Guitar Hero 5

guitar-hero-5-box
7.0 Overall Score
Graphics: 5/10
Sound: 8/10
Controls: 8/10

Lots of songs

Not enough variety in songs, not as many downloadable songs

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

guitar-hero-5-avatar

Put yourself in the game!

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.

guitar-hero-5-cobain

Please don’t make play Bon Jovi

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

guitar-hero-5-gameplay

You know the drill by now! Match the buttons to your guitar…Do it! Do it now!

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 II

Guitar Hero III:  Legends of Rock

Guitar Hero:  World Tour

 

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

Leave A Response