Game Info
Game Name: Guitar Hero 5
Developer(s): Neversoft/Vicarious Visions
Publisher(s): Activision/RedOctane
Platform(s): PS3, XBox 360, Wii
Genre(s): Music Game
Release Date(s): September 1, 2009
ESRB Rating: T
Rock your way 85 songs and 83 artists as you and your friends go on tour and take over the world as Guitar Heroes!
This is Guitar Hero’s last dying gasp. It did have another Guitar Hero after this but this was their real last attempt to compete with Rock Band. Even with Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero tried to have more progressive rock while Band Hero was established to try to get more pop style songs.
Guitar Hero 5 features guitar, bass, drums, and singing. It has the standard Career segment where you can rock out as an individual or part of a multiplayer band, Quickplay which allows you to set up to 128 songs in a setlist, Party Play (4 Players locally can play and it is non-competitive). It also features surprise appearances by Johnny Cash, Matt Bellamy, Kurt Cobain, Shirley Manson, and Carlos Santana.
Competitive Play is for local (up to 4 players) or online (which can allow 8 players). There is Pro Face-Off in which the players duel in varying difficulty levels on the same song. Momentum which difficulty varies and changes depending on your playing. Streakers which the player with the longest streak comes out the winner. Do or Die is a “three strikes you are out” style of play where after the third error, a winner is declared. Elimination involves players trying to keep alive as one-by-one they are eliminated in each section of song. In Perfectionist, the players attempt to be perfect to win the sections. The final style of play is RockFest which is an all encompassing mode for the competitive styles. Competitive mode can be played as a team also.
The GH Studio allows players to compose their own music, but honestly it is pretty difficult and rather pointless unless you are willing to spend tons and tons of time trying to do it. There are some fun songs to download by players who have taken the time, but for the most part the GH Studio can just be avoided.
The Guitar Hero 5 complete song setlist:
2 Minutes to Midnight—Iron Maiden
20th Century Boy—T. Rex
21st Century Schizoid Man—King Crimson
A-Punk—Vampire Weekend
All Along the Watchtower—Bob Dylan
All the Pretty Faces—The Killers
American Girl—Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Back Round—Wolfmother
Bleed American—Jimmy Eat World
Blue Day—Darker My Love
Blue Orchid—The White Stripes
Brainstorm—Arctic Monkeys
Bring the Noise 20XX—Public Enemy featuring Zakk Wylde
Bullet with Butterfly Wings—The Smashing Pumpkins
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands—Band of Horses
Comedown—Bush
Dancing with Myself—Billy Idol
Deadbolt—Thrice
Demons(s)—Darkest Hour
Disconnected—Face to Face
Done with Everything, Die for Nothing—Children of Bodom
Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)—Peter Frampton
Du Hast—Rammstein
Ex-Girlfriend—No Doubt
Fame—David Bowie
Feel Good Inc.—Gorillaz
Gamma Ray—Beck
Gratitude—Beastie Boys
Hungry Like the Wolf—Duran Duran
Hurts so Good—John Mellencamp
In My Place—Coldplay
Incinerate—Sonic Youth
In the Meantime—Spacehog
Jailbreak—Thin Lizzy
Judith—A Perfect Circle
Kryptonite—3 Doors Down
L. A.—Elliott Smith
Lithium (Live)—Nivana
Lonely Is the Night—Billy Squire
Looks that Kill—Motley Crue
Lust for Life (Live)—Iggy Pop
Maiden, Mother & Crone—The Sword
Make It wit Chu—Queens of the Stone Age
Medicate—AFI
Mirror People—Love and Rockets
Nearly Lost You—Screaming Trees
Never Miss a Beat—Kaiser Chiefs
No One to Depend On (Live)—Satana
One Big Holiday—My Morning Jacket
Only Happy When It Rains—Garbage
Play that Funky Music—Wild Cherry
Plug in Baby—Muse
Ring of Fire—Johnny Cash
The Rock Show—Blink-182
Runnin’ Down a Dream—Tom Petty
Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting—Elton John
Scatterbrain (Live)—Jeff Beck
Send a Little Love Token—The Duke Spirit
Seven—Sunny Day Real Estate
Sex on Fire—Kings of Leon
Shout It Out Loud—Kiss
Six Days a Week—The Bronx
Smells Like Teen Spirit—Nirvana
Sneak Out—Rose Hill Drive
So Lonely—The Police
Song 2—Blur
Sowing Season (Yeah)—Brand New
The Spirit of Radio (Live)—Rush
Steady, As She Goes—The Raconteurs
Streamline Woman—Gov’t Mule
Sultans of Swing—Dire Straits
Superstition—Stevie Wonder
Sweating Bullets—Megadeath
Sympathy for the Devil—The Rolling Stones
They Say—Scars on Broadway
Under Pressure—Queen and David Bowie
Wannabe in L. A.—Eagles of Death Metal
We’re an American Band—Grand Funk Railroad
What I Got—Sublime
Why Bother?—Weezer
Wolf Like Me—TV on the Radio
Woman from Tokyo (’99 Remix)—Deep Purple
You and Me—Attack! Attack!
You Give Love a Bad Name—Bon Jovi
Younk Funk—The Derek Trucks Band
The many of the songs of Guitar Hero: World Tour, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and Band Hero can be imported in for a fee.
Overall, Guitar Hero 5 isn’t bad and can usually be picked up for a reasonable price. It does nothing special, nothing inventive, and just provides people who are fans of music games more content (although there are some crossover songs with Rock Band). The Guitar Hero franchise is kind of a sad story, and the lack of downloadable content never helped. I loved Guitar Hero II, and it really ignited something in the video game world…for better or worse. I liked how games like Guitar Hero could be picked-up quickly and put down after a few minutes…something games nowadays do not always have. Guitar Hero 5 was followed by Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
Related Links:
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock