The other new feature is one called RockFest. In this mode you can play with up to eight players via the internet or four locally and the rules are determined by a subset of choices you can make including, Elimination and Perfectionist. These subsets of rules make changes to the gameplay, as in Elimination: every 30 seconds the lowest player is dropped. In Perfectionist, players are rewarded for note percentage. These definitely add interesting party elements, which is great for those of us who host parties where most of the guests are nuts for music games but not necessarily the music.

So, it sounds pretty good overall, discounting the Johnny Cash/Kurt Cobain weirdness, so what could possibly be wrong? The song list. You know, I guess it comes down to my getting older. I have no idea, but the track list on this game is pretty bad, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who thinks so. Don’t get me wrong—there are a few songs that I absolutely love on this soundtrack: Sultans of Swing, Ring of Fire, Gratitude, etc… but for the most part, the song selection tends to head in the direction of “b-sides from bands you don’t like or have never heard.” They even added a song from the brilliant White Stripes and they picked...Blue Orchid? This is Guitar Hero’s biggest failing – outside of launch day issues with importing songs. It's tough to be too critical of the songs as it's all a matter of taste but it's a problem area that was hard for me to get past.

Overall, Guitar Hero 5 is technically a good game; it’s just a bit soulless.

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