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Guitar Hero: Van Halen

EMAIL PRINT xbox360

6.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 29 critic reviews
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Based on 6 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Neversoft Entertainment

Genre(s): Music

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: December 22, 2009

Summary

Guitar Hero returns with another band-focused title, Guitar Hero: Van Halen. The game features 25 classic Van Halen tracks, three signature Eddie Van Halen guitar solos, and 19 hand-picked guest acts. Play in eight original venues specifically designed for Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Rock around the globe, from a small club in Los Angeles to arenas around the world, including the iconic "S-stage" from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s 2007 world tour. Play as one of the four members of Van Halen or create your own personalized superstar with Rock Star Creator and watch your superstar party on stage. Rock out with up to four players locally or battle other bands with up to 8 players. With tracks ranging from the high-energy "Jump" to the legendary guitar solo "Eruption," the easy to play, difficult to master game play that Guitar Hero fans have grown to love is back in Guitar Hero: Van Halen. [Activision]

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Game Chronicles

The steep cost of admissions is the only real downside to this entire package.

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Game Informer

Van Halen deserves better. [Jan 2010, p.79]

Play Magazine

If you’re cool with just the DLR years and you can hang with the weird faces Dance the Night Away, but if you’re looking for a comprehensive VH compilation and accurate portrayals you might as well Jump, back into GH5.

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XboxAddict

If you got this as a freebie ,good for you, if you find it in the (heavily) discounted bin then try it out (it should be there by Friday).

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GameDaily

Guitar Hero Van Halen is fun, just not the best in the series. The song selection will keep you and your friends happy (just skip Third Eye Blind) and the options are acceptable. Still, with a little more effort, this could've been on the same level as GH Metallica. The band deserved better.

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Worth Playing

The unfortunate thing about Guitar Hero: Van Halen is that it really had the potential to shine, but there just seemed to be too much working against it. The ongoing band feuds have eliminated not only a large section of the group's catalog, but a founding member as well, and laziness on the part of all parties involved means that there's nearly nothing added to the game to give it the extra content we saw in the Aerosmith and Metallica editions

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Gaming Target

Its existence is puzzling, its release an admittance of surrender, and its song selection showcases one singer while snubbing another... yet because Guitar Hero remains fun, Guitar Hero: Van Halen comes away as a decent diversion.

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ZTGameDomain

The song list is great if you love classic Eddie and the guest bands while not relevant, offer a solid mix. Not being able to export the songs into GH 5 or download any new tracks really hurts, but the lackluster presentation hurts even more.

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Extreme Gamer

Activision could have done a lot better, and I think Van Halen, and its fans deserve better. As a free promotional game, it is passable, but as a full out release, we are expecting a little more.

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9Lives

This game isn’t worth a full release. The best Van Halen songs could’ve been offered as DLC. The whole game feels old and unpolished. It feels like a quick buck for Activision, without a deserving game for the fans in return. Compare this to Rock Band: The Beatles or even Guitar Hero: Metallica and you can’t deny it’s an inferior product. Only for fans who truly can’t wait. Everyone else, wait for the budget version.

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3DJuegos

It plays like every Guitar Hero game, but you can't call it success. Only for die-hard Van Halen fans.

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X360 Magazine UK

The lack of bonus content, or a meaningful game structure, really lets the collection down. [Issue#56, p.88]

Gamereactor Sweden

A hastily put together product that lacks the overall quality of other band-specific games like Guitar Hero: Metallica or The Beatles: Rock Band. Thank God for Ice Cream Man, Eruption and Panama.

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Official Xbox Magazine

If you were lucky enough to snag a free copy from the Guitar Hero 5 mail-in promotion, you'll likely be pleased with this adequate iteration. But we can't imagine any non-hardcore Halen fans feeling good about dropping $60 on this half-hearted effort. [Jan 2010, p.76]

GameFocus

Unless you are an absolute die-hard Van Halen fan there is no way you should pay full price for a game that only offers half the content. If you really want to play it, wait until this game lands in the Bargain Bins in a few months time.

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XGN

Guitar Hero: Van Halen hasn't become an exceptional game. It plays like every Guitar Hero game, but you can't call it success.

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Play.tm

Pride, squabbling and calamitous design decisions have ultimately left the game a meagre shadow of its potential self. Its biggest problem, outside of its lacklustre design, is that you and the band have to ask yourselves, in the midst of a music game session, "shall we bother fumbling around the shelves looking for that copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen?"

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Telegraph

Whilst deep down I will always carry a torch for Guitar Hero, I just can't recommend the weakest offering in the series to date.

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games(TM)

One of the most underwhelming rhythm-action games in some time. [Issue#93, p.132]

Gameplayer Sweden

The worst exploit of this franchise so far.

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Gamervision

Even for absolute die-hard fans, I simply can’t recommend this game. The track listing is lacking, the gameplay is outdated (by its own predecessor), and the fun factor for this game just isn’t there.

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Official Xbox Magazine UK

Loss of (creative) control. [Mar 2010, p.96]

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IGN

No effort was put into making it good. It’s a step backwards for the franchise and a totally unnecessary release.

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Gaming Nexus

This is a huge step backwards for not only Guitar Hero, but the music genre in general!

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Teletext GameCentral

The worst Guitar Hero spin-off yet with a half-hearted tribute to a band who barely deserved one anyway.

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Gamer.nl

In 2010, Guitar Hero: Van Halen should have never been released in stores at full price. It’s absurd. We’d rather applaud you to wait for the release of Guitar Hero 6, since Guitar Hero Van Halen has the same lack of content as it has lack of love for our frettapping guitar legend. Or as Eddie would probably put it: Aint Talkin’ Bout Love.

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Xbox World 360 Magazine UK

Jamie's not the only one who's crying. [Apr 2010, p.100]

Gaming Age

There's so much about this game that falls flat, and so much that feels like a quick cash-in attempt using the band name attached, that I can't suggest picking this up, certainly not at a full price point.

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GameShark

In a world where The Beatles Rock Band exists, the paltry effort put into Guitar Hero: Van Halen is, quite simply, deplorable. If you‘re going to devote the time, money, and effort to developing a band-themed game in this franchise—then do it right. Don’t embarrass yourselves by passing something like this off as a legitimate, full-featured game.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[anonymous] gave it a9:
Best notetracks of any GH / RB game ever. Some additional features would be nice, but that's all extras that don't matter to the core game: playing the songs.

David B. gave it a5:
I got this for free with the GH5 mail in offer, and I'm still not impressed. I like the GH/RB games, but this really seemed to be a "throw in" with GH5, and nothing more. To think they're charging full price for this as a game? Ouch. $20 worth of DLC would have made more sense. Would have reduced the carbon footprint, to boot. VH fan or not, if you paid full price, you got ripped off.

Nathaniel S gave it a1:
This game is far less quality than any Guitar Hero game. Even if you go back to Guitar Hero 1 or Guitar Hero 80s you cannot find this low of quality. It is a giant step backwards in the genre. Why isn't this DLC? Sam Hagar is missing and somehow bands like Weezer and Third Eye Blind are in the game even though they sound nothing like Van Halen and most Van Halen fans would not be interested in those bands. My brain tells me that this game simply happened to lock VH in a exclusivity deal so they wouldn't work with Rock Band. Eddie should be embarassed.

Austin M. gave it a9:
The reviews are a bit low on this game, and I really don't know why. This is a fun game!! I'm a huge fan of Van Halen and Guitar Hero, so this definetely made it more fun for me. The tracklist is great, collecting some of Van Halen's best work, and was just a blast!! Although, I do agree with Game Informer saying this did deserve better. I got this free with GH5 offer, so I shouldn't complain much, and it did seem a bit rushed. It was really cool to unlock the classic looks of Van Halen, too bad Mike isn't there though. But this still doesn't stop this from being a great game!! "Jump" for Van Halen!!

Jeff W. gave it a2:
This game does nothing to move forward the music game industry. It does nothing to compensate for the fact that it was released months after Guitar Hero 5 made leaps and bounds in this genre of video games. Besides that, the game has no narrative to compel you forward nor does nothing to explain Van Halen's significance to the music industry or anything. The game is also inconsistent with itself in the song choices, since the songs that were chosen do not at all relate to Van Halen's musical style nor their influences nor how they influenced the music genre. The only reason this game gets a 2 is because it has "functional" game play and some "decent" song selections. Still, no Van Hagar, no import, and no hope of future DLC for the game make it completely unacceptable. Do not buy this game unless you have just way too much money on your hands and do not mind wasting money on a game with some good songs but more than half of the set list is bad.

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Guitar Hero: Van Halen

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What The Critics Said

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