Guitar Hero: Van Halen
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Guitar Hero: Van Halen is a 2009 music rhythm video game developed by Underground Development, while the Wii & PS2 versions being handled by Budcat Creations, where the original engine work was done by Neversoft and published by Activision.
This was the 3rd and final band-specific title of the series after Metallica.
Bad Qualities
General
- Like Smash Hits (Greatest Hits), it was only sold as a standalone title, but no controller bundle included with a special faceplate unlike Metallica which made newcomers or some existing owners get a chance to purchase.
- It was more or less rushed just in time for the holiday season deadline. In other words, 3 days before Christmas Day 2009.
- Yet again, it is just a rehash/reskin of World Tour, Metallica or Smash Hits (Greatest Hits), but with Van Halen content on it.
- Unlike other Neversoft era based games, there is no animated FMV cutscenes for career just like Harmonix titles (GH1-GH80s).
- Severe lack of content, unlike other titles from the series. All you get is facts, lyrics and a soundboard, but no bonus videos, gallery, Van Halen songs recorded from the 90s or anything else.
- There is no music from the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen.
- Despite the lack of content and to add insult to injury, it costed full retail price at launch which was $60 ($59.99) for the HD versions, $50 ($49.99) on Wii or even $40 ($39.99) on PS2.
- Unlike Metallica or Smash Hits (Greatest Hits), there is no DLC song pack for GH5/BH/WOR due to World Tour having Hot for Teacher despite not being in this import pack likely due to copyright issues or licensing expiration fees. In fact, on the back of the manual/sleeve, there is a owner id code which that happens with other titles.
- As a result due to the poor reception, it killed off Underground Development (Z-Axis) and RedOctane itself.
PlayStation 2 version
- No online play just like other entries from other PS2 games in this series, even Neversoft's Tony Hawk titles (THPS3-THAW) had support for it.
- No music studio mode just like Band Hero, Metallica, Smash Hits (Greatest Hits), and GH5.
- Downgraded graphics on par with the Wii counterpart itself, even the Harmonix titles looked better than this.
- Terrible camera angles just like with the PS2 port of Band Hero.
Good Qualities
- Great graphics just like other entries even for the HD versions except for Wii and the aforementioned PS2 port.
- It was free if you bought GH5 by the end of October 2009.
- A good amount of songs to play and listen.
- Despite being the weakest entry in the series, some people might still like this game.
- Additionally, it's definetly better than Guitar Hero Live.
- It still plays like the other guitar hero games.
Reception
Guitar Hero: Van Halen received mixed to negative reviews from critics alike.
But, it was considered being the worst/lowest rated title in the series. However, it was somewhat sold terribly when the game was released, but not counting sleeved free mail-in promotional copies.
The game has an aggregated critic score of 59 on PS3, 57 on 360 and 50 on Wii, on Metacritic.
GameCentral gave it a 4/10.[1]
IGN gave it a 4.9/10 between the PS2 ports of Guitar Hero 5 which is being a 4.5/10 and Band Hero also being a 5/10.