Requiem For A Dying Song Playing Game

This week, we saw some big news. The first gameplay of Duke Nukem Forever proving that it should actually be released. Reviews for Killzone 3 and Marvel vs Capcom 3. What, one story rocked the industry so hard, that people only saw this story, and didn't read any further: Guitar Hero is finally dead. ActTard finally decided to put the wailing beast of a franchise to sleep. Being that it was the game that introduced me to games like Rock Band 3, you'd expect me to say a few nice words about it. Here's what I really have to say:

It's about time.

I know how cold that sounds, but let's be honest here, it was on knock-knock-Knockin' on Heaven's Door since they decided that Metallica needs their own game. When they added the band capability, they did it terribly, that people who never played a music game were alienated by it's difficulty. This was prominent with vocals, especially, when Hayley Williams failed at singing her own song. But, that's not the worst of it. Guitar Hero kept finding more nails to hammer in.

By Guitar Hero 5, we saw an improvement with the vocals, but in order to sell games, they had a cast of musicians you could play as. Johnny Cash? As a playable character? Okay, he redefined music, and he was talented. Kurt Cobain... well, he redefined Grunge, a genre that isn't really anything but light punk with alternative rock elements, admitted he had no talent (seriously), then got stoned and blew his brains out. Let's play as him! I mean, in GH4, we had Billy Corgan, who, with his band, made two of the most impacting albums of my generation (Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness), but he was wearing that silver skirt, and I'm sure he's scratching his head over what he was smoking that day. Maybe Cobain wasn't so much a step down as it as a sidestep on the same level. Circle-strafing the drain, if you will.

We also had more GH band games. Aerosmith, Van Halen, One Inch Punch... all using the same engine that was inferior to the new engine. By the time GH6 rolled around, no one knew what the expect. Then, we heard Rush's 2112 would be on the disc, in it's entirety (the 2112 story, not the album). Could this be a step in the right direction?

Then, we saw the characters turn into monsters. Judy Nails, for example, the sixteen year old rocker, becomes a Succubus, a demon that has sex with men in their sleep. Hogan, Schultz, Klink... take it away.

T-T-TRRRRRRIPPLE FACEPALM!

Whoever thought this was a good idea, especially when compared to Rock Band's innovation of a new instrument, and a mode that teaches you to play the real instrument, needed to either be fired from the team, or, less cruel to him, jettisoned from the Earth itself. I can respect that they wanted to add a story, but making the characters turn into monsters? Hell, didn't they learn that people didn't like Judy Nails going from cheerful pop girl to Suicide Girl reject? Hell, didn't they know to stop when Pandora's ever changing appearance seemed less shocking, and more like they inspired Lady Gaga? People want to rock, not worry about when they're turning into Vlad-ass the Impålør.

Harmonix did it right, if you ask me. They gradually improved a game that was damn good to start, and added fairly minor changes. They also listened to the fans. They didn't give us monsters, or guest stars (not counting Green Day or The Beatles). They gave us new innovations, and something we wanted since the first game: a keyboard!

Call me bitter, but I'm glad Guitar Hero is gone. That's not to say that I can deny it's legacy, though. Harmonix, who did the first two games, knew what they were doing when Guitar Hero started. You can't blame the game for the developers following the demands of a publishing company so far out of sync with its fanbase as to not know what the game needed. If anyone is to be laughed at or chastised, it isn't GH, or Red Octane. It's Activision. That isn't to say, though, that GH didn't go on entirely too long. Oh, not at all. Need proof? How's this? This is supposed to be Taylor Swift.

Yeah. Good riddance.