Here’s another Mach’s Blueprints Segment. For those of you who don’t know what this segment is for, it’s for all my first impressions go for certain games. Ironically, the last time I did this was for another Guitar Hero game, that one being Guitar Hero: World Tour several days before its release.

Time to kill some space so this avatar and rather tall image won’t collide. >:3

Kinda sucks how nothing ever works the way you want em’ too, huh?

So my area was lucky enough to be graced with a Guitar Hero Arcade cabinet. I won’t exactly say where, but we have one for a good amount of time. A friend and I decided to check it out since I had time to kill between my classes.

So this is the Guitar Hero Arcade Cabinet.

It looks incredibly simple and ironically running off of Guitar Hero guitars for the 360. Not horribly impressed there. On top of that, the cabinet had the sides mixed up. See that World Tour guitar? First player. That Guitar Hero 2 Guitar? Second player. What sides do the wires pop out on? The opposite sides. But overall, what did I think about the game? First, this:

That will be all.

As for the actual review segment, click the jump to read it.

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To start, my new banner for my Halloween Backloggery theme is from Tigerfog’s Sega Sonic Zombies. Awesome image, and I’ve used this for a song that I’ve stepped as well. Also worth noting, Tigerfog is the artist for the MNT Gaiden. Read the comic, visit his deviantART. He’s an amazing artist worth looking at.

Also, no rant tonight (this morning? It’s 2:30 AM and it’s dark. I consider it night. ), Camtasia refuses to work with me for my rant video… Unless anyone want to reccommend some good video editing software, I’m more than willing to listen.

Anyway, I was over at Best Buy today with the intention of getting my brother’s birthday present. What I was plesantly surprised at was the demo stations they had newly implemented and was completely shocked when I saw Guitar Hero: World Tour was being demoed. To note, this was the full version of the game they had available for play.

The Guitar Hero: World Tour Demo station they had at my local Best Buy. (Shitty picture, work with me. D:<)

If anything I had to try, it was obviously the drums and the guitar. I was willing to try the vocals, but alas, no controller hooked up for that purpose. In this game, there are 5 difficulties available, ranging from Beginner, to Expert. Pretty much the same ratings they’ve always gone by except with the addition of something even easier being added on.

I chose a couple of songs that I recognized and just to name a few:

• Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way
• Blink 182 – Dammit
• Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
  
• Linkin Park – What I’ve Done
• The Eagles – Hotel California
  
• Paramore – Misery Business
• Michael Jackson – Beat It (Song most likely to be whored out during any occasion)
• Korn – Freak on a Leash
• Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer
• System of a Down – B.Y.O.B
  

The drums are the most notable thing for this game. Obviously with the additions of the two cymbols. During gameplay, it was surprisingly comfortable and had absolutely no problem transitioning into this drum set. The levels of really make a difference. Also worth noting about the drums, they’re even quieter than the Rock Band 2 drum set. It’s very bouncy, which makes it a lot of fun to play.

I did have a qualms with it though. The sensitivity and how long these pads would last was my main concern. While I was playing I occassionally had some trouble hitting the cymbols, mostly because they didn’t respond at time when I smacked them. Perhaps it was because of the constant beating this game had already recieved prior to me playing it, I wouldn’t know, but I just worry about its durability.

The guitar on the other hand is nice as well. One very welcome addition was the touch-sensitive pad for the guitars. With the addition of these, you are able to tap strum/slap bass (depending what instrument you’re playing) with the music. One notable area you’ll be using them will be during solos. Like the guitars before them, have pretty much been the same, except this one is A LOT quieter. It still contains the click that most Guitar Hero guitars have, but this one pretty much lulled it down to a mouse click for a computer. It’s pretty good.

Durability for Guitar Hero guitars have never really been an issue, so I’m not worried about that at all, mostly just wondering about how responsive the touch pads will be after a good amount of time.

As a personal thing that’s always troubled me about this series is how accurate you have to be with the notes. I know the series has always been a stickler for accuracy, but this one seems to take a bit further in my opinion. I found myself having a bit of trouble hitting notes that should’ve easily been hit. So how leniant the game will be is a concern of mine.

Or maybe I just got too used to Rock Band timing and I just suck at Guitar Hero… It’s been ages since I’ve played one. ;_;

But overall, the game looks really good. If I had the money and the room to house all the instruments, I would definitely pick this up. Graphics are superb and the music creator looks like an interesting feature to be working with when one has more time to work with it.

Just keep in mind, the game comes out this Sunday on October 26th. Most places should be having a midnight release so watch out for ones in your area.

Later!