No More Heroes
It occurred to me that I might be done with Guitar Hero. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the game. I got on board with the original Guitar Hero when it first came out, driving to about a dozen stores in two states on my way home from Christmas at my folks’ house to find a copy, and I played the hell out of it. Having absolutely zero musical talent, here was a way to feel—admittedly in a somewhat cheap, plastic way—that I was able to shred a six-string and play some killer tunes. For a musically inept metalhead, this was a dream come true. I introduced my fiancee to the game and she wound up “borrowing” it for several months. We snapped up Guitar Hero 2 when it released, and later, with dwindling enthusiasm, Guitar Hero 3. We also grabbed Rock Band, because I was seriously stoked about playing the drums, much to our downstair neighbor’s lament.
But the other day, I realized that, you know, I think I’ve just had enough. Now that there’s another Guitar Hero (with the “original” idea of drums and singing included), a Rock Band sequel, band-specific releases of Guitar Hero, couple of DS versions, an ’80s version, and more downloadable songs for both than I have in my entire iTunes library, I’m kind of burnt out. I think it’s simply a matter of market oversaturation. Everyone carries it, everyone owns it, everyone plays it, and every new iteration and expansion just feels like another rushed cash-grab to capitalize on the phenomenon while the train’s still rolling.
Once, seeing a Guitar Hero kiosk in Best Buy was a novelty, and it was fun to watch newcomers try their hand at the game, laughing as the notes went by and they slowly got the hang of the controller. There was a sense of discovery to it, a feeling of fun, of trying something completely new and different. Now there’s multiple kiosks, one for each game, usually populated by douchebag players who have mastered the game at home and just want to show off their “mad skillz” in public.
I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into it. Maybe I’ve just been playing the game too long and have simply had enough. But it seems like, once again, an original idea proved to be successful and so everyone jumped on board to try to make some cash off the new trend and, in the process, managed to kill all the fun and novelty that made it a success in the first place.
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3 Responses to “No More Heroes”
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December 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
This was exactly what I went through. I literally woke up one morning and I was done with it. I have had my fill of revisiting the music I liked in college and high school, and each progressive game had more music I didn’t ever get into.
It then struck me that playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band was EXACTLY like experiences I had when I was 12…sitting in my room listening to record albums while playing my handheld electronic SIMON game.
December 14th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I’m mimicking ScuzzBuster; this is exactly the way I’ve felt. It’s a mirror reflection of my own opinions and thoughts on the franchise and how it’s evolved (or perhaps “mutated” would be a more apt term).
After Guitar Hero 3, I feel like it’s been going down hill. Although I had fun with Aerosmith, the thought of paying sixty dollars minimum for a game where the majority of songs are based off one band didn’t get me excited. I couldn’t stand the idea of drums in Guitar Hero, so I automatically decided not to purchase GH4; it was too much for me.
December 15th, 2008 at 8:13 am
The prices are definitely too high for it all. I mean, the game itself is $60 the guitars are $60 the band packages are $100 and then the downloads are something like $5 - to what… $15? That’s just crazy.
Fortunately, my wife and I have not played the crap out of it too much that it’s not still fun. I think we might pick it back up for awhile but it’s not something that I’m going to get obsessed over, or like mentioned, it just wears off.