To Buy or Not to Buy....
While walking through a local K-Mart I saw GTHWT for PS3 on sale for $79.99 and I had a $5 off K-Mart coupon so I decided to buy it. After finally opening it and giving it a try I was pleasantly surprised at how good a version of Guitar Hero this actually is.
I am only playing in Guitar mode and playing on a PS3 so I have no information on the rest of the modes or the other systems.
I like the fact that you create your own Guitar Hero charecter from scratch, your signature moves for your Guitar Hero charecter, your own custom guitar and your band logo. I actually spent a couple hours messing with this before actually playing the game.
The gameplay is almost the same as GTHIII but it adds the slider bar, a star power bar and a new level: Beginner which basically is just strumming to the notes of a song without pressing the notes on the fretboard. This will really help those starting out to get their rythm and timing down.
The guitar itself is a little larger than the Gibson Les Paul in GTHIII and the buttons are laid out better. I like the new guitar very much.
The slider bar is kind of cool and really helps out in fast solos as you can use it as the strum bar by just tapping it as you would move the strum bar up and down. It is like an Eddy Van Halen solo thing :)
As far as using the slider rather than the fretboard buttons it is not so good as there is no way to tell one button from the next by feel. I cant see how you could go from green to blue without looking. I have not messed with the slider too much yet, I have only used it to play fast solos. I may be missing something here but so far I don't like it so much. I have seen a wireless Flying V guitar for GTHWT that has actual buttons for the slider bar which seems better to me.
The star power bar is the most helpful addition to me as you no longer have to raise up the guitar neck which has thrown me off plenty of times in hard mode. It is placed right next to the strum bar and is very easy to hit with your palm without missing a beat.
The song list is OK but again GTHIII is far better to me as I am an Old School Headbanger. The plus side of GTHWT is that there are tons of add ons which have dried up on GTHIII. It is also cool that the songs purchased for GTHIII work on GTHWT, at least the Metallica Death Magnetic album, I have not checked for the "Three Pack" add ons I purchased.
The graphics seem to be a little crisper than GTHIII but that just may be wishful thinking.
The online play of GTHWT is absolutely a standout over the other versions. You still have the guitar battles and online play as in GTHIII but now you have the ability to create a band online and compete as a group.
The studio mode where you can create your own songs is also a nice addition for those creative souls out there. As many Rock Bands play Guitar Hero on tour buses I wonder how many bands will be creating new music just for Guitar Hero, that is a HUGE factor to be considered!
All in all I think if you are a Guitar Hero fan you are going to want to buy Guitar Hero World Tour as this is the evolution of the series and you don't want to get stuck behind without the new features on the Guitar, online play and the new music add ons. If it was just a new version with new songs and not the guitar and gameplay enhancements I would say skip it.