Band Hero
Band Hero is a 2009 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second spin-off of the Guitar Hero series, following DJ Hero (2009). The game was released on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5 (2009), and supports full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5. The console versions use instrument-shaped game controllers, while the DS version uses either the "Guitar Grip" introduced with the Guitar Hero: On Tour series or a new Drum Skin that comes with the game. Like previous games, who feature virtual avatars of musical artists, Taylor Swift, Adam Levine, and the band No Doubt are presented in the game.
Band Hero
Band Hero received mixed reviews from journalists. Some considered the game to be an appropriately flavored version of Guitar Hero 5 for the "Top 40" pop rock hits, while others felt the game was strictly aimed at teenagers or children. They also contested the cost of the full game, featuring only 65 songs compared with 85 songs in Guitar Hero 5, and considered if the content would have been better in downloadable form. A day after the game's release, the band No Doubt sued Activision, citing similar misuse of their avatars to the Kurt Cobain avatar in Guitar Hero 5.
Development[edit]
A television advertisement, featuring Taylor Swift, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Travis Barker (Blink-182), and Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), was created for the game by director Brett Ratner in the same manner as previous ads for other recent Guitar Hero games, initially paying tribute to the scene in Risky Business with Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear to the song "Old Time Rock and Roll". Though it appears as if all four performed together, Wentz stated that Swift performed her parts separately using a green screen to impose her into the footage of the other musicians.[10]
A three-song demo was made available on Xbox Live on October 15, 2009, and included "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven, "Picture to Burn" by Taylor Swift and "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. The demo was solely the Party Mode, with the three songs playable in random order.[11]
Soundtrack[edit]
Console soundtrack[edit]
Band Hero for consoles features 65 songs from "mainstream acts".[12][13] The game also allowed Guitar Hero World Tour’s downloadable content to be used within Band Hero, as well as Guitar Hero 5.[1] In addition, some on-disc songs from Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits were importable into Band Hero, with music licensing limiting those that can be transferred, prior to the 2014 shutdown of DLC and exports.[14] Furthermore, 69 of the 85 on-disc songs from Guitar Hero 5 can be imported into Band Hero; similarly, 61 of the 65 songs from Band Hero can be exported for use in Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.[15][16] All DLC works with Band Hero, along with all earlier on-disc songs marked as exportable, unlike Lego Rock Band which only allows DLC and exports marked as "family friendly".