned a user much like a normal controller or mic.Ĭonnecting two guitars isn't as straightforward, but it works well enough.
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The guitar gets along well with the PS4 and can be used without a DS4. Two other buttons and a four way nob complete the guitar's ability to navigate both the game and the PS4, while there are also two recessed buttons used for pausing the game.

(The strum bar clicks.) There is also (thankfully) a large Hero Power button, a whammy bar, and a tilt sensor. The gameplay revolves around the 2x3 neck buttons (two rows of three) and the biggest strum bar I've seen. The controller is wireless via a USB transmitter. Not new like a real guitar with real string new, but new in the sense of a new or least very different design.įundamental to the relative enjoyment of 'Guitar Hero Live' is the new Guitar Controller. But with 'Guitar Hero Live,' there is finally something new.

In spite of the dozen or so popular rhythm games that followed, the original five button and strum bar combination remained at the core. The PlayStation 2 was still king when the original 'Guitar Hero' began an infestation of players' homes with plastic instruments. Within these two main modes, 'Guitar Hero Live' contains tutorials, two player versus, quickplay, vocals, challenges, leaderboards, five difficulty levels, a player level and customization system, premium content, and more.
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At launch, there are more than 200 tracks on the GH TV side, and GH TV also has its own player progression to play through. Meanwhile, the 'GH TV' side gives players access to two streaming channels of music video-based songs. The 'Live' side takes players in first person perspective through two rock festivals, the UK-based SoundDial and the US-based Rock the Block and through 42 on-disc tracks. Likewise, 'Guitar Hero Live' offers two fairly distinct modes. 'Guitar Hero Live' has been developed alongside a new guitar that eschews the old five button set-up in favor of a new 2x3, six button design. Though there is secondary support for vocals, the new game focuses on the guitar, but 'Guitar Hero Live' has a lot more up its sleeves than just the same old thing. The game that set off a craze and ignited a genre nearly a decade ago, 'Guitar Hero,' has returned.
