Review of Guitar Hero: Van Halen

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The titles on the game are great. Even the ones that don't fit into the whole VH/80's band-era. Career mode really blows as there really isn't anything close to a career to it. Just play songs and get stars to unlock new songs. I didn't like seeing wolfgang singing (Michael Anthony's voice) in the game. The band looked really cheesy in career mode. But, once I got through "career mode" and was able to go to quickplay with all the songs in my list and my own band, it wasn't so bad. Love the songs, hate the game. Worst GH game I have bought yet, overall.

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Back 2 or 3 years ago, when Guitar Hero was just becoming super popular, I thought to myself, you know they should really do a guitar hero: van halen!! But I thought the chances of that were very slim. I was of course wrong. When I first heard about it, I absolutely couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I was excited, but I was even more excited when you could get it for free with Guitar Hero 5!! 2 games in one!! So I did, and got it more than 2 months before the release date, and started rocking out!! Well here's the positives...

+ Extremely Fun!! The first song you play in Career is the incredibly awesome "Panama," and then "Running With The Devil," as an encore, and after those two I was hooked.

+ Track List is Great!! 25 of Van Halen's best songs all collected in one game, and none of them disappoint. And the 3 solo's are very difficult and will take a while even for the Experts to master them.

+ The band doesn't look extremely deformed which is good. They all look at least passable and/or decent.

+ Some replay value. If you want all the achievements, and want to unlock the classic looks of the band. Which is a very nice and different look to see the classic Van Halen band rocking out.

+ David Lee Roth is pretty interactive. He really gets into the music, and makes it seem all the more fun. Especially during "Jump."

+ You can play a song more than once and not get sick of it. I've played at least each Van Halen song twice. Some over 10 times and I still love them!!

+ Crowd is nice to have. The sing along to the lyrics and go crazy when you use star power. In GH5, you could hardly hear them.

Then some little things, which bother me a bit...

+/No Sammy Hagar. I would like to play, "Why Can't This Be Love," and "Dreams."

+/No Michael Anthony. Wolfgang, made the whole Base Career look unappealing. Mike's vocals are still there, it's just stupid to have Wolfgang there taking the credit.

+/Feels rushed, but I shouldn't complain since I got it for free.

+/The guest acts or okay, not a lot of them seem to fit in, but they're still fun. Just not as fun as the Van Halen songs. And Wolfgang picked most of them, so what do you expect?

And only one negative,

No interviews or videos, I wish they showed us the band all together and see them making the game.

This game is one fun rockin' game, once you get to appreciate it. All the Van Halen songs are good, but some guest acts could have of been changed. This game deserved better. Not a must own guitar hero, but still good. I'm a huge fan, so there's my exception. Recommended for fans who want more songs to play or Van Halen fans (With Roth).

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Yes, the goings on in the Van Halen camp are childish, ego-driven fiascos of embarrassment. The antics of Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth are well-publicized, and Michael Anthony is the latest victim of Eddie's ego. This, unfortunately carries into this Guitar Hero game with the bass players ommission. He is insultingly replaced with Eddie's son Wolfgang, who I have no problem with...he seems like a good dude...but Mike is a constant in Van Halen's illustrious career and his backing vocals are part of VH's core signature sound. Its not that Wolfie doesn;t belong on the game, he just doesn't need to REPLACE Michael Anthony even on the classic-look characters.

While most all fans liked the Hagar era, purists never felt VH was ever the same without Diamond Dave and Diamond Dave was never the same without Van Halen. The two go together like oreos and milk. The Van Halen that is featured in this game is a salute to the Van Halen that is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...sans Hagar, with Wolfie being a HUGE asterisk. There is NO excuse to exclude Michael Anthony...none at all, and Eddie should live to regret this decision. But, as a DLR era Van Halen fan, this game allows me to have LOADS of fun. "Little Guitars" is a nightmare on medium and fun to play. Once I found the groove, the track proved to be the most fun of all. This game would get 5 stars if Michael Anthony was featured, so there is no denying that this game is a blast for fans of Van Halen's music. Wether or not the game would be better with Sammy tracks is debateable. I feel it should be a separate game, because the two bands, while both called "Van Halen" were WORLDS apart in feel, and attitude. Its like two completely different band experiences between a Sammy lead VH show and a DLR lead VH show...so why not two separate games?

Fans of Van Halen should buy this game. Its fun...and thats why it exist...and that is why Van Halen is the perfect fit for GH! VH is one of the most fun bands on the planet...and Eddie, while an egomaniac, is a Guitar Hero.

Honest reviews on Guitar Hero: Van Halen

This game has the classic Van Halen songs you hoped for, if you're an old rocker like me, with graciously zero Sammy Hagar inclusions. It also has a slew of "guest artist" tracks which are varied and well chosen, mostly also from the 80s.

But don't expect the Original 4 to be present on the Guitar Hero concert stage: David Lee Roth; Eddie and Alex Van Halen; Michael Anthony. Remember, head banger, this is a new century. Marketing dictates you get the newer blend of Van Halen and their kids (Wolfgang) in this edition, sporting short haircuts and CG age defying makeup. David and Eddie awkwardly dance around this digital stage like they're about to fall backward into wheelchairs. For comparison, a far better job was done with Guitar Hero Aerosmith and Steven Tyler's lips.

This is a fun game, and you'll probably be too busy following the on-screen notes to pay much attention to the antiquated David Lee Roth in the background waving and pretending he loves Eddie's fretboard finger tapping. Everyone knows these 80s rock star revivals are last ditch efforts for the artists to pull together retirement accounts since they ended up living longer than any of them expected. I was just hoping the emotional disdain and plastic smiles of these angry old birds wouldn't carry over so successfully from the real world. Maybe Red Octane/Activision did too good a job.

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Yes, if you need extra bells and whistles like biographical info on the band, songs, etc you will find it lacking. However, there is more then enough info on VH out there for those who already don't know the story, especially during the David Lee Roth era and subsequent comeback in 2007. As for the core meat of the game itself, and the songs to play the guitar to go (which is the only instrument I use, this is Guitar Hero after all), this game is second to none in the series. The main reason, Eddie Van Halen is a guitar hero in his own right and almost all of Van Halen's songs were built around great guitar rifts and structure. There is hardly a VH song and maybe not one included in this game that just has a boring repeat riff. Almost every Van Halen song has a great solo and their damn fun songs to listen to especially if you are a VH fan. Also I got this game free with a purchase of GH 5, but I would have rather it been the other way around. If you love Guitar Hero series, especially playing guitar or bass, then you have to pick up this game. Btw good luck making it through 1 minute of Eruption on difficult!