June 1, 2007 - Much of the Guitar Hero franchise's success is due to its well known status as a natural party game. Grab a few friends, a case of your favorite beverage, and Guitar Hero I or II and you have one killer night. The first Guitar Hero game had a limited face-off mode, but that didn't stop the parties. GH II expanded the multiplayer fun with co-op play and pro face-off. Guitar Hero III adds more. A lot more.
The co-op play from Guitar Hero II is being extended into its own career mode. Online play is being added. And then there's the new battle mode. Inspired by the 1986 Ralph Macchio "classic" Crossroads, this mode is about facing off against a competitor and matching whatever they can throw at you. By the way, if you haven't seen Crossroads, you should. It ends with Ralph Macchio facing off against Steve Vai, who plays the devil's guitarist, in a guitar battle for eternal souls. Hell yeah.
While it isn't possible to trade off improvised licks in Guitar Hero like a real guitar duel, the new battle mode does keep you on your toes. Here's how it works. Star power doesn't exist in battle mode. Instead, matching every "star" note in a lick gives you a power-up to use against your opponent. These attacks only last a brief moment, but they do wonders towards throwing your adversary off his or her game. Up to three power-ups can be stored to use at the right moment and tilting your guitar vertically (just like activating star power) uses one of your attacks.
When we first heard had this mode explained to us, it sounded a bit cheesy. Then we gave it a shot and realized it's flat out fun. Sending over a few attacks at the right moment, whether it's when they're trying to snatch up an attack themselves or in the midst of a tricky solo, is so deviously satisfying that you can't help but grin.
Here's a rundown of the attacks we got a chance to try out. They may change in name or function before the game comes out and others may get tossed into the mix, too.
Broken String: When an opponent breaks one of your strings, that button on the guitar controller won't work until you fix it. To do so you'll have to rapidly tap that "string" until it is repaired.
Difficulty Up: This one won't appear if both players have the difficulty set to expert. If you're playing on hard or lower and this gets sent your way, then you'll find yourself playing up a difficulty level for a brief period of time.
Amp Overload: This attack causes the scrolling fret board on screen to shake and blur, making it extremely difficult to read which notes are approaching.
Whammy Bar: If you get attacked with this bad boy, you'll have to get your whammy bar moving and fast before you can play notes again.
Steal Power: This one is self-explanatory. Use it to steal an attack from your opponent before they can use it. If they don't have one to steal and you activate this power, you'll lose it.
Double Notes: Make your opponent double up on how many notes they have to play for a short period of time: Devastating in the midst of a crazy solo.
Lefty Flip: The attack to end all attacks. Putting lefty flip on your opponent forces them to either transcribe the music or actually flip their guitar over and play left handed. Used at the right moment, it can not be stopped.
The game continues until one person fails out. If both people make it to the end, a sudden death sequence will play out, though it hasn't been implemented in the build of the game we played. Right now, the team is working on balancing each song so that they have the right number of power-ups so that the game doesn't always end in a sudden death face-off, though with really good players that conclusion seems inevitable. Both players can choose their own difficulty, so choosing a difficulty below one's skill level seems like a cheap way to guarantee a sudden death ending. Neversoft assured us that it is doing a lot of play testing to balance everything out.
We played a bunch of different songs and found some to work in battle mode better than others. One thing was consistent though; the tension level is higher than any other multiplayer mode we've played for Guitar Hero. Perpetually being on the verge of failing out, and having somebody at your side to blame it on, is great fuel for trash talking and rematch challenges. So far, this looks like a very welcome addition to the Guitar Hero world.
ing abomination. I'm almost glad they used that song instead of something else because at least we got some comedic value out of it. Yes, Twist of Cain would have been an excellent low-level song, Am I Demon or Dirty Black Summer would have been a decent low/intermediate tunes...but hearing that guy they have singing them would have made me put a foot in my television.
