With a flurry of Guitar Hero titles being released since Activision’s acquirement of the franchise, any couch rocker is bound to get a cramp just trying to keep up. Is it really worth all the hassle, or does Activision need to crank it down a couple notches? Personally, I enjoy the steady influx of guitar-driven rhythm games, as they are a great way to kill time and make you feel like a rock star in the comfort of your own home. However, many people have noticed that, with this increase in titles, the quality has taken a bit of a nosedive. Unfortunately, Guitar Hero: Van Halen reinforces that notion.

Most likely because of legal rights, the game features only the current members of the band: David Lee Roth; Alex Van Halen; Eddie Van Halen; and Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen. Also, for the majority of the game, they maintain their current appearances, so you spend most of career mode playing as old, short-haired rockers, with the exception of Wolfgang, the chubby young odd man out. As you progress through the game, you are eventually able to unlock classic Van Halen, which will have a far more familiar look and feel–again, with the exception of Wolfgang, who looks terribly out of place. That is saying a lot, considering most of the band members don’t look much like themselves to begin with. If we weren’t told ahead of time that this is Van Halen, I think even many long-time fans would have difficulty identifying them.

Graphically, the game falls somewhat short. Being the first game I played on my new HDTV, I was considerably disappointed when I loaded this up and was greeted with what looked like a game from two years ago. I would say it was on par with Guitar Hero 3, and that’s being somewhat generous. Granted, I generally feel that graphics are not terribly important, but I’m sure you can imagine how I felt when my first high-definition experience was so subpar.

Worried that there might be something wrong with my TV or HDMI cable, I loaded Guitar Hero 5 and, much to my relief, was bombarded with bright, smooth graphical effects. While that was a slight relief, it was disappointing to confirm that the choppy and grainy graphics are a problem with the game itself, and that there isn’t a whole lot that can be done to fix it. It certainly isn’t game-breaking, but don’t expect to be wowed, as this doesn’t live up to the current standard of new releases. On top of that, the band’s movements on stage are not very fluid; and I was often reminded of the animatronic Chuck E. Cheese band. These old rockers are surely getting a bit stiff in their age, but I’d like to think that they don’t walk around looking like they’re always doing “the robot”.

Of course, what really matters is the gameplay. Sadly, that also falls short in comparison to other titles in the franchise. Anyone who has played Guitar Hero: Metallica will notice that Van Halen uses the same engine. It is understandable to reuse a pre-existing game engine in order to save yourself time, effort and money; however, as a general rule of thumb, it is usually best to reuse a good engine. 

Van Halen has one of the worst interfaces I’ve ever seen. It uses clunky, confusing menus, and many features are hidden within submenus that don’t always make sense. When scrolling through songs, I often had to go through a few before I finally realize which ones I am selecting. But that’s okay, because it doesn’t save your place, so whenever you return to Career mode, you have to scroll all the way back down to where you left off. Hopefully you can sense that slight hint of sarcasm.

Moreover, playing the game may be a bit of a chore for some people. In my personal experience, I was almost unable to play because the lag was so bad. In order to successfully hit notes, I would have to strum well before they reached the strike line. Assuming this might be a problem with my new TV or perhaps the HDMI cable, I tried playing the game on my old CRT TV, which yielded the exact same results. After nearly two hours of calibrating and re-calibrating, I finally managed to come up with a solution that was somewhat manageable. But let’s be honest here, most people simply don’t have the time to do this. Any game that requires over an hour of research and troubleshooting gives the impression that it wasn’t given enough attention in the testing process. One can only hope that Activision will release a patch before the game hits stores.

One highlight of the gameplay is that GH:VH has a very fair difficulty. There are some tough tracks, and the bass is unnecessarily fast, but this is probably one of the easier music titles available and, as long as you can get around the lag issues, this would be a good starting point for newcomers. But the difficulty increases enough to keep things interesting. In my experience, this kept online versus battles from being too one-sided, which helped make things a bit more interesting.

Of course, that’s if you can ever find a match. Maybe I just have bad luck, but the online community for this game is even worse than that of Guitar Hero 5. And to rub salt in the wound, it will likely be even worse at the time of the retail release, because by then the hype will have already died down. Any U.S. gamer who really wanted to play this game already has a promotional copy, and frankly, not many of them are playing it. Perhaps a worldwide release will garner a bit more excitement and activity. However, with a lack of online and offline multiplayer appeal, I don’t expect this to be lighting up a lot of parties.

For the most part, the music is enjoyable. Being somewhat of a classic rock ensemble, most people will recognize a good portion of the songs, even if they had no idea that they were Van Halen songs. Like many people, however, I find the guest tracks a bit off-putting. Most of the songs simply don’t make sense for this title and feel like they should be in Band Hero instead. As I understand it, Wolfgang Van Halen was put in charge of picking these songs. If I were Eddie, I think I’d have to ground the lad for even thinking “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” would be an acceptable addition to the setlist.

All in all, Guitar Hero: Van Halen is an average game in comparison to the rest of the series. It’s a good way to introduce people to the genre, but most veterans won’t stay interested for very long. While the game does have a couple of highlights, it’s mostly a large step backwards in the series. Rather than releasing a few months after Guitar Hero 5, this should have been released a few months beforehand to help build up hype. It may have even fared better if that were case. I have to assume that perhaps this is one of the main reasons the game was offered for free with purchase of Guitar Hero 5 (with some restrictions) because, to be frank, this game could have been released last year and it still wouldn’t have been terribly innovative. If you are one of the lucky consumers who snagged a free promotional copy, you’ll find an entertaining 5-hour musical romp, but if you’re stuck with having to pay retail price, I would only suggest getting this if you are a big Van Halen fan or an obsessed Guitar Hero collector.

Score: 6/10

• Pros:
  • Great selection of Van Halen songs
  • Live out your fantasies of playing in a classic big-hair band
• Cons:
  • Lag issues detract significantly from the enjoyment of the game
  • It’s just not quite the same without the classic lineup
  • Playing as Classic Van Halen requires first playing through 95% of the game as old men
  • The guest acts don’t make any sense
• Random Fact:
  • During the month of September 2009, Activision offered free promotional copies of Guitar Hero: Van Halen to those who purchased Guitar Hero 5.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen was developed by Underground Development, Neversoft, and Budcat Creations and published by Activision. It will be released for PS2, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 on December 22, 2009.