I was going to post almost exactly the same thing. Is it just coincidence that not a single review (that I've read, anyway) has so much as mentioned Guitar Freaks? It's extremely creepy to me. It's also creepy that multiple friends of mine who I've been trying to convince to import Guitar Freaks for years (and who have the ability to play Japanese PS2 games and an interest in music games) are rushing out to buy this on day one.
I guess Guitar Hero improves upon Guitar Freaks in ways. Upping the "frets" to 5 is a no-brainer and is something Konami should've done long ago, considering that even early HK bootleg guitar controllers had 5 buttons in anticipation of the seemingly inevitable upgrade. The whammy bar sounds cool, and the hammer-ons and pull-offs are a nice (though hard to execute, from all reports) addition. Other than that, though, I don't see it as superior to Guitar Freaks. Most of the changes seem to have been made not to improve upon it, but just to distinguish Guitar Hero so it won't look like a direct clone, which we all know it is anyway. Namely:
- The view. Is there any good reason to tilt the playing field to a sharp looking-down-the-road angle and fill 80% of the screen with ugly character graphics? I don't know a single music game fan (feel free to prove me wrong if you're the exception) who prefers this setup to a simple note-scroll from the top of the screen to the bottom.
- Scoring, from what I've heard, has been changed from the intuitive good/great/perfect system to some sort of system of different color flashes. Why?
- No bass mode. Guitar Freaks has had this since 3rd mix (they're up to 12th mix now), and it's awesome. Once you've tired of playing all the guitar parts you can play bass on every track, and the basslines are very different from the leads. It works great in 2 player mode, too, with one player on guitar and one on bass.
- Speaking of which, is the 2 player mode in Guitar Hero any good? I've heard rumors that it simply copies the same notes over to a second player and has both players playing the same thing. If true, that really sucks. Guitar Freaks has unique notes for players 1 and 2 -- it actually takes the multiple guitars into account and allows you to build harmonies together. The feeling of playing with someone else (which I've done extensively) and nailing a dual-guitar wailing harmony lead is one of the best feelings I've had in any game, ever.
- Guitar Freaks games (from 3rd Mix on) include the entire corresponding mix of Drum Mania, allowing for 3-player sessions with 2 players on guitars and one on drums. Or one on guitar, one on bass, and one on drums. As a drummer, this makes the game for me.
- I know most people won't agree with me on this one, but I actually think the increased song length is a bad thing. 90-second condensed nuggets of every good part of each song keep the game feeling fast and arcade-y, and keep the songs from being boring. I can see wanting to play through the entire "Symphony of Destruction" once or twice, but a month later it's not going to be very fun slogging through the boring parts to try to set higher scores. Guitar Freaks added full-version songs (separate from the 90 second normal versions) in 3rd mix, but I only ever ended up playing them a few times before returning to the shorter versions.
- Another controversial one, but I think the emphasis put on licensed tracks is a bit troubling. One of the best things about the (non-DDR) BEMANI library is that it consists of about 80% original in-house tracks. And they're awesome. I know it sounds really cool to be able to play along with Pantera and Franz Ferdinand and whoever else in Guitar Hero, but didn't the same apply to Frequency and Amplitude? Harmonix pushed the hell out of the David Bowie, Weezer, Blink 182, and Garbage songs in those games, yet the most celebrated songs from both games are by Freezepop, one of the in-house bands. BEMANI has managed to create its own massive roster of in-house artists and groups, each with its own unique style. Fans look forward to new tracks by established in-house artists like Orange Lounge, Sweet Little 30's, and Handsome JET just like they'd look forward to a new track from a favorite 'real' band. When you buy a BEMANI game at this point, you're not just buying a greatest-hits compilation of a bunch of popular music you've already heard a thousand times and have grown sick of (though a smattering of pop hits are included in each mix). You're buying a brand new "album," if you will, of more than 50 new tracks from artists that you've come to love over the history of the series. Using songs like Iron Man as "door busters" of sorts to get casuals to pick up the game is a good idea, but I think they might've overdone it a bit. Here's hoping they work in more original and unknown music in the sequel(s)!
(as a side note, does anyone know how many of the unlockable tracks in Guitar Hero are actually by "indie bands," and how many are by in-house bands a la Freezepop?)
To answer your question, I don't blame Harmonix for any of this; they saw an awesome opportunity not being taken, and have filled the gap. Konami pretty much dropped the ball on Guitar Freaks when they stopped producing home mixes after 4th Mix for PS2, not to mention that they have never given the series a serious push on any format in the US. They've recently announced that the most recent mix (Guitar Freaks "V," which is a re-name for 12th Mix) will be coming to the PS2, but I can't fault Harmonix for picking up the slack in the meantime. It's a bit bitter-sweet to see Guitar Hero doing so well, critically at least, after so many years of internally begging Konami to give Guitar Freaks a shot outside of Japan. I don't hate it either. It's certainly much, MUCH better than nothing, which is all we've gotten out of Konami for the last few years.
