It makes some of these songs –songs from Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II in particular- less fun to play than they were in the original editions where there felt like more logic was applied to the note charts. Case in point: Free Bird. That song, which closed out the Guitar Hero II experience, remains one of the most fun tunes to play in the Guitar Hero franchise. No more. In Smash Hits the first half of the song is played entirely from the ill-conceived finger tapping sensor board found only on World Tour guitars. Way to make one of the great entries in this franchise entirely boring to play, guys.

With 48 tracks in all it’s hard to argue Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is a poor value. If it were downloadable content for World Tour you’d probably end up spending more than $60 to get it all. And certainly the game accomplishes what it sets out to do. Nonetheless, the whole package sure does feel like a quick, off-the-cuff cash grab. There’s no evolution of the core game design and the entirely fictional and over the top rock and roll venues add nothing to the experience (unless you think it would be cool to play at the North Pole or in Atlantis). Unless you’ve never played the first game or just have to have the vocal and drum parts included, there’s almost nothing here you can’t get by looking for a cheap deal buying Guitar Hero II or III separately. At least that way you’ll end up with far more music to play and enjoy and you won’t miss out on some of the real classics they have to offer that Smash Hits passes over.

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