Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is similar to the preceding band-centric game, Guitar Hero: Metallica, featuring support for four players in a single band on lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The game is based on the engine originating from Guitar Hero World Tour, and thus does not feature the additions that are present in Guitar Hero 5, such as drop-in/drop-out play. The band appear as they did in 2009 but, by completing challenges in the game, players can unlock their older appearances from the "spandex era […] with the big hair and tight pants". ==Development==

, including David Lee Roth (left) and Eddie Van Halen (right) performed motion capture in order to create their digital likeness for the game. While the game was formally announced by Activision on May 7, 2009, several sources reported a month earlier that Van Halen was in development. USK, the German software ratings board, posted a content rating for a Van Halen-based game in the series. GameStop temporarily listed the game for pre-order during the month of April. A list of Xbox 360 Achievements was posted to the Internet in early May. Throughout September 2009, people who purchased or preordered Guitar Hero 5 in the US were given a code which they could redeem to receive a free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen prior to its retail release. These copies began arriving to customers in early October for PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii players, while the PlayStation 3 version was delayed due to a printing error. The game came in a cardboard sleeve with cover art indicating that it was for promotional use. ==Soundtrack==

Like the other band-centric Guitar Hero games, Guitar Hero: Van Halen includes 28 songs from the band Van Halen, including three guitar solos by Eddie Van Halen, in addition to 19 guest acts. Activision's head of music licensing, Tim Riley, notes that the lack of such material was not due to any demands or requests made by David Lee Roth. Riley also stated that most of the guest acts were selected by Wolfgang Van Halen, at the suggestion of Roth. Song contains both a single and double bass drums chart. Song is a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen. ==Reception==

Early reviews of the promotional version of the game received by redeeming a code that came with Guitar Hero 5 were critical of the game. IGNs Erik Brudvig rated the game 4.9/10, citing problems with the lack of relevance of Van Halen relative to the culture of the 2000s, including having their avatars based on their current appearances rather than that of their 80s heyday, the lack of songs from Sammy Hagar's period in the band, and the lack of features since introduced with Guitar Hero 5. Brudvig ultimately stated that those who got the game free through the Guitar Hero 5 promotion "got what they paid for". Robert Workman of Game Daily was less critical of the title, but still noted that the game lacked features, including some mention of Hagar and Gary Cherone and songs from their period with the band, and felt that the title was below the quality of Guitar Hero: Metallica. Both Brudvig and Workman commented positively on the sound recordings and the note tracking of the Van Halen songs. Philip Horton of The Telegraph was critical of the game's song selection, the band's modern appearance, and the lack of any additional extras compared with either the previous band-centric games or Guitar Hero 5, and described it as "the weakest offering in the series to date". Kate Carter of The Guardian commented that the game is "neither one thing or the other", as it neither succeeds at bringing anything new to the Guitar Hero series nor fully pays tribute to Van Halen. Computer and Video Games' review complained about the "shoddy character models" and described it as "the laziest Guitar Hero yet", As of April 2010, the game has sold fewer than 250,000 copies worldwide, with only 95,000 units sold in North America. These numbers do not include copies of the game distributed in conjunction with Guitar Hero 5. ==References==