Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock | Nintendo Wii

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A rock campaign with powers of its own

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock turns a band performance into a fantasy campaign. Guitar, bass, drums and vocals remain the heart of the game, but Quest mode sends its musicians after the Beast, a mechanical enemy that has imprisoned the Demigod of Rock. Gene Simmons narrates the adventure as familiar Guitar Hero characters become exaggerated warrior versions of themselves. Their transformations change more than the stage show: each brings a power that affects the way you earn points or survive a difficult passage. Building the band means learning what those powers contribute as well as clearing the songs.

Quest moves through sets associated with different characters, recruiting warriors as you complete their challenges. One ability may improve the scoring potential of Star Power, while another offers protection when your note streak would otherwise break. The characters therefore give repeated performances a different emphasis. A passage that tests your basic accuracy can also become a chance to exploit the power you have equipped. The story's journey from rock stages to a confrontation with the Beast supplies the context, while the songs still ask you to keep time and read the approaching notes.

Learn the track, then chase the score

The disc contains more than ninety tracks, with a selection that concentrates on rock and metal while leaving room for different tempos and styles. Songs such as Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Muse's Uprising bring recognizable arrangements into the same library as much heavier material. A change of instrument can make a familiar song feel different because the guitar, bass, drum and vocal parts ask you to follow different elements of the recording. Choosing what to play is consequently also a choice about which kind of rhythm, pattern or vocal performance you want to tackle.

For guitar and bass, the colored notes connect the scrolling display to the fret buttons and strum bar of a compatible guitar controller. Drums use pads and a pedal, while vocals use a compatible USB microphone and judge pitch and timing. These are different performance roles within the same game, so knowing a song does not automatically mean every part will be equally easy. The arrangement you enjoy listening to may also lead you toward the instrument you most want to practice. Your selected difficulty determines the challenge you take into a performance.

Quickplay+ gives individual tracks a longer life beyond simply finishing them. Its challenges include score targets, sustained note streaks and goals built around particular techniques or warrior powers. Stars earned through these tasks contribute to progression and unlocks, creating smaller objectives within the song library. You might return to a track because you want a cleaner run, because a different challenge suits another instrument, or because a power combination offers a fresh scoring opportunity. It provides a direct way to work on a particular song without following the story's next destination.

Training supports that process with tutorials, a help index and a Practice mode that can isolate parts of a song and slow them down. A troublesome phrase does not have to mean replaying an entire track at full speed every time. Breaking it into a smaller task lets you connect the notes you see with the movements needed to perform them. Once the sequence is comfortable, you can return to a full performance and concentrate on keeping it together with the rest of the arrangement. This is especially useful when changing instruments or raising the difficulty.

Build a local band or bring a roadie

Party Play is designed around joining and leaving a session easily. Up to four local instrument players can take part, with different instrument combinations and difficulty choices. Its no-fail format gives the room space to experiment, swap roles and keep the music running. That changes the purpose of a session: one player can be learning while another follows a more demanding part of the same song. Competitive options provide a different focus when the group wants a contest, including challenges built around scores, streaks and consistency.

The Wii version adds a separate role for friends with compatible Nintendo DS systems. A roadie can assist a guitar, bass or drum player, supporting a performance or interfering with an opposing player in the appropriate Roadie mode. Roadie Quickplay+ connects those helpers to the challenge system, while the Setlist Manager lets a DS user organize songs during Party Play. With the required equipment, these features can involve four Wii performers and four DS roadies. The extra participants are helpers on their own handhelds, so the eight-person option has a different setup from ordinary four-player instrument play.

Controller preparation matters for this physical Wii release. Playing a guitar, bass or drum part requires compatible instrument hardware; the standard Wii instrument-controller setup uses a Wii Remote inserted into the instrument's controller compartment. Vocal play uses a compatible USB microphone with a connected Wii Remote for menus. The optional Roadie features additionally require Nintendo DS hardware. Select a mode around the equipment you actually have, and check the chosen item's contents for any supplied accessories. A software disc and an instrument bundle provide different starting points for assembling a band.

Activision lists Warriors of Rock among its legacy games with diminished or discontinued online services. The Wii Shop has also closed to new purchases, so the experience to plan around is the disc's music and its solo and local modes. Warriors of Rock offers several ways to use that set list: progress through a character-powered campaign, refine a section in Practice, pursue a Quickplay+ challenge or let friends join the next song. The common thread is turning a recording you want to hear into a performance you want to improve.