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As far as Guitar Hero games go, Band Hero fits the bill, but it lacks any real charm or appeal to burned out fans.

I think I've finally hit my music rhythm game saturation point with Activision's newest release, Band Hero. Just take into account all the plastic peripheral based games I've played this year that all incorporate similar formulas of gameplay: Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero 5, Rock Band: Beatles, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, and the recent DJ Hero. That's a lot of music. That's a lot of red, blue, green, yellow and orange notes going down the length of my TV screen as you hit them in tandem with a strum bar. Hell, I'd venture to say that these titles have made up a good chunk of the titles I've even played through this year, and the whole sameness of Band Hero might finally be my breaking point for the genre in general. The real kicker is that it's not even that bad of a game, at least from the technical side of things. It works like GH 5, has a similar interface, a working online component, uses the GH Tunes music creation system, and allows for four players to play whatever instrument they want together. I mean, it works well, but I was having an awfully hard time enjoying it.

Like I mentioned, the game makes use of just about everything that GH 5 had going for it. There's the quickplay jump in at the start screen, and then there's the ability to have up to four people playing any instrument they want in any combination during career or basic multiplayer. Once you select career mode, the venues are locked, and you'll need to gain a certain number of stars through the songs to unlock them and advance the "story". You start off with a mall tour venue, which is super appropriate considering the tween style the game is going for. You'll also notice that the default characters, Axel Steel and so on, have all had a makeover to make them a little more "pop" like in appearance. If nothing else, the game gets the presentation angle right, it fits the music selection well, and it absolutely knows what it's trying to be and whom it's trying to appeal to. Also showing up here from Guitar Hero 5 comes the inclusion of special goals to hit in each song, some of which are tied into full band set-ups, but most of them are instrument specific. One might require you to hit a certain number of notes in a row, while the other requires a multiplier to be active for a set amount of time. These bump the possible star total for each song up from five to eight, along with a ninth star if you manage to get a perfect on any song. It adds some replay value to the title, by forcing you to go back in with multiple instruments to get perfect score settings, but you can switch out instruments during career mode with no problem, so you can, in theory, do one play through with every single instrument (instead of four separate games).

My biggest gripe with the game really comes from the sense that there was no thought or effort put into really making it. It re-uses so much in the way of ideas and mechanics from Guitar Hero 5 that it feels like little more than an expansion, or DLC put on a disc to sucker people into buying it for $60, instead of just giving people the option to buy the songs they'll actually like in smaller packs. I feel like some dudes got together in a boardroom and decided they should put out a pop version of Guitar Hero right before Christmas, and this was the result. It's hard to grade a game on something as nebulous as "heart", but that's exactly what this title is lacking. With games like Uncharted 2, Forza 3, and so on, all of which are sequels, you can feel that the developers took time to make something interesting and fun with their product, and that translates into the look, feel, and gameplay of the final release. None of that is evident with Band Hero, and while you do get a couple of unlockable characters and the game manages to hit every mandatory checkpoint that you'd expect from a rhythm game, it still feels ridiculously bland and boring regardless of how well it's actually made.

Of course, this might be moot to people that are still on board for Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles at this point, and are more than willing to lap up each release as it comes down the line. The game is sound on the technical side, and if you were still a big fan of the stuff, then I'd say Band Hero would be right up your alley once again. However, if you're feeling more than a little burned out at this point, and hoping for something particularly awesome from this release, prepare to be disappointed. It's little more than a simple cash in on a genre of music that's be poorly represented in music titles up to this point, and fails to do anything interesting other than slap some new skins onto venues and offer up a set of songs that you haven't played through yet. It's certainly not worth the full price tag, and I'd hesitate to even pick it up at a budget price.