Game review: Guitar Hero Live

TimeOut·

3 Dec, 2015 06:00 PM2 mins to read

The video game Guitar Hero Live.

I just nailed the riff from Jack White's Lazaretto, the crowd is chanting my name, and I'm pretty sure my band's female bassist is into me.

But then it all goes horribly wrong. I fluff a few notes during a solo, the crowd's cheers turn to boos, and that bassist isn't flirting anymore - she's yelling at me to sort it out. I've been booed off stage. Jack White would be disgusted.

Welcome to Guitar Hero Live, the latest incarnation of the franchise we last heard from in 2010. If you've played it before, this won't feel overly different: pick up a plastic guitar, throw the strap over your shoulder, then press buttons in time to a scrolling on-screen fretboard.

If you nail your chords, the crowd cheers and the bassist starts eyeing you up. Muck them up, the crowd throws things and the singer chucks a major tantrum.

That concert footage is one of the game's best improvements. Instead of making your way through individual songs, you'll play sets in front of real crowds with real band members. It feels like there's much more at stake.

The guitar has changed too, with a six-button fretboard offering more chord options for more experienced players. For the rest of us, you'll end up with a claw hand in no time.

There are let-downs: the song selections are more mainstream, with Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry mixing with Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons. If you deliberately muck up Skrillex's riff-free Bangarang, no one would blame you: trying to play dubstep on a toy guitar is too ridiculous for words.

Guitar Hero Live works best when you find the right difficulty setting and nail those solos during real rock songs, like Royal Blood's Little Monster or The Black Keys' Gold on the Ceiling.

Now I know how Jack White feels when he walks on stage and starts shredding. I never want this feeling to stop.