Rock Band 4 on one side, Guitar Hero Live on the other. If for more than 5 years, the two licenses fought a fierce battle with great blows of murderous riffs and dizzying feedback, they have always been very close in their concept and the way of conceiving the musical game with instruments. Not really surprising when you know the history of the two enemy brothers, one having given birth to the other. But all this is now a thing of the past and in 2015, each studio now displays its own philosophy. Philosophy which will also divide the players into two distinct clans, and somewhere facilitate their Christmas purchase. If Harmonix Music Systems and Mad Catz bet on conservatism, Activision and FreeStyleGames have chosen the path of change, innovation and renewal. A risk taking which translates to start with a brand new guitar in which it is obviously necessary to invest. On this subject, Activision has shown itself to be rather grand prince by offering an affordable price of €79,99 for the "game + guitar" pack, which is not really the case with Mad Catz who literally let himself go on the price of Rock Band 4 with its "guitar + game" pack at €169,99, while the complete set (guitar, drums, microphone and game) will cost you the tidy sum of €299,99. Seriously sick people!
THE CHANGE IS NOW !
But let's get back on topic, well, more like our guitar, brand new, not by its look (it looks a lot like that of Guitar Hero 5 in real life), but in the layout of its buttons. Forget the 5 colored keys aligned one after the other, now you have to count on 6 buttons placed in two rows of three, and which fit perfectly into the neck of the guitar. Saying that, it sounds like a simple minor readjustment, when in reality, offering these two rows of frets is like completely changing the gameplay of Guitar Hero Live, and it's both very frustrating and very exciting. Very frustrating because we know that we will have to ignore all the learning acquired in the past, but it would be in bad faith not to see in this a form of excitement at the idea of having to relearn everything by starting over new bases. The objective for FreeStyleGames was to get closer to the sensations that you can experience with a real guitar in your hand, and it is true that by introducing the bars, the impression of aligning notes on strings is more than striking. The other intention on the part of the developers was also to make their game more accessible, especially for ordinary mortals. By limiting each row to three buttons, the player no longer needs to use the little finger, which is always more rigid than the other fingers of the hand. It is true that in the first two game modes, "Basic" and "Casual", only the row of white keys (those at the bottom) are required. If it's a good way for beginners to start, it's by switching to "Normal" mode that things immediately become more interesting.
Saying that, it sounds like a simple minor readjustment, when in reality, offering these two rows of frets is like completely changing the gameplay of Guitar Hero Live, and it's both very frustrating and very exciting.
The top row, those corresponding to the black keys, then comes into play and you will now have to make your brain – and your fingers – understand that the automatisms of the past must be forgotten immediately. And it doesn't matter if you were a former Guitar Hero expert, gymnastics is no longer the same, we find ourselves like an idiot losing the pedals (and the notes) and stupidly shouting that it was better before. A reaction after all logical but which disappears over time, the room for improvement in Guitar Hero Live being considerable, to the point that it is then difficult to return to the previous configuration and the gameplay of yesteryear. If most of the learning is managed in Normal difficulty mode, it is by moving to the next step, Advanced mode, that the challenge becomes daunting and therefore exhilarating. The bars are more numerous, the chords too and the tenfold speed adds another dose of difficulty. But the notes and scores are also more in tune with the rhythm of the song, there is a good chance that the desire to be irreproachable in Advanced mode is one of the first objectives of any player with the slightest motivation. In short, you will have understood, by opting for change, FreeStyleGames breathes a real breath of fresh air into Guitar Hero which, unlike Rock Band, does not rest on its achievements.
"I HAVE THE GUITAR THAT ITCHES, SO I SCRATCH A LITTLE LITTLE"
But reshaping the gameplay of Guitar Hero was not the only project undertaken by FreeStyleGames, which set itself another objective: that of rethinking the look of the game. Here too, the leitmotif was to offer something authentic, for real, similar to what a guitarist might feel when he's on stage in front of thousands of people. To do this, the designers put aside the cartoonish aspect of the series to offer us a live action rendering, with a real audience capable of reacting and interacting with the musicians, also in the flesh. To do this, Activision and FreeStyleGames have cast real music groups, paid to play alongside you and also react to your stage and musical performance. If you string together the notes that scroll across the screen correctly, your partners will encourage you with smiles or winks and the complicity between you and the musicians will be all the more incredible. The public will not be outdone and will not hesitate to accompany you by singing, dancing while the groupies in the front row will throw loving glances at you. On the other hand, if you ever plant yourself like a too high-pitched John Frusciante, the reactions will be the opposite, whether it's the members of the group or the public. Hateful looks, boos, signs with derogatory messages and even throwing cans, everything has been thought out to make you feel uncomfortable and force you to be beyond reproach. In fact, it is quite possible to go from a euphoric state to negative reactions, the whole being done by a screen blur which then serves as a transition. But beware, unlike the previous Guitar Hero, no Game Over here, even if you screw up miserably, proof that the game is now intended for the general public.
Really successful in its visual rendering, Guitar Hero Live also stands out in its ability to dissociate the two playing modes that characterize it. There is first of all the Live mode in which we find this famous subjective view which makes us live the life of a rock star with his own eyes. The game offers us to experience two different festivals, Rock the Block which takes place in Boulder City in the United States, and Sound Dial which takes place in the city of Stoneford Castle in Great Britain. In this way, the player connects and unlocks the 42 songs that are included on the cake, moving from one group to another. The playlist is as eclectic as it is amazing, and we easily go from Linkin Park to Eminem, via Kasabian, Pearl Jam, Arctic Monkeys, The Lumineers, The Black Keys and many more. Here again, FreeStyleGames has opted for a wide variety of genres, so that everyone can find their way around. Moreover, trying too hard to please everyone, we also find ourselves with total irrelevance: One Direction, Katy Perry and are all pop artists, even dance, that should have been left in the tracklist by Just Dance. Just for consistency, but also for credibility.
MONEY, CURRENCY
The other big piece of Guitar Hero Live is its TV mode (or rather GH TV), a little obscure despite the various explanations given by the managers of FreeStyleGames during the various presentations of the game, which had trouble making us understand that Guitar Hero has finally moved on to micro-transactions and title rentals. It's simple, GH TV is where you're going to spend most of your time once you've bent Live mode long, wide and across and the Blu-ray's 42 tracks won't have no more secrets for you. By connecting to Guitar Hero services, you will be able to access the two channels that broadcast music continuously (day and night), a bit like turning on your TV set on MTV. If you don't have control over the programming, you can however find out in advance (in 30-minute increments) the songs that will be broadcast according to several themes and types of music (pop, country, folk, metal) and therefore return to the schedule that best suits you. You can then join the playing track at any time to not only watch the clip, enjoy the vibe, but also earn experience and (virtual) money, the heart of this GH TV. Because without tokens or Hero Cash, you won't be able to go very far...
By connecting to Guitar Hero services, you will be able to access the two channels that broadcast music continuously (day and night), a bit like turning on your TV set on MTV.
If playing the songs that play continuously on both channels will not cost you a single kopek, as long as you access the Guitar Hero Live catalog (more than 200 songs, which will subsequently be updated by the developers), you will have to spend tokens, music equivalent to one token. To earn it, nothing could be simpler, you have to go up in rank and therefore in XP. Each time you level up, three tokens will end up in your pocket and it's up to you to make good use of them. But that's where the rub is: even paying for the desired music with a token, it won't be your property. In Guitar Hero Live, you pay to play but for a – very – limited time, since it is actually a rental. Obviously, let's not be fooled, this whole system has been designed so that the player gives in, loses patience and decides to take out the credit card number to buy a 24-hour pass for example and have unlimited access to the catalogue. Even if we feign astonishment, there could not be other possible alternatives so that the existence of Guitar Hero Live is perennial and that we avoid the intoxication of a new playlist sold at a high price every 6 months, as was the case in the golden age of Guitar Hero. If it is obvious that Guitar Hero Live will alienate some players, scandalized by such sales methods, others will see it as a good way to update the game, but also to control their purchases, in small doses of course. Let's hope that Activision remains reasonable, even grand prince as is the case with the price of the guitar + game pack offered on the market, because Guitar Hero Live seems to have finally found the right formula so that its return is not in vain, or at least not just a one shot. Knock on wood.
