Guitar Hero fans rejoice: you have not been forgotten. Bedroom rockstars with early-onset-RSI around the world were pleased to hear that the beloved gaming franchise is being revived this year, with the next instalment, Guitar Hero Live, to hit streets towards the end of the year.
The new game looks promising, with the first details of the tracklist including legends like Judas Priest, Pantera, and The Rolling Stones. But they’re also rolling out the carpet to more current acts like Alt-J, Gary Clark Jr and The Black Keys. (Also, Skrillex is there… in a Guitar Hero game…)
So to prepare you (and your fingers) for the upcoming release, we’ve compiled some of the greatest moments in Guitar Hero-istory.
Guitar Hero reached peak popularity with its 2007 edition, Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock. The game featured Slash, Tom Morello, and the devil himself. But it also contained what was considered to be one of the most difficult songs in Guitar Hero history: ‘Through The Fire And The Flames’ by power metal band Dragonforce.
The song starts out with one of the fastest and most technical riffs in the game, and it only gets worse from there. Like most power metal songs, the track runs through big chords, fast riffs, and massively over-the-top guitar solos, all of which the player must conquer in order to win. Dragonforce were the real winner in all of this, though, as the sales of their CDs increased by 126 per cent the week after the game came out.
The song quickly became the song to master in the game, with the Guinness World Records constantly awarding new records to those who master it. There’s thousands of videos online of people nailing it, but also a fair share of people not-exactly nailing it.
*Concentrating Intensifies*
Of course, if guitars aren’t your thing, you can always find another way. After a series of strenuous research tasks (AKA me playing Guitar Hero at parties), we have discovered that drummers are more adept at Guitar Hero than most guitarists. Obviously they know a thing or two about rhythm, so this one drummer/hacker decided to edit his copy of Guitar Hero so he could play it all on a drum pad. And if you thought ‘Through The Fire And The Flames’ looked difficult before, I’ve got news for you:
There were always naysayers when it came to Guitar Hero. The most stubborn of ‘real music’ defenders would be quick to tell you that playing Guitar Hero wasn’t playing “real guitar”. But sometimes a small plastic guitar can take you to some dizzying heights of fame, such as opening for Aerosmith.
In what can be considered one of Guitar Hero’s ‘jumping the shark’ moments, they released Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, a version of the game that was almost entirely devoted to Aerosmith (what you’ve always wanted, right?).
The game wasn’t a huge success, but competitions were held around the country in celebration of the game. And a lucky few got to open for Aerosmith, playing one of their songs (through Guitar Hero) live onstage before the band played – a performance that no doubt sent the thousands in attendance into a frenzy.
And the crowd goes mild!
Of course, once you open up for Aerosmith, what else is there to do? You’ve beat ‘Through The Fire And The Flames’ and reached the dizzying heights of (plastic) rock stardom. Well, you can wait for Rehab Hero to come out, or you can start making your own songs.
In an effort to expand content, the later games featured a ‘studio mode’, where players could create their own tracks using the Guitar Hero controller. This was for the most part a labour-intensive process that did not yield great results, more often than not featuring basic drum beats and wild non-sensical guitar solos.
But after all these years, if you’ve been waiting for a Chiptune/metal crossover, your prayers have been answered.
Guitar Hero Live is scheduled for release in late 2015.
