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Activision has done it, they have created an absolutely fantastic game with their best soundtrack yet. Over 30 musicians never featured in a game before will be available to play on Guitar Hero 5.

What’s great about Guitar Hero 5, is that it was developed for a four-person band experience, rather than the past versions that were geared more towards solo peices. Having lead and bass guitars, drums and vocals will enhance the games true value, while jamming out with your buddies.

Guitar Hero 5 is different from it’s previous versions because of it’s friendly usability. New additions like Party Mode allow for anyone new to the game to simply pick up the controller and get going. The menu selection is much easier, which you may not think is a big deal, but it’ll help newbies select their criteria more quickly and easily.

With this new tweak comes the Career Mode. Scrap the world tour and earning money, it’s all about the stars now. Instead of making cash, you’ll be completing objectives throughout on your career on all songs. Whether it be solo or in online play with a band, playing out the game is a lot more fun because of the multiplayer aspect. This is such a great unique feature because instead of beating every song, or playing the tracks that you despise to hear, by beating older songs with new objectives, you’ll collect more stars to progress to the next level. Players no longer have to waste their time on songs they don’t like, or can’t beat.

Other multiplayer changes include band members being able to boost up their band mates Star Power. If one player’s meter is full, the rest will split into the rest of the bands meters. The base of the game is still the same, but the user features are definitely well improved, and that was a big leap for the developers.

Not only can you create your own rockstar, but you can use your XBOX Avatar as the character. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s fun, and a game like this should be both for the beginner and advanced. There is definitely a good balance in the gameplay.

For those of you that have a copy of World Tour, have no fear, most of the tracks will be compatible with Guitar Hero 5, minus the ones with strict licensing issues.

With Guitar Hero: Van Halen being released last week, December 22nd, Activision doesn’t disappoint with an outstanding soundtrack, but in the end, it lacks the game features which have propelled Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero to be the games users will really want to pick up this holiday season.

Featuring a 40+ soundtrack with Van Halen, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Foreigner and others, this installment of Guitar Hero definitely has some bands you could do without, including Third Eye Blind and Yellowcard. Don’t get me wrong, Third Eye Blind was a great 90s band, but considering that “Semi-Charmed Life” is around it’s 20th anniversary, they could have picked a better lineup. All you die hard Van Halen fans won’t be dissapointed as you’ll get to jam out to such hits as “Jump”, “Atomic Punk”, “Everybody Wants Some!!” and many many more, so fans will be able to drop their air guitar and bust out some real music on your console.

Many of the original Guitar Hero features are still here. You’ll be able to team up in a band of 4 to play online, and of course, be able to use the Guitar Hero mixer to create your own tracks. That’s pretty cool, but it’s nothing new and different. The game play itself is rather dominant. Rocking out to Van Halen is no easy task, as you’ll find out in attempts to solo “Eruption” on Expert as Eddie Van Halen.

As far as the interface goes, the game definitely has taken a step back as the stage and characters look mediocre. The game runs off the older Guitar Hero engine that Guitar Hero 5 has greatly improved on, but users and fans know they aren’t buying the game for the look, as much as they are to play their favorite Van Halen rock ballads. The crowds are still great to play for, and the noise levels are phenominal. Van Halen definitely sounds amazing in this game with a Dolby Digital Surround Sound, so if you’ve got killer speakers to play off of, you’ll definitely enjoy playing this throughout the night.

Overall, the band deserved a better game, and doesn’t come close to the magnitude that Guitar Hero: Metallica enjoys. Though the song selection is great, many gamers and fans may still be wanting more. It’s worth the rent, probably not the buy unless you’re a true Van Halen rocker.