Guitar Hero: Van Halen Image
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 34 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

  • Summary: Guitar Hero returns with another band-focused title, Guitar Hero: Van Halen. The game features 25 classic Van Halen tracks, three signature Eddie Van Halen guitar solos, and 19 hand-picked guest acts. Play in eight original venues specifically designed for Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Rock around the globe, from a small club in Los Angeles to arenas around the world, including the iconic "S-stage" from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s 2007 world tour. Play as one of the four members of Van Halen or create your own personalized superstar with Rock Star Creator and watch your superstar party on stage. Rock out with up to four players locally or battle other bands with up to 8 players. With tracks ranging from the high-energy "Jump" to the legendary guitar solo "Eruption," the easy to play, difficult to master game play that Guitar Hero fans have grown to love is back in Guitar Hero: Van Halen. [Activision] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 34
  2. Negative: 7 out of 34
  1. The steep cost of admissions is the only real downside to this entire package.
  2. Van Halen deserves better. [Jan 2010, p.79]
  3. If you got this as a freebie ,good for you, if you find it in the (heavily) discounted bin then try it out (it should be there by Friday).
  4. 49
    No effort was put into making it good. It's a step backwards for the franchise and a totally unnecessary release.

See all 34 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 5
  2. Negative: 2 out of 5
  1. [anonymous]
    9
    Best notetracks of any GH / RB game ever. Some additional features would be nice, but that's all extras that don't matter to the core game: playing the songs. Expand
  2. AustinM.
    9
    The reviews are a bit low on this game, and I really don't know why. This is a fun game!! I'm a huge fan of Van Halen and Guitar Hero, so this definetely made it more fun for me. The tracklist is great, collecting some of Van Halen's best work, and was just a blast!! Although, I do agree with Game Informer saying this did deserve better. I got this free with GH5 offer, so I shouldn't complain much, and it did seem a bit rushed. It was really cool to unlock the classic looks of Van Halen, too bad Mike isn't there though. But this still doesn't stop this from being a great game!! "Jump" for Van Halen!! Expand
  3. DavidB.
    5
    I got this for free with the GH5 mail in offer, and I'm still not impressed. I like the GH/RB games, but this really seemed to be a "throw in" with GH5, and nothing more. To think they're charging full price for this as a game? Ouch. $20 worth of DLC would have made more sense. Would have reduced the carbon footprint, to boot. VH fan or not, if you paid full price, you got ripped off. Expand
  4. JeffW.
    2
    This game does nothing to move forward the music game industry. It does nothing to compensate for the fact that it was released months after Guitar Hero 5 made leaps and bounds in this genre of video games. Besides that, the game has no narrative to compel you forward nor does nothing to explain Van Halen's significance to the music industry or anything. The game is also inconsistent with itself in the song choices, since the songs that were chosen do not at all relate to Van Halen's musical style nor their influences nor how they influenced the music genre. The only reason this game gets a 2 is because it has "functional" game play and some "decent" song selections. Still, no Van Hagar, no import, and no hope of future DLC for the game make it completely unacceptable. Do not buy this game unless you have just way too much money on your hands and do not mind wasting money on a game with some good songs but more than half of the set list is bad. Expand

See all 5 User Reviews