Band Hero featuring Taylor Swift

"The music selection is great and the four person multiplayer is the real highlight.  Jason Flick, GameChronicles.com
"...a surprisingly solid, well thought-out, and just plain entertaining game.  Joe Rybicki, GameSpy.com
"...the music featured in the game opens the franchise up to a whole new audience...  Darren Cartledge, RealGamer.com

IGN.com 8 of 10
The unrelenting growth of music games has been nothing short of jaw-dropping. When the first Guitar Hero hit the PlayStation 2 in 2005, I remember thinking it was cute but then recalling the box of light guns in my father's attic and thinking the industry might have moved beyond giant plastic peripherals...It hasn't, which isn't a bad thing, and Band Hero is the latest example of its proliferation...No one's ever denied that Activision likes to make money, so I hope no one's offended when I tell you that Band Hero is a clone of the Guitar Hero 5 you know and love/are sick of. You can play as lead guitar, rhythm/bass, drums, or lead singer. You can tackle the 65 songs by yourself or have friends join you for the ride. These buds can play whatever instrument they want (Four drummers? Why not?!) and drop in or out at any time if you'll let them. You can face off against in-house or online buds, there are leaderboards, the ability to create your own tracks, rocker creation, and a career mode. The same gameplay everyone knows (notes descend down a highway and you press the colored buttons) is here, as well...For better or worse, this is a re-skinned version of Guitar Hero 5. Now, that's not bad because that game was great, but it is disappointing if you were expecting something special from Band Hero. All the functionality you'd expect from a Guitar Hero sequel is here (drop-in/out gameplay, Guitar Hero Studio, etc.) except that it's framed in a sugary sweet pink/purple motif. The career is shallow, the songs are poppy Top 40 tracks that you'll either love or hate, and there's a focus on getting in, playing and getting out...Band Hero is a good game, but it lacks any kind of spark that makes it feel unique. In the end, this is one of the examples people will point to when they talk about Activision milking the Guitar Hero franchise for all it's worth ? even though this time the milk is quenching the thirst of every Taylor Swift fan out there with a plastic guitar. - Greg Miler

0 of 10
The title of the latest game in the Hero franchise is a little misleading. Band Hero sounds like a new direction for the franchise, a completely new brand. But other Hero games already include a full band (World Tour, Guitar Hero 5, Metallica). It's a strange title for a game that's basically Guitar Hero 5-2. Band Hero uses the same framework and ideas as GH5, just with less hard rocking and a lot more American Idol...That's not to say that the entire setlist comes from current pop radio. You still have rock classics like "Bad Reputation" from Joan Jett and '90s hits like "Two Princes" from The Spin Doctors. But the special appearances in this game are decidedly more modern, with Taylor Swift and Adam Levine instead of Johnny Cash and Carlos Santana. The stages, clothes, and characters are more pop-infused as well, but I've never found the backgrounds and characters themselves to be the focus of these types of music games. Unless you're watching someone else play, the most important part of a music game is its playability...Gameplay-wise, everything in Band Hero is the same as in GH5. You can still immediately jump into any song that's playing on the start screen. Every track is available in Quickplay without any codes or tedious unlocking. You can play a song with any mix of instruments you want. (Four lead guitars? No problem!) The career progression is a quick trip through increasingly more difficult songs without any repeats. Band Hero even includes all the same, varied multiplayer options from GH5. It's the same framework, so everything that GH5 did well, Band Hero also does excellently...Band Hero proves that Activision is finally treating their Hero franchise as a music platform and not a series of unrelated titles. And in this case, you get to choose which graphical skin you like: "Top 40" Band Hero or "Hard Rock" GH5. Just move the songs over to your preferred stage (you can import 69 of GH5's songs into Band Hero or import 61 of Band Hero's tracks into GH5)...While some people might complain about being fatigued by the seemingly endless stream of similar music games, when they're tied to each other like Band Hero is tied to GH5, I see that as a positive direction for Activision's franchise. It's one of the strongest points of the Rock Band series, and is a very smart move for Hero as well.