Great game, even better if you love guitar hero.
Lets Break it down.
Gameplay: Similar to all the other Guitar Hero's out there except there is only one flaw, the HUD. It is a lot less flashy and it is hard to tell if you have a 4x multiplier or 2x, its all because it is hidden to the right side of the guitar hero highway and it doesn't show the colors unlike its predecessors. To the left of the highway is an even smaller rock out meter. Which is also hard to tell how well your doing in a song, this is one of the main things that frustrates me. I forgot to add about the note charts. They are annoying, I play the real guitar so it really grinds my gears when they add notes that aren't really there and in this particular game they do it waaay more than usual.
One of the new additions to the gameplay is the Create-A-Rocker and all the other creation options which Activision usually adds to their games. (That was the main thing I was afraid of, Activision adds all that extra garbage and forgets about MAKING THE GAME. Thats what they did with the most recent Tony Hawk games.) But these features to not really slow down the game play in anyway, they are a lot of fun to use and add depth to the game, I personally love the create-a-rocker, but many will turn to the Music Studio. This is where the game can really shine if you know what you are doing. Only problem is, it is soooo robust you have to actually know what your doing, you can't just jam out and hope it sounds cool. You have to have actual experience with music and recording studios.
New Peripherals: The new additions to the guitar hero game are the drums and mic. I LOVE the look of the drums they are a lot more flashier than the rock band kit and feel really responsive and have a lot of rebound. The thing is about the drums is the kick pedal, I found my self into a song and notice the kick pedal is turning sideways halfway through the song so I have to pause and put it back to place, I wish they would of added a rail to attatch the pedal to the rail, like the rock band kit. Another thing about the drums, they suck. Playing the drums on guitar hero feel really retarded and I have not found any joy out of playing them. I guess Im used to the greatness of the rock band drums, the circular notes make it even weirder. The mic works perfect, it is similar to any other karaoke game. The new guitar is really really really great. Mine broke as soon as I got it out of the box but I have played it enough elswhere to know what I'm talking about. The guitar is very comfortable and feels like it has more weight and more realism to it. The look is spectacular and the new slider feature is great. This guitar is the best one that has came out so far. (Far better than both of the Rock Band Guitars and all the Guitar Hero guitars.)
Songlist: Sucks, I mean not flat out terribad, but pretty bad. There aren't as many classics and it seems they went to more pop rock, which makes me mad. I am a HUGE metal fan and there are only 2 metal songs from my viewing, at least they are really good metal songs. All in all I don't think too many people will be disapointed.
Verdict: This is a great game, with a few flaws I'd recommend this game to anyone who loves games like this. If you are willing to purchase this, I would not do what I did and bought the complete band set. Go for the complete guitar game, you will get more worth out of your money and you save like 80 bucks.
P.S. If you are wondering, Rock Band 2 is better.