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Guitar Hero: Van Halen is the third band-specific rhythm video game in the Guitar Hero series, released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Originally released as a free promotional bonus game for those that pre-ordered Guitar Hero 5 in North America, the game was later officially released for everyone else on December 22, 2009 in North America, February 17, 2010 in Australia, and February 19, 2010 in Europe. It was developed by Underground Development, ported to PlayStation 2 and Wii by Budcat Creations, and distributed by Activision.

As with the previous games Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: Metallica, the game features 25 songs from Van Halen along with additional songs from selected artists that inspired and have worked with the group.

Development[]

While the game was formally announced by Activision on May 7, 2009,[1] several sources reported a month earlier that Van Halen was in development. USK, the German software ratings board, posted a content rating for a Van Halen-based game in the series.[2] GameStop temporarily listed the game for pre-order during the month of April.[3] A list of Xbox 360 Achievements was posted to the Internet in early May.[4]

Throughout September 2009, people who purchased or preordered Guitar Hero 5 in the US were given a code which they could redeem to receive a free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen prior to its retail release.[5] These copies began arriving to customers in early October for PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii players,[6] while the PlayStation 3 version was delayed due to a printing error.[7] The game came in a cardboard sleeve with cover art indicating that it was for promotional use.[8]

Gameplay[]

Guitar Hero Van Halen band gameplay

Guitar Hero Van Halen's Band gameplay on each instrument.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is similar to the preceding band-centric game, Guitar Hero: Metallica, featuring support for four players in a single band on Guitar, and Bass, Drums, and Vocals. The game is based on the engine originating from Guitar Hero World Tour, and thus does not feature the additions that are present in Guitar Hero 5, such as drop-in/drop-out play.[9][10]

Only the current members of the band—Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen—are playable avatars in the game for the Van Halen songs; former band members Sammy Hagar, Gary Cherone and Michael Anthony are not included.[9][10][11] The band appear as they did in 2009 but, by completing challenges in the game, players can unlock their older appearances from the "spandex era […] with the big hair and tight pants".[9][12] Despite having not been born during this period of the band's history, Wolfgang Van Halen's avatar has a retro outfit copied from the dice-shirt-and-patchwork-jeans getup worn by his father in the video for "Panama".

A demo of the game was released to Xbox Live on December 9, 2009, featuring two Van Halen songs, "Eruption" and "Panama", along with Weezer's "Dope Nose" and Killswitch Engage's "The End of Heartache".[13]

Soundtrack[]

Main article: Setlist in Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Like the other band-centric games, Guitar Hero: Van Halen includes 25 songs from the band Van Halen, including 3 guitar solos by Eddie Van Halen, in addition to 19 guest acts such as Blink-182, Foo Fighters, The Offspring and Queens of the Stone Age.

Group Members[]

Van Halen band members

Former Members

  • Michael Anthony - bass, backing vocals (1974-2001, 2003-2005)
  • Sammy Hagar - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1985-1996, 2003-2005)
  • Gary Cherone - lead vocals (1996-1999)

References[]

Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Guitar Hero: Van Halen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WikiHero, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
v · t · eGames of the Guitar Hero series
Console games
Main series games Guitar Hero · Guitar Hero II · Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock · Guitar Hero World Tour · Guitar Hero 5 · Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock · Guitar Hero Live
Expansion games Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s · Guitar Hero: Smash Hits · Band Hero (main page)
Band-centric games Guitar Hero: Aerosmith · Guitar Hero: Metallica · Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Portable games
Guitar Hero: On Tour series Guitar Hero: On Tour · Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades · Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits
Guitar Hero Mobile series Guitar Hero III Mobile · Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass · Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile · Guitar Hero 5 Mobile · Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass · Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Mobile
Other games Band Hero (NDS) · Guitar Hero (iOS) · Guitar Hero Live (iOS)
Electronic toys Guitar Hero Carabiner · Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker · Kellogg's Guitar Hero promotional toys · Guitar Hero 2nd Edition Carabiner
Miscellaneous games and apps
Arcade games Guitar Hero Arcade
Cancelled games Guitar Hero 4 (NDS) · Guitar Hero Greatest Hits (NDS) · Guitar Hero 7 · DJ Hero 3D
Companion apps Guitar Hero VIP Pass (X360) · Guitar Hero Live Companion (iOS)
DJ Hero series DJ Hero (Renegade Edition) · DJ Hero Mobile · DJ Hero 2
Bundle packs Guitar Hero I & II Dual Pack (PS2) · Guitar Hero II & Aerosmith Dual Pack (X360) · Guitar Hero: On Tour & On Tour: Decades Box Set (NDS) · Guitar Hero III & Aerosmith Dual Pack (Wii)
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