11/FEB/13

New Releases: What upcoming games are you looking forward to?

close full details

Guitar Hero: Van Halen (X360)

GENERAL INFORMATION

GENRE/STYLE

Simulation/Musical Instrument/Band Simulation

RELEASE DATE

22/DEC/09

ESRB RATING

DEVELOPER

PUBLISHER

Activision, Inc.

ALSO AVAILABLE ON

PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii

TRAITS (member-attributed "LIKES")

THE SETTING #USES

modern 5
Venues of the Gods of rock 1

PLAYING AS #USES

PLAYING AGAINST #USES

HOW IT'S PLAYED #USES

Music 9
With Friends 7

GENERAL TONE #USES

rock music 6
Frigging Sweet 1

DESCRIPTION

Activision's third band-centric Guitar Hero release follows rock group Van Halen during its formative years with David Lee Roth as lead singer, but without original bassist Michael Anthony. As with previous titles focusing on Aerosmith and Metallica, Guitar Hero: Van Halen features 3D modeled versions of each band member as well as signature-style moves, clothing, and instruments from the past and present. Complete a solo tour on bass, guitar, drums, or vocals, or team up with up to three friends for the full band experience. In addition to Van Halen's biggest hits, 19 songs from such artists as Queen, Weezer, blink-182, the Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age are included. Among the 25 featured songs from Van Halen are "Jump", "Hot for Teacher", "Panama", "Little Guitars", "Cathedral", "Spanish Fly", and "Eruption". ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Guitar Hero: Van Halen (X360)

GENRE/STYLE:

Simulation/Musical Instrument/Band Simulation
RELEASE DATE:

22/DEC/09
TOP TRAITS:

Music, musician, With Friends
DESCRIPTION:

Activision's third band-centric Guitar Hero release follows rock group Van Halen during its formative years with Davi... more

players 805

followers 3

#903

POPULARITY: X360 PLATFORM

No PLAY options. Let's try Google!

Add Game to my gamerDNA

Why your gamerDNA matters...

gameCURRENT

Past 14 days

great by: acompanhantescuritiba

“love game”

created 24/SEP/2011

Trailer - Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock...WTF? by: rawkr

“WoW, I really don't know how I feel about this: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/04/guitar-hero-warriors-of-rock-unveiled-with-trailer/ Update: And here are the controller...”

created 07/JUN/2010

Mishy was the last to comment - over 3 years ago...

“*headdeak*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*”

Torinir was the last to comment - over 3 years ago...

“@Mishy The *other* headbanging. :p”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 3 years ago...

“Every positive I can think about this has a glaringly obvious counterpoint:
90 tracks: Thats a lot of music! But it will probably be at least 50% filler trash...
The controller prototypes I have seen are sans slide bar, which I could take or leave anyway.
The transformations...*facepalm*... one of them looked so much like an undead from WoW, the other a @#$% pig in armor... then there is the Brutal Legend plot ripoff, and Axel Steel and Eddie Riggs look nearly identical anyway (but Axel came first). I can ignore the beast wars morphing since I will be focusing on the songs anyway, but...man. really?

Does anyone remember that Bard class in WoW they joked about a few April Fool's days ago? Looks like their design team didn't realize it was a joke. Being the Guitar Hero/Rock Band nut that I am I know I will end up playing it too. But...really? ”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 3 years ago...

“Updated: Now includes a link to the controller concept renderings...yeah...I know...XD”

EarthboundX was the last to comment - over 3 years ago...

“There's way too many Guitar Hero games...”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 3 years ago...

“@EarthboundX Agreed, but I can always get another one if it has a decent set list. Everything else be damned.”

SoloSnakeGR was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@EarthboundX Hate to burst your bubble pal.But seriously what did you expect from activision.all they do is sell CODs and GHs.And price starcraft 2 a whole lot more.Last dime they gained from me was MW2.Did you know they talked about MW3 at MW2 launch?”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@SoloSnakeGR Talking about a sequel at launch is...typical for activision. On the other hand, you KNOW it is coming anyway. It is CoD afterall. With the Infinity Ward debacle who knows what the next MW will look like. Black Ops looks cool though. It used to be that you wondered IF they were going to make a sequel. With the reliance on tested franchises now it is more a question of WHEN, and WHAT is being added, changed, etc.”

SoloSnakeGR was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr the problem is though that many franchises (halo,GOW,COD,GH) only add some bells and whistles that could be DLC or expansion packs.Why the hell bring out a new full-price game with a new setlist while you can pay 15euros for the new list and download it onto the game.Another example is halo;Reach.Jetpack and Borderless maps (orly? these have been around since 2001.talk about innovation and moneymaking)”

Mishy was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@SoloSnakeGR add the Reach stuff into Halo 3 would not work.

Maps in Halo 3 aren't fully rendered (bye bye borderless map love), Jetpacks would become over powered (no fall damage) not to mention the games engine is different and if it isn't the amount of work required to change the game in general for balance and whatnot would cost well over 15 euros and closer to a full game cost knowing companys.

Sometimes you need to make a new game to make it different.”

SoloSnakeGR was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@Mishy I suppose you are right.!But i find it sad it works.Companies need to do more stuff for the sequels or else make them expansions.Maybe that's the industry DOES and CAN work....”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@SoloSnakeGR The problem with releasing DLC for everything is that the consumer is still very much rooted in the packaged merchandise mentality, at least here in the states. They like to have something to see, touch, take home with them. As hard to believe as it may be, there are still people that do not like the idea of paying for DLC, but they will buy a brand new disc. Rock Band has proven that the DLC model can work to, but Acti just has their heads up their asses when it comes to that kind of strategy. They would rather keep making discs and get sixty bucks a pop. Not everybody buys every game so there is the issue of branding and buying rights to transfer everything, blah blah blah. It is a legal clusterfuck, which it wouldn't be if they went the Rock Band route but Activision was built on releasing known franchises yearly (even quarterly in the case of GH).
Like @Mishy said, the Reach engine has been changed quite a bit from Halo 3 so it wouldn't work to release the map pack. And as a company why charge 15EUR if you can get 45? Or in USD, why charge 20 if people will pay 60? They do it this way because they want to brand a new experience, and by releasing another game they can do that. The engine tweaks they bring with these new entries are not so easy to patch as they are to just package as a new product. As stated before, the packaged product has more sales potential than the digital one because there are still quite a few technophobes out there.”

SoloSnakeGR was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr well i guess that's how it works.Also in greece there is the packaged mentality.I prefer to buy a retail version to a digital one.I don't know they charge you 60 for a GH game PLUS the peripheral and then a new one comes out with (sometimes) ANOTHER peripheral.I am extremely tempted to buy a GH game but with them coming out every 6 months or whatever I don't want to.....(btw how much does dj hero cost with the turntable?)”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“A hundred”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“Getting GH with controller is 100 USD, DJ Hero was 120 USD with turntable. Not sure if it is still that or less. THe old GH peripherals work with the new games though so as long as I can find my 20 dollar explorer controller I am good.”

SoloSnakeGR was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr thanks for the info sry for the delay.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@SoloSnakeGR NP, FYI though, the WT controllers are crap. The buttons on the neck are reliable, but the strum bars are pretty flimsy. I'ce already broken one. My GH3 controller survived GH3, WT, and Metallica before it finally broke on me. Too bad they dont sell the gibson ones anymore they were pretty good.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“The explorer controller lasted me from GH2 (360) to GHWT, and all the way through WT, with all iterations in between.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“When they are new the game and guitar are 100 bucks, it varies once they are older. I saw a guitar controller on gamestop.com that was 50 bucks. It is the WT controller, but at 50 it is less of a ripoff than the original price of 80 bucks just for the controller. The used ones are cheap but you never know what you are getting with those.”

SoloSnakeGR was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr you seam to be the expert on the subject!I might look for a good offer but now im broke.(Demon's Souls Black Phantom Edition,Peace Walker,Soulcalibur IV and Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles drained my cash pool)”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@SoloSnakeGR Haha. Yeah that'll happen. Yes I have been playing Guitar Hero since the first entry to the series, back before it was acquired by the life-sucking force known as Activision. They have milked the cash cow dry and the quality of the games have gotten progressively worse. Aerosmith was crap, WT and Metallica were good, then 5 and Van Halen were "meh" at best.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“Granted that the games haven't changed all that much, it is still a bunch of gems on a strike line with guitar-like mechanics, but the set lists just keep getting more and more bland. In order to keep their track numbers high they dip into a lot of obscure garbage and radio hits from bands that have been around for two seconds. There was a time when looking at the setlist for a Guitar Hero game excited me, but I must be getting old because I find myself recognizing fewer and fewer songs with each entry to the series.”

SoloSnakeGR was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr sry for the delay i was on vacation.I feel you man!I don't know any of those songs.and i am 16 years old so you dont have to feel old.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@SoloSnakeGR I just hate how the level of filler seems to rise with each entry to a once-great series. But if you check out my latest posting there is a link to a vid for the new Megadeth track recorded specially for GHWoR. It looks difficult and awesome.”

dhaikage was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr GH was only good when Harmonix was behind it. Everyone know Activision is a soulless machine.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@dhaikage Hey, check the hatred at the door. Guitar Hero 3 was handled by Activision and Neversoft and was still a great title with a solid setlist. GH:Metallica was also phenomenal. Where they have gone beyond that point...I will agree with you. Just remember Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s? Do you? It was a pile of shit with a decent setlist, but was developed by HMX, or was a bad cut and paste job of a failed expansion. I think to say that it was ONLY good under Harmonix is an over generalization.

GH1, 2 ,3 = great
GH Metallica: Great, although I disagree with the exclusion of Cliff Burton. The setlist was solid, the extras were cool, and the support acts made sense.
GHWT = Mediocre at best, due to too much filler and foreign crap. I do not want to sing songs in a language I do not understand. period.
GH5, Aerosmith, Van Halen = Terrible
GH Smash Hits = Although it was a clear money grab it was nice to be able to play the old songs in a more functional engine with added instruments. These songs were guitar-only the first time around.”

dhaikage was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr Don't get me wrong, I love Neversoft and Treyarch. They've done excellent work previously, but Activision has decided that they should be B-Teams and clean-up crews, doling out annual iterations of their biggest franchises while disallowing creativity to flow from them, all in the glorious name of annualization. Think about it: when it the last time you can recall a new IP from Treyarch or Neversoft? So, no. I can't "check my hatred at the door" when I see a company poised to destroy two great developers for their profit margin. It's like a farm. Do you know what happens if you plant the same thing in the same field year after year?”

dhaikage was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr And while Harmonix may seem the same, they are given pretty free range. They are trying to make a perfect instrument game and are still exploring new titles. See Dance Central.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@dhaikage Yeah they have been gimping Treyarch by shackling it to the CoD and Spider-man mold for all of these years. I definitely agree there. I was only saying that GH hasn't been ALL bad since Activision has gotten a hold of it. Mostly, but not all. This new iteration is conceptually weird, but a strong set list would make it worth a purchase for me. And they have slowed down slightly from the production of GH titles, I don't have to remind you of the quarterly releases that were happening, but seem to have slowed down. This is of course after Acti has sensed that the cash cow is nearly milked dry. Harmonix do treat their music franchises with a level of respect I wish Acti would follow. If I recall the case with Infinity Ward was over a similar issue, was it not? I mean the royalties issue was valid as well, but there was one of creative differences too, correct?”

dhaikage was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr HA! Activision slow down?
There are currently 5 CoD titles scheduled to hit within the next 18 months.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“Great, save it for a CoD or Fuck Activision thread, this is about Guitar Hero which has seen fewer releases of late. Stick to the subject.”

dhaikage was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@rawkr It ties to my point of Activision killing creativity by wanting franchise sequels instead of IP. If for some reason GH explodes again, do you doubt that Activision will flood the market once more?

REally? Stick to the subject? From my observations, threads tend to meander quite a bit on this site. ”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago...

“@dhaikage Lol, yeah they really do.”

rawkr was the last to comment - over 2 years ago... show previous hide previous

“You know, the more I see of the game, the less I am against it. Especially with the setlist being pretty stellar and Rock Band 3's being good but not exactly amazing. I am going to have to save up quite a bit to re-invest in RB3. But I know it will be worth it.”

rawkr earned achievements in Guitar Hero: Van Halen on 02/MAR/10

“Finished all songs on Hard mode, unlocked Classic Eddie, knocked out achievements for beating the game on Beginner, Easy, Medium, and Hard. Took a few minutes to break in my new Metal Pedal on my...”

created 03/MAR/2010

rawkr earned achievements in Guitar Hero: Van Halen on 22/FEB/10

“I hadn't picked this up since I got it, but although Eddie Van Halen is a great guitar player. I couldn't believe I passed Spanish Fly on Hard the first time I tried it.”

created 23/FEB/2010

rawkr earned achievements in Guitar Hero: Van Halen on 10/OCT/09

“Whatever I got was pretty basic, unlock the Frankenstein guitar, create a guitar, perform at certain venues. Easy stuff.”

created 11/OCT/2009

Guitar Hero: Van Halen (X360) by: leftybrown

“Activision made a huge mistake in letting people get GH: Van Halen early with purchase of GH 5. The game is scheduled for release this December and now everyone can announced that this game is route, boring, and even magaes to do a disservice to a...”

created 09/OCT/2009

turls played Guitar Hero: Van Halen on 07/OCT/09

“PANAMA! Cool that Activision sent this out before it was in stores. Totally unexpected I would get it this soon.”

created 08/OCT/2009

Lexicus earned achievements in Guitar Hero: Van Halen on 07/OCT/09

Lexicus was the last to comment - over 3 years ago...

“Woot - Free GH”

created 08/OCT/2009

It's coming! by: rawkr

“Okay I'll level with you. I wasn't that excited about GHVH but getting it for free is pretty freakin cool. I just got notification that they got my confirmation and it'll be at my house in a few...”

created 24/SEP/2009