The next in the popular rock simulation is beginning to shape more and more into a must have title for any system, including the
Wii. Even after Rock Band released, adding drums and vocals into the mix, Activision are desperate to go all out and give spot number one back to their Guitar Hero series. The boys over at IGN had recently gotten a chance to play around with the Xbox 360 version of the game and some new details have emerged. Here are a list of new details about the game:
Instruments.
As previously announced, Guitar Hero World Tour adds bass, drums and vocals to the regular guitar mix. Sure, Rock Band may have already done this for us but Activison has gone a step further. Let's start with the guitar.
Yes, it's been confirmed that little touch pad located on the neck of the controller does have a purpose. According to IGN,
"it allows you to alter notes during sustains by sliding up and down the strip (giving more freedom and options than what you had before with just a whammy bar). It can also be used for tapping to play notes, particularly awesome if you want to mimic a slap bass". As with the Guitar Hero III guitar, a
Wii remote will be used inside it.
The microphone.... well not much can be said about it. It's wired and plugs into the USB port of the
Wii. It can't be used to navigate menus however.
The drum kit is not only a new addition to the Guitar Hero franchise, but it excels in ways that the Rock Band drum kit could not. For one thing it actually looks like a drum set, with three coloured panels for the drums, as well as two elevated panels for cymbols and a bass pedal. Another enhancement is that the drums react different depending on how hard you hit them. Hit them softly, get a soft sound, beat the hell out of them and get a loud sound. As with the guitar, the
Wii version requires a
Wii remote for wireless play.
Band customization.
Personally, this is a part of the game that really shines for me. As well as the original characters from all three previous Guitar Hero games, you now have the ability to make your own band members. According to IGN, the character creator is similar to that seen in their Tony Hawk titles, you can dress them, distort their faces, edit hair colours, add tattoos and the like. Don't think it stops there though, after your characters are made, you can give them your own on-stage animations. Does your character jump around like a maniac while they play or do a little dance? Another special feature is the decal maker, which does exactly as you would imply. You can create decals and designs for your instruments that you use on stage, drums, microphone and guitars.
Music Creator.
Lets not forget one of the games most stand out features, the "Music Creator", which allows you to create your own songs and rock to them. Creating songs is both easy and fun. You can choose from a range of bass and drum loops as well as lay out the note chart. When your song is done, you might want to check out the Guitar Hero Mix mode, which allows you edit your songs further, such as copy and pasting the chorus and looping certain areas of the song. Neversoft claimed that it's a function "not many casual will venture into".
Then when your final product is complete, you can use the decal maker to design a CD case for it and upload it to the GH Tunes service. This is where you can upload your songs for others to download aswell as download other peoples songs yourself. You can save up to 100 songs you created onto your system and download up to 200 tracks others have created. However, you are only limited to uploading five songs at a time, most likely to stop people from spamming the service. Also, despite the
Wii's limited space capabilities, all these features WILL be included in the
Wii version, and that downloadable content directly from Activision could be purchased and stored on an SD Card with
Wii Points.
So if you are a
Wii owner and your holding out for Rock Band, this game is turning out to be a much wiser investment for you. Apart from the obvious graphical differences, this game will be the exact same as the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.
More details and the full source can be read here:
IGN: Guitar Hero World Tour Preview
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