Guitar Hero Van Halen
8.4
10
32
32
Lukewarm Addition to the Series
I'm a fan of 1980's Arena Rock. Van Halen is certainly a good band and because of this, Guitar Hero: Van Halen had me intrigued.
After a little while of playing this, I began to realize that it was a rather weak game. It adds nothing new to the Guitar Hero series, and goes as far as simplifying the overall gameplay. The whole thing just felt unnecessary.
The soundtrack was below average too. A handful of Van Halen's good songs didn't make the cut; but what was even worse was some of the choices for supporting-act songs. Some of them belong nowhere near a Van Halen soundtrack!
I wouldn't recommend this title. If you're curious for more Guitar Hero tracks, go with Rock Band: Beatles or Warriors of Rock
12/24/10
Easiest Guitar Hero Game Ever!
This is a great game. I have played a few of the Guitar Hero games and they are far too difficult as I progress. This is the exception to the rule. It has a bunch of great songs by Van Halen and other artists. The other artists include Queen, Foo Fighters, Tenacious D, and The Offspring. Now on to the setlist of Van Halen songs. There are 25 Van Halen songs and 3 solos on this game, Including Jump, You Really Got Me, Panama, and more. All the songs are from the '70s and '80s, but that's when rock was cool anyway! And 19 songs by other artists, so yeah, this game is awesome. Check it out!
11/2/10
A band biography lacking a few chapters
When I pop in a Band-Centric Guitar Hero game, I expect to be treated to a visual and musical time capsule full of all of the band’s definitive moments, a decent collection of their songs spanning their career, and a treasure chest of little known facts, rare memorabilia, and well, some evidence that the band itself was involved with the game. After bringing Guitar Hero: Van Halen to a close, I don’t see my criteria met. Instead, I ran through my third (fourth if I bought Smash Hits) Guitar Hero game of 2009, and after finishing it, I don’t feel like I’ve learned much about Van Halen itself.By now, anyone who hasn’t played a guitar hero game shouldn’t start with Van Halen. If you have this game, you either A) Followed up on the free voucher offer after purchasing Guitar hero 5, B) Are a Van Halen fan, estatic to see them in their own music game, or C) Proving it’s possible to play Guitar Hero all year round, since a new game is released by the time you finish the previous one. If this is your first foray into Guitar Hero, or any music game for that matter, I highly recommend picking up one from the main series in the series first. For the same price as GH: Van Halen, Guitar Hero 5 has 85 songs from a larger variety of artists, while Guitar Hero 4 (World Tour), just a year older, has 86. Since we’re dealing with a band-centric game, expect to hear a lot of Van Halen, and not much else.The same familiar formula of playing is present here, but without getting too technical, Van Halen’s game engine is the same as GH Metallica’s, making it “older” than Guitar Hero 5. This is all well and good, but it’s an odd choice on Activision’s part, because it was released after GH 5. In my opinion, this isn’t as much of a setback, because the controls feel a lot tighter under this engine compared to GH 5. The songs are note tracked pretty well. The difficulty curve steadily rises as you make your way through the set list, alternating with a venue for guest artist tracks, and a venue for Van Halen’s music. There isn’t a point where you’ll ace one song and the following song will be so far over your head you won’t know where to begin. The slider sections, characterized by transparent notes connected by a clear rope, are still pretty useless, because they are just thrown in randomly, or when you reach a very “difficult” section where the game expects you to use it, its just easier to flail on the keys.By now, most of us know what to expect with Guitar Hero, so the only factor that handicaps Van Halen is it’s presentation.I’m betting that Van Halen fans will be disappointed once they notice the game completely omits their bassist of 31 years, Michael Anthony, and their second vocalist who fronted the band for 13 years, Sammy Hagar. While Anthony’s absence can be overlooked (Metallica featured songs from all three of their Bassists, so it could have been done here too), the decision not to include any work from Hagar effectively cuts off the chance to feature any songs from their albums after their last album with original and current front man, David Lee Roth, 1984. All this cutting, trimming and removing results in a setlist that only features 25 of their songs, with 3 of Eddie’s solos. I believe the amount of material they’ve recorded from 1978 to 1998 should warrant more than 28 tracks. Tacked on are 19 songs from guest bands/artists, some who have a questionable affiliation with VH, coming to a grand total of 47 tracks.Don’t get me wrong, Van Halen’s music is decent, and fans of their legacy would quickly find a handful of their favorite tracks here. GH fan’s prayers have finally been answered with the long overdue addition of Eddie’s famed solo, Eruption. Hang ‘Em High, Panama and Jump are all easily recognizable classics, and are a blast to play. Guest tracks like Deep Purple’s Space Truckin’ and Queen’s I Want It All complement Van Halen perfectly, but oddballs like Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne seem well, out of place.Once you’ve play
1/13/10
This guitar hero ROCKS!!!
I recommend this guitar hero to anyone who enjoys a good challenge.If you liked the metallica and aerosmith versions then you will deff like Van Halen if not more.I enjoy the song varieties and its alot of fun! I also have guitar hero 5 and I love playing that. I've honestly enjoyed Van Halen more than the others because I've always been an Eddie Van Halen fan. The other bands on this game such as jimmy eat world,weezer,and more are also very good but they should have more songs in my opinion added to the game.The songs are somewhat challenging on expert especially Eruption by Van Halen.I had a chance to play it online and its pretty fun.I'm nowhere near to being better than them hardcore guitar hero players hitting every note and not missing but it also is fun as well.Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
12/24/09
Great Challenge
Got this game free with Guitar Hero 5, received it in about a month and played it continuously for a few weeks. It is one heck of a challenging game with Eddie's insane solos. Glad that they stuck with David lee Roth instead of hagar and whomever their last singer was. Great choice of the Van Halen songs, could have done without a couple of the side songs though. Graphics I think are great, they can only do so well with trying to get their actual likenesses onto the screen. But who cares what the graphics of the character looks like when you are playing the songs? My only complaint though is that it would be nice to have a guitar hero game focused on a band and only have their songs in it. They would have such a wider variety of the bands music on the disc. If you love guitar hero and want the challenge then get this game. WARNING: Playing on Expert level could make your hand fall off!
12/23/09
Enjoyed the demo.......but!
This one takes alot of cues from GH: Metallica, but that's not a bad thing. I enjoyed the demo, and would actually consider buying if it weren't for one simple fact. Call me what you will, but I will not support a Van Halen game that blatantly ignores one of it's founding members (Anthony), and has no trace of any Hagar era material. Bottom line put all differences aside, and give the fans what they deserve.
12/10/09
GREAT GAME!
I got this game by mail because i got GH5 and it is great. The graphics are much better. The difficulty is highet than GH5 and come on what can you say bad about Van Halen songs. Its a must have for any Van Halen fan.
12/8/09
Worst GH of all time
When I bought GH:5 and saw that this was free I was all excited about it thinking cool GH:Van Halen and since GH:Metallica was friggen amazing I figured Van Halen would have to be just as good. Man, I was so wrong and so disappointed when I finally got it in the mail. Just like Obi-Wan in Star Wars said, "These aren't the droids you're looking for." well this isn't the Van Halen you were expecting.To quote one review "Of the 45 tracks included on this disc, nearly half aren't even from the title band. The supporting acts, as they're called, feel like rejects from other Guitar Hero games. What exactly do Weezer, Blink-182 and Fountains of Wayne have to do with Van Halen? Absolutely nothing. These non-Van Halen tracks are pure filler and a piss-poor way to round out a set list. "Worst yet you start off with the old geezer Van Halen of today which are a bunch of old crows like the Stones and have to work your way through the subpar career mode to get the old school Van Halen of the hair band & spandex days. It's a travesty that Activision didn't secure the appropriate rights to Van Halen and now offer up what should have remained free or DLC for maybe $** for $**.
12/8/09
Cannot wait!
I am a really big Van Halen fan. This game is going to great! It has a bunch of their good songs, such as Mean Street, Im The One, Aint Talkin Bout Love, Eruption, Runnin With The Devil, and a bunch of other of their best. It is also all from the David Lee Roth era, and he is their true lead singer. This game is gonna be great!
12/7/09
Great game from an awesome band.
I got the game with the offer of GH5 and has a kiler song list. Although I do wish it had many Sammy Hagar songs like Dreams and Feels So Good. Otherwise, still a very good game.
12/5/09