Reception
See also: Cultural impact of the Guitar Hero series| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 92% |
| Metacritic | 91/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | A+ |
| Eurogamer | 8/10 |
| GameSpot | 9.0/10 |
| GameSpy | 4.5/5.0 |
| IGN | 9.2/10 |
| Play Magazine | 10/10 |
Guitar Hero received very positive reviews. IGN praised the "fantastic soundtrack" and "great peripheral", further commenting that mini-Gibson SG controller "is what makes Guitar Hero, rather than what breaks it". GameSpot echoed these sentiments, stating Guitar Hero had a "great guitar controller" and "killer soundtrack" and was possibly the "best rhythm game ever made". Many reviews praised the game's gradual learning curve and difficulty approach through the song tier progression and the difficulty setting for each song. Play said the game "gives bedroom air guitarists a chance to live out their rock 'n' roll fantasies". GameSpy's review commented on the length of the songs, in that "once you hit the three minute mark or so, things start to feel 'too long'". Eurogamer said, "the lack of international star quality about the roster of songs and the absence of the original artists is perhaps the only thing that may detract from the package from an importer's perspective" and "it would have been truly amazing with a better track list".
Shortly after release, Guitar Hero became an unexpected hit; it was the second-highest selling PlayStation 2 title in February 2006 according to the NPD Group. Game sales amounted to $45 million in 2005. Since then, the game has sold about 1.53 million copies through December 2007. The success of the game has spawned a one billion dollar Guitar Hero franchise, including four sequels on several seventh generation consoles, seven expansions, a mobile phone-based version, and a portable version for the Nintendo DS. Harmonix no longer is involved in development of the series, due to its acquisition by MTV. Harmonix has since developed Rock Band using designs similar to those that based Guitar Hero's success.
The game and its sequels have created interest in young adults and children in learning how to play a real guitar, and has been considered as a "cultural phenomenon" that has created a significant cultural impact. At the end of 2009, several journalists, including Wired, G4TV, CNN, the San Jose Mercury News, the Toronto Star, Inc., The Guardian, and Advertising Age, considered Guitar Hero to be one of the most influential products of the first decade of the 21st century, attributing it as the spark leading to the growth of the rhythm game market, for boosting music sales for both new and old artists, for introducing more social gaming concepts to the video game market, and, in conjunction with the Wii, for improving interactivity with gaming consoles.
Read more about this topic: Guitar Hero (video Game)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
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—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
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—Walter Pater (1839–1894)