Guitar Hero – Smash Hits – Review

g-gh-smashhits200Guitar Hero: Smash Hits

(Activision for Xbox 360)
By Mike Delano

I remember a little twinge of disappointment when I bought my first iPod. Not because it wasn’t awesome, but because it didn’t actually contain any new content. Unlike buying a new CD and the excitement that comes with discovering the new music within, the iPod is just a carrier for songs you already have (awesome as they may be). Smash Hits, the latest entry in the Guitar Hero franchise, manages to elicit the same feeling. The game is very straightforward in its purpose: It collects a “best of” list of songs from nearly all of the previous GH titles and plunks them down onto one disc. Pros: It’s a great set list, all of the songs are performed by the original artists, and now you can also sing or drum any songs solo or perform them with an entire band. Cons: You’ve already played these songs and, since the set list pulls heavily from the first two games, you probably learned to play Guitar Hero on these songs, meaning you practiced them ad nauseam. If you can get past the familiarity, Smash Hits is a solid package, but music game fans looking for fresh meat have plenty of other choices this year.
(www.activision.com)