Guitar Hero returns with awesome multiplayer, underwhelming setlist

by Chris Greenhough { Aug 15th 2008 at 7:00PM }

On the face of it, Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades is showing promise. IGN took the title out for a test strum, and we liked what they had to say about it. As well as new venues and characters, the ability to play songs from Decades against owners of other Guitar Hero DS games is an excellent addition -- the DS wirelessly transfers the audio track and note chart, essentially doubling the number of songs to those who bought the original On Tour. Speaking of which, Decades will come in two packs: one including the game and Guitar Grip, and the other with just the cart.

All of which is tremendously peachy, so what's the catch? Well, IGN also revealed the first ten songs, and in our not-so-humble opinion, they're -- nnngh -- not terribly good. Including any Fall Out Boy track is never the best of starts in our view, and as Eric pointed out, if you are going to include a Foo Fighters song, why not the superb "Everlong?" Okay, okay, so music is a divisive subject if ever there was one, but to us, this reeks of disappointment. We're certain you'll have an opinion, so check after the break for the full list.

Modern

"Dirty Little Secret" by The All-American Rejects
"crushcrushcrush" by Paramore
"The Take Over, The Break's Over" from Fall Out Boy
"The Pretender" from Foo Fighters
"Tarantula" by Smashing Pumpkins

2000s

"One Step Closer" by Linkin Park
"Remedy" by Seether
"The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World
"Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness

Tags: activision, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-on-tour-decades, music, rhythm, vicarious-visions

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

LuigiHann @ Aug 15th 2008 7:16PM

How many years are in a decade? I think it's 5, but I can never be sure.

Demotruk @ Aug 15th 2008 7:41PM

Ten. Dec- always refers to ten. Dec-ember, Dec-imal.

chibi_wings @ Aug 15th 2008 8:00PM

what does december have to do with 10? its the 12th month -_________-

Khaki @ Aug 15th 2008 9:18PM

It was originally the 10th, if memory and latin serve correct, July and August (Julius and Augustus) are the reasons it and November (Novus = Nine) were pushed back.

Metayoshi @ Aug 15th 2008 9:23PM

December was actually the 10th month in an old calendar. September was 7th, October was 8th, September was 9th, and December was 10th. Years used to start with March and end with December, then January and February were added, but the old months retained their names.

Venom @ Aug 15th 2008 7:16PM

Can't Stop is a great song. The rest is just... bah... Except for The Darkness that is just abysmal...

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

VaultICEE @ Aug 15th 2008 7:34PM

Guitar Hero is pretty much dead to me.

I felt like they did a good job adding the Guitar Grip and the control scheme, but the company doesn't has as much love as it should for a legendary franchise, on the home consoles anyway.

Hafk @ Aug 15th 2008 10:26PM

I think Neversoft has plenty of love for the franchise. Pre-development of GH3, they would often have Guitar Hero nights at the Neversoft offices. A few charters were also long-time custom charters from the Scorehero community. I think it was mere lack of experience with rhythm games. As you can see in Guitar Hero Aerosmith, there are much less bugs, and their charting has improved.

I don't think Guitar Hero died, I think it just got really sick, and is now getting better.

Roto13 @ Aug 16th 2008 12:41AM

I Believe In A Thing Called Love needs to be in World Tour. Maybe the only song I would actually sing. :P

Also, Can't Stop ftw.

Blue_Falcon @ Aug 16th 2008 1:12AM

Maybe my eyes are deceiving me but every one of those songs are from a period dating to or after the 2000s. The earliest I recognize is 'The Middle' which dates back to 2001. This decade isn't even over yet and they're already splitting it into two parts?

This is ridiculous.

lorddshadow @ Aug 16th 2008 2:03AM

well it's not the full setlist according to ign...so there might be hope for it...linkin park ftw...needs way better songs. yeah.

Andy @ Aug 16th 2008 2:36AM

Really? You think the setlist is nnnnghh? I already see about as many songs that I like on here as on the first game's setlist. Granted, the songs are "Pretender," "Crushcrushcrush," and "Dirty Little Secret." Two of those games are for a game that's 42000 times better (Rock Band) and the other is in a game I actually own (Gh3) (as opposed to one I don't even plan on buying).

Either way, Guitar Hero has been dead to me since GH3 killed it. Rock Band is just so much better that I feel like I'm wasting my time with anything else.

Marzz @ Aug 16th 2008 3:30AM

This game has a few golden tracks already.

It has the potential to be amazingly epic.

Or fail miserably. But judging from what they've got so far, pretty good. I'm beginning to think the DS series is where they're gonna be putting songs that they wouldn't want to put on the mainstream games, and i like it.

Link408 @ Aug 16th 2008 3:50AM

finally Jimmy Eat World, i was just hoping it would come in Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour form

Link408 @ Aug 16th 2008 3:54AM

nvm, its gonna be on RB2

http://news.cnet.com/rock-band-2-set-list/

Abscissa @ Aug 16th 2008 5:21AM

Hmm, yea, I'd agree on that list looking very "blah" (at best).

FantomRedux @ Aug 16th 2008 6:49AM

FantomRedux @ Aug 16th 2008 6:55AM

WTH? Since when did the comment system cut off after one character? ah well. Either way, this track list is epic, since it includes
"The Pretender" from Foo Fighters
One Step Closer" by Linkin Park
"Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness

All of which are epic IMO

Maz @ Aug 16th 2008 7:27AM

I gotta agree with the other guys in the comments here, that tracklist is awesome so far - anything from Jimmy Eat World is pure win, Can't Stop is a great song, Paramore is pretty godd and while there are better Foo Fighter songs than The Pretender, it's pretty decent.

Franko @ Aug 16th 2008 10:31AM

The songs are not the greatest but I think they will still be fun to play on the DS, especially with "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" because that song just makes me want to sing it all the time. To bad this game doesn't involve singing though. haha xD

Stephen Bayne @ Aug 16th 2008 10:56AM

I love the song Tarantula but there are WAY better Smashing Pumpkins tracks. Still, just glad to see the band featured.

paul @ Aug 16th 2008 1:15PM

I think even though it is underwhelming i think that it still deserves to be bought. It really takes every part of the ds and uses it, the speakers, the mic, the touchscreen, and the 2nd screen. if only they could have greater storage space for better sound quality .

Mooga @ Aug 16th 2008 10:49PM

I'm just about 22 and I'm loving what they have listed for for. I actually remember when "I believe in a thing called love" was amazing, haha. I remember loving Linkin Park (man I feel old). I like that Fall Out Boy song. Dirty Little Secret is all right... At least it's catchy. The Red hot Chili Peppers song sounds good.

I'm impressed by the list. Sign me up for "I believe in a thing called love"... but I might laugh too hard the first few times :-P