Games are recommended on a four-point scale like those "strongly agree/disagree" questions you get on surveys. This scale goes "Strongly", "If you like this kinda game", "Watch it online", and "Avoid at all costs" from best to worst. It's one part how likely I am to replay the game and one part how likely I am to recommend it to fans of that game's genre. I'm not in the business of objectivity, just what's fun to me. No reason to play a game if you're not having fun, yeah?
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Probably the most impressive thing about Guitar Hero is how much Harmonix had figured out right from the beginning. Anyone who started with any later game in the series can sit down with GH1 and play it—at least in theory. GH1 has gained a reputation among five-fret rhythm game enthusiasts for being a lot more difficult to play than later entries, and I'd say it depends on how you look at it. Technically, there are many little details about GH1 that make it more annoying than it needs to be, but the songs and charts are actually a lot easier than later entries—and no matter what, this is still Guitar Hero, and that's still wonderful.
If you're somehow unaware, you use either a plastic guitar or the DualShock (which doesn't require you to strum) to "play" the guitar part of each song, and it really is twitchy score attack ambrosia as you try to do better at each song and increase your scores. On the surface, the engine is fairly similar to GH2, but there's definitely enough differences (the notoriously complex HO/POs that basically require you to strum each note, the lack of feedback on combo break) that I would not call GH1 my favorite to play. There's also plenty of undercharted songs, even on Expert, and Hard difficulty is a meme that you might as well skip entirely.
Aside from the bonus tracks, all songs are soundalike covers, and assuming that doesn't turn you off on the spot, they really do a great job on 90% of these covers, especially in imitating more distinctive vocalists like Ozzy Osbourne. It's the songs that are the strongest part here, everything from Joan Jett, Deep Purple, White Zombie, Helmet, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Queens of the Stone Age, and the bonus tracks from Harmonix's own bands and Boston's finest are especially fun if you're an indie head like I am. A great beginning was charted here, but playing GH1 is as much a reminder of how many improvements the sequel made as anything else.
| Reviewed | Supports special controllers? | My favorite part | Recommended? |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 20, 2025 | Yes (guitar) | The bonus setlist | If you like this kinda game |
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