Guitar Hero 4: World Tour and Why It'll Beat Rock Band

As many of you know, Rock Band is the greatest music game out, allowing people to play drums, bass and lead guitar, and allow singing as well. However, Guitar Hero 4, aka Guitar Hero: World Tour, is shaping up to be quite the game. After reading up on it, I have got to say... it isn't Guitar Hero. Instead, it's an even greater version of Rock Band. I'm very certain it'll put Rock Band to shame as well. After reading up on it, I have my reasons.

IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS
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I've just read up on some of the instruments, and I've got to say, I'm heavily impressed. They look awesome, and each instrument have had upgrades compared the Rock Band counter-parts. First off, the guitar now has multiple functions to truly simulate the feel of a real guitar. First off, there is now a touch strip that you can use to alter pitches. You can run your fingers up and down the strip to adjust the notes, which works considerably better than the whammy bar as reported by some. Of course, the whammy bar is still in for those holding-notes. The guitar has has guitar tilting to adjust the notes, and interestingly enough, the guitar allows palm-muting. They've made this into one versatile instrument.

The drum set has also been improved in several areas. First off, it's grown from 5 buttons (four pads and a base pedal) to 6 (5 buttons and a pedal). And with this add on, comes an adjustment in design, which works for the better. It's now a two level drum set that's been given a fairly sturdy design. With these designs come some new features as well. What's interesting is that they were able to make the pads pressure sensitive. Basically, the volume of the instrument is based upon how hard you hit. The harder, the louder! The other thing that's great is that the drum set is wireless. No hassle setting it up and trying to find a place to plug it in when there are wires all about. It's all ready for you!

MUSIC CREATOR
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A new feature to the game that I also welcome is the Music Creator. That's right, every musicians dream has come true; GH allows makers to make their own music, using drums, bass, and rhythm and lead guitar. Unfortunately, one is not allowed to make songs with vocals. Most likely this would be due to pitch problems, because we all know how the slightest waver in vocals reults in a huge change in pitch. Apparently, the game allows you to save up to a hundred songs as well, which is quite impressive.

CHARACTER/ INSTRUMENT CREATOR
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Yes, Rock Band has a character creator. Let's remember though, that this is Neversoft's game, who were the creators of the oh so great (but lately unoriginal) Tony Hawk games, which created a character creator system that was second only to the THQ WWE series. GH is going to have a character creation system that is just as good as the Tony Hawk games. So epect one that is more liberal than that of Rock Band. It's also possible to make your own instruments (technically). You're allowed to make custom shaped and decalled instruments for your character, which is another neat addition.

For those of you who are looking forward to this game, I can pretty much assure you that this game will be a major improvement. New features, new gameplay modes (apparently the boss battles have been changed to a "Simon Says" style game), and new instrument styles, I've gotta say this will be a game that will entertain me for years to come. I just hope that it meets my expectations. To anyone who wants to talk about it, what do you all think of it?