Feature: Is Guitar Hero the next Tony Hawk Pro Skater?

Is Guitar Hero becoming Guitar Zero? One of the biggest breakout hits of the last few years has undoubtedly been Activisions Guitar Hero franchise. From its humble beginnings as a clone of Konamis Guitar Freaks, to its current status as arguably the biggest franchise in gaming, Guitar Hero has become more than just a gaming phenomenon. It has become a bona-fide money-making phenomenon, launching Activision into the number one video game publisher spot ahead of traditional giant Electronic Arts. More inside But is that phenomenon starting to resemble another, now tarnished, jewel in Activisions crown? With the recent release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: On Tour and the upcoming release of Guitar Hero: World Tour, is the franchise destined to become another Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, with yearly updates diluting the quality and consistency of the franchise to a point where it becomes insignificant? The potential is certainly there and with a Guitar Hero: Metallica also in the works, and the company’s promise to double output of the games next year, maybe Activision will again kill the “”goose that lays the golden egg”” or skateboard or guitar, as the case may be.case may be.

The Tony Hawk precedent

Since the first Tony Hawks Pro Skater was released on the PlayStation in 1999, series developer Neversoft have crafted a new game each year, with 2007s Tony Hawks Proving Ground making it nine games in nine years (not including spin-offs). While each new installment has seen incremental improvements, with an occasional evolutionary leap (Underground, Proving Ground), the market is now so saturated with Tony Hawk games that latter installments have failed to even come close to matching the series impressive early sales performance. Once, the release of a new Tony Hawk game would have seen video game sales assistants duck for cover against a stampede of excited gamers. But now, each new release is greeted by gamers with something closer to apathy. The series early critical acclaim has also waned, with each new installment returning lower and lower review scores.

Our own reviewer remarked in his review of the Wii version of Tony Hawks Proving Ground that the series had failed to significantly evolve since the original game.

The series has only taken baby steps from its original concept rather than spending a few years on evolving the gameplay or perhaps perfecting the foundations planted by the outstanding Tony Hawk 2, he said. Proving Ground, while adding some new features, feels like the same old thing.

Gamerankings.com shows other gaming reviewers concur with our opinion. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 achieved a series high average of 94.6 per cent with each subsequent game progressively scoring less, with Tony Hawks Proving Ground marking the low point with 73.9 per cent. The falling review scores have been matched by even sharper declines in sales figures, with Proving Ground failing to approach the multi-million selling performance of Pro Skater 2. The series has fallen so far in fact, that it is currently on hiatus pending a complete reworking before the next edition.

Is Guitar Hero following the same path?

Unfortunately, it would seem that the Guitar Hero franchise is following something of a similar path to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The recent Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was not greeted with the same universal acclaim from reviewers as previous entries in the series have received (Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s aside) and Nintendo DS installment Guitar Hero: On Tour was met with mixed reviews. Some loved the game and others wrote it off as a mediocre attempt to capture the magic of the home console versions (our own Vooks.net reviewer James Mitchell loved On Tour’s play anywhere style).

With Guitar Hero: World Tour on the horizon and various reports of Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Hendrix and Guitar Hero: The Beatles it could very easily be the case that once again quality is making way for quantity for one of Activision’s key titles. Add to that Activision stating that Guitar Hero releases will double by 2009 and even triple by 2010 and the potential for disaster is certainly there.

What do you think? Is Guitar Hero at risk of falling into the same trap as Tony Hawk? Discuss it in our forums.