Guitar Hero 7: Rock Of Ages (Take 2)

OK, most of you may know that I've been working on this for around about 2 years now. I think I've put more thought into this than any other custom-made or genuine existing setlist/game idea that's out there. I've discussed it in great detail on this blog before but now it's time to put all the ideas into one place so you can get a full grasp of what I'd want to do with a Guitar Hero game if I was in charge of making one. First up, the name.
I'm sure there's a better name that could be given to the game...hell, 'Guitar Hero 7' would probably do but I felt giving it an additional title relevant to the game makes it sound more interesting. Obviously this title comes from having a game all about music through the last 5 decades. Now I've said this time and time again but if I'm putting everything in one place, I suppose I should say it here too.
The soundtrack is based on several things. Unlike previous GH/RB games, I didn't just pick a collection of songs I think are awesome. The soundtrack is primarily based on two things: Songs that are fun on Guitar (continuing on from GH:WOR) and songs that have their place in music history, whether it's because they're popular songs, by a popular band/artist or belong to a popular genre. However, some choices were made because they were good songs that are damn near entirely unknown by most people. This is to serve another purpose that rhythm music games have always been great at: introducing people to music they may end up loving.

So now the story. When I say story, I don't mean like PowerGig or GH:WOR. I mean like GH3 where the Career Mode had a few cutscenes between gigs just to tie things together. Something that isn't meant to be taken seriously and just makes the game a little bit more fun. Plus it just shows that a little bit more effort has gone into it.
To save a bit of time, I'll combine it with the listed soundtrack so you get a better idea of how the story progresses and how you unlock songs in the Career Mode, since they're all available in Quickplay+. Right then, this is the soundtrack ordered in Career Mode for Guitar. Same as before, I'll list them with Guitar Tier difficulty and apologies but I have no idea how to rate drums or vocals.
If you want the setlist in alphabetical order, here are links to the Grooveshark & Spotify playlists. Some of the tracks aren't available on Grooveshark or Spotify but together you should have them all. If you want the setlist in chronological order (...what? Some of you might), here's a Youtube playlist. Apologies if the videos/songs don't work. However, if you're really keen on listening to them then I'm sure you'll find a way.


The game begins with your band playing at a gig inducting them into the League Of Rock Gods (any names like this can be replaced with anything better you can come up with). They play a 4 song set & then the encore, just like old GH games. Each venue has a specific genre that...well, I'll explain in a bit.


1. ROCK GODS INDUCTION GIG
Stadium Of Rawk (Hard Rock)

"Short Skirt/Long Jacket" - Cake, 2001
Alternative, Guitar Tier 2/10
"Souljacker Pt 1" - Eels, 2001
Rock, Guitar Tier 2/10
"Grounds For Divorce" - Elbow, 2008
Alternative, Guitar Tier 2/10
"The Sound Of Settling" - Death Cab For Cutie, 2003
Indie, Guitar Tier 3/10
*ENCORE* - AXEL STEEL
"Apply Some Pressure" - Maximo Park, 2004
Indie, Guitar Tier 4/10


Now Encore songs are where Guitar Duels are introduced. Similar to Guitar Duels on DS games, the point is that you play the song and have to achieve specific goals in order to avoid failing the song. I know I've explained that poorly but trust me, this makes sense. When you reach a certain point, the game will have a little banner telling you to fill up a meter by whammying sustain notes. If you fill the meter before the end of the phrase, you pass the challenge. This means you either get an attack that's automatically used against your opponent or a shield that blocks the attack.
If you're both doing the same challenge, whoever gets the highest score or completes it first gets the attack. Now, unlike Guitar Battles from GH3, the attack isn't something like Amp Overload or Lefty Flip. The attack damages your Rock Meter so that you can't get over a certain point. So if you've been hit by several attacks, you can no longer get any higher than the Yellow area. The idea is to attack your opponent so many times that they end up in the Red area. Once they get so low that they fail, that's the Duel over.
If you win the duel before the song finishes, you'll just carry on playing the song as normal. As for who you duel against in the Career Mode, you duel against a GH character that represents the genre of the venue you're playing at. So for this one, you're against Axel Steel because it's Hard Rock. Once you beat him, he joins your band. Any problems with that? Feel free to ask questions or give feedback in the comment section but wait until you've read the whole post first.

Anyway, after playing that gig, The God Of Rock allows your band to ascend into Rock Paradise. However, Lou The Devil appears before you join the God Of Rock and sends your band back in time. Your band ends up in the 60s where they're playing a gig at a little club.


2. BACK TO THE 60S
The Alcove Club (Rock)

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" - The Rolling Stones - 1968
Rock, Guitar Tier 3/10
"Till The End Of The Day" - The Kinks, 1965
Rock, Guitar Tier 3/10
"Wipe Out" - The Surfaris, 1963
Rock, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Born To Be Wild" - Steppenwolf, 1968
Rock, Guitar Tier 3/10
*ENCORE* - EDDIE KNOX
"Somebody To Love" - Jefferson Airplane, 1967
Psychedelic Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10


So after completing that Rock Duel, your band starts to become popular again. This regained fame propels your band into the 80s, where they're playing at a high school dance.


3. ROCK THE 80S...AGAIN!
Einstein High School (Punk)

"Where Is My Mind???" - Pixies, 1988
Alternative, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Sometimes A Fantasy" - Billy Joel, 1980
Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Staring At The Rude Boys" - The Ruts, 1980
Punk, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Copperhead Road" - Steve Earle, 1988
Country, Guitar Tier 4/10
*ENCORE* - JOHNNY NAPALM
"It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" - R.E.M, 1987
Alternative, Guitar Tier 4/10


Same system, you beat the Rock Duel and travel forward in time to the 00s where you're playing as a Warm Up band for The Poseurs, the band that Lou The Devil is in charge of. Since you've been gone, they've reached extreme popularity and have mesmerised audiences all over the world with their dreary lyrics and mindlessly repetitive songs based on endless chord sequences. Obviously they're a parody of [INSERT BLAND MODERN ROCK BAND HERE].


4. CONQUER THE 00S
H20 Arena - Warm Up (Indie)

"Last Nite" - The Strokes, 2001
Indie, Guitar Tier 5/10
"The River" - Good Charlotte, 2007
Alternative, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Living In A Dream" - Finger Eleven, 2010
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Time After Time" - Elliot Minor, 2008
Pop Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
*ENCORE* - THE POSEURS
"Warriors Of Time" - Black Tide, 2008
Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10


Yep. A 9/10 tier song right in the middle of a 4-5/10 venue. This is a deliberate curve-ball thrown at the player. I picked a song with an insanely difficult solo that will subsequently be matched with a hard Rock Duel challenge. Basically, I put that in so that the player is forced to lose. This isn't meant to be a prank, it's designed to make the rest of the story make sense. Once the player inevitably fails the song, a cutscene involving Lou warping the guitarist & vocalist into a dungeon takes place. This is all part of the game.


5. BATTLE WITH LOU
The Dungeon

"Tribute" - Tenacious D, 2001
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 7/10


This is the first real Boss Battle of the game. Similar to the song's story about beating the Devil in a rock battle, you also play against Lou with harder challenges more specifically aimed at battling against each other. And yeah, the song as a fun mo-cap. In fact, every song has a mo-cap designed around bands from that genre, e.g. 60s songs will be played in a similar way to how The Beatles or The Yardbirds played, Metal songs will have headbanging and guitar tapping, etc. This is just a fun addition that, again, shows a bit of effort has been put into the game. Fun mo-caps will play in Career Mode & on Quickplay+ when you choose a certain venue for your song, regular mo-caps any other time.
So you beat Lou and find yourself back in the 00s. However, after joining up with your band, you end up in the 90s playing live on a music video channel. MOAR SETLISTS!


6. DOMINATE THE 90S
Live On RTV (Grunge)

"Surf Wax America" - Weezer, 1994
Alternative, Guitar Tier 3/10
"Flagpole Sitta" - Harvey Danger, 1997
Alternative, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Under The Bridge" - Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1991
Alternative, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Don't Look Back In Anger" - Oasis, 1996
Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
*ENCORE* - CASEY LYNCH
"Alive" - Pearl Jam, 1991
Grunge, Guitar Tier 6/10


Another gig rocked, another rocker joining the band. At this point, I guess I should mention that I've included Rhythm & Lead guitar as two options for the game. This means that in Career Mode, the singer also plays guitar which affects the mo-cap. Guitarists or vocalists will probably mimic famous rock stars like Kurt Cobain or Hendrix in some of the songs, doing famous rock star poses or moves on stage.
Anyway, this time the band is sent to the 70s where they're being filmed for a music project at a military base...yeah.


7. RULE THE 70S
The Old Grey Missile Test (Classic Rock)

"The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac, 1977
Classic Rock, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Milk And Alcohol" - Dr. Feelgood, 1979
Rock, Guitar Tier 4/10
"The Jean Genie" - David Bowie, 1972
Glam Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - Blue Oyster Cult, 1976
Classic Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
*ENCORE* - AUSTIN TEJAS
"Jeepster" - T. Rex, 1971
Glam Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10


After beating the Rock Duel, the game changes slightly. You've already played all of the decades once...but you're still not powerful enough to take on Lou and his band again. Now you have to go to the different genres again, with your added band mates, and rock the different venues by choosing 4 of the available songs and 5 of the available challenges, e.g. whammying notes, Star Power score, note streak, etc. You do this for all 5 of the decades listed below but when you've played 4 songs, you play a Rock Duel similar to the one with Lou in The Dungeon against a new character.


8. THE ROAD TO ROCK RECOVERY (60S)
RockStock (Psychedelic Rock)

"Over Under Sideways Down" - The Yardbirds, 1966
Psychedelic Rock, Guitar Tier 4/10
"Louie Louie" - The Kingsmen, 1963
Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Nobody But Me" - The Human Beinz, 1967
Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
"China Cat Sunflower" - Grateful Dead, 1969
Psychedelic Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Race With The Devil" - The Gun, 1968
Psychedelic Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Whipping Post" - The Allman Brothers Band, 1969
Southern Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
*ENCORE* - MAGIC ALISTAIR
"Eight Miles High" - The Byrds, 1966
Psychedelic Rock, Guitar Tier 8/10


Magic Alistair is a new character based on the 60s Psychedelic Rock genre. He'll be a kind of wizard or something, I haven't really thought too much about that. What I do know is that when you're about to fight a Boss, an old rocker from GH games will join your band to help you out. In this case, it's Xavier Stone.


9. THE ROAD TO ROCK RECOVERY (80S)
Rych Manor Private-Party (Hair Metal)

"Another Nail In My Heart" - Squeeze, 1980
New Wave, Guitar Tier 5/10
"It's Electric" - Diamond Head, 1980
Metal, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Still Of The Night" - Whitesnake, 1987
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Dr. Feelgood" - Motley Crue, 1989
Hair Metal, Guitar Tier 7/10
"Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Bon Jovi, 1987
Hair Metal, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" - Aerosmith, 1987
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Go For Soda" - Kim Mitchell, 1984
Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Hell Is For Children" - Pat Benatar, 1980
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 7/10
"Lead A Double Life" - Loverboy, 1985
Rock, Guitar Tier 7/10
*ENCORE* - THE GRIM RIPPER
"Hallowed Be Thy Name" - Iron Maiden, 1982
Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10


Fairly basic 80s setlist here with a mix of Hair Metal, Rock, Metal, Hard Rock and a few other genres...OK, one other genre. When you battle The Grim Ripper, Izzy Sparks joins you.


10. THE ROAD TO ROCK RECOVERY (00S)
Millennium Blimp (Alternative)

"Hate To Say I Told You So" - The Hives, 2000
Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Speaking In Tongues" - Eagles Of Death Metal, 2004
Rock, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Joker & The Thief" - Wolfmother, 2005
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Long Road To Ruin" - Foo Fighters, 2007
Alternative, Guitar Tier 5/10
"The State Of Massachusetts" - Dropkick Murphys, 2007
Punk, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Live & Learn" - Crush 40, 2001
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Blind Man" - Black Stone Cherry, 2008
Southern Rock, Guitar Tier 8/10
"New Born" - Muse, 2001
Alternative, Guitar Tier 7/10
*ENCORE* - GOD OF ROCK
"Children Of The Elder God" - Old Gods Of Asgard, 2010
Metal, Guitar Tier 8/10


I know it's unusual for the God Of Rock to fight you but whatever, it's a game. He's been possessed or it's a test to see if you're truly worthy to fight Lou or something along those lines. Oh yeah, and Judy Nails joins your band as well.


11. THE ROAD TO ROCK RECOVERY (70S)
Wizard's Lair (Prog Rock)

"Feel Like Makin' Love" - Bad Company, 1975
Classic Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Another Girl, Another Planet" - The Only Ones, 1978
Punk, Guitar Tier, 6/10
"Foreplay/Long Time" - Boston, 1977
Classic Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Wheel In The Sky" - Journey, 1978
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 6/10
"Fox On The Run" - Sweet, 1974
Glam Rock, Guitar Tier 7/10
"There Goes Another Love Song" - Outlaws, 1975
Southern Rock, Guitar Tier 7/10
"News Of The World" - The Jam, 1978
Punk, Guitar Tier 7/10
"Catch Your Train" - Scorpions, 1976
Metal, Guitar Tier 7/10
"My Sharona" - The Knack, 1979
New Wave, Guitar Tier 7/10
"Highway Star" - Deep Purple, 1972
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 8/10
"Icarus (Borne On Wings Of Steel)" - Kansas, 1975
Prog Rock, Guitar Tier 8/10
"The Rocker" - Thin Lizzy, 1973
Classic Rock, Guitar Tier 8/10
*ENCORE* - METALHEAD
"Rock And Roll Machine" - Triumph, 1977
Hard Rock, Guitar Tier 9/10


A huge amount of songs for one venue here. You only have to play 4 of them but, once you've finished the game, you can come back and play the rest with the challenges if you want. When you get to the Rock Duel, Clive Winston joins you. I know he's mostly Classic Rock but there's also a bit of Prog in him as well.


12. THE ROAD TO ROCK RECOVERY (90S)
CastleFest (Metal)

"Falling Away From Me" - KoRn, 1999
Metal, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Wake Up" - Rage Against The Machine, 1992
Metal, Guitar Tier 5/10
"All I Know" - Screaming Trees, 1996
Grunge, Guitar Tier 6/10
"The Kids Aren't Alright" - The Offspring, 1998
Punk, Guitar Tier 5/10
"Just" - Radiohead, 1995
Alternative, Guitar Tier 7/10
"Superunknown" - Soundgarden, 1994
Grunge, Guitar Tier 7/10
"Geek U.S.A." - The Smashing Pumpkins, 1993
Alternative, Guitar Tier 7/10
"Desert Rose" - Eric Johnson, 1990
Rock, Guitar Tier 8/10
*ENCORE* - FRANKENROCKER
"Feed My Frankenstein" - Alice Cooper, 1992
Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10


This is the last genre to feature the 4 song - 5 challenge method of playing. After beating the Rock Duel with Lars Umlaut helping you, you move onto the untouched period in time. The Future. In The Future, The Poseurs are multi-platinum artists and have been resurrected by Lou to play a special gig for the whole world. Also in The Future, music has become homogenized and the people have all been brainwashed by music talent shows and other wannabe pop stars. Yeah, there's a message here. What of it?
Either way, after playing all 5 songs (which you have to do), you fight against Lou as a gigantic Demon monster floating in the sky.


13. FUTURE SHOCK
Poseurs Platinum Album Gig

"Classical Gas (Live)" - Glen Campbell, 1977
Country, Guitar Tier 9/10
"Hocus Pocus" - Focus, 1971
Prog Rock, Guitar Tier 9/10
"Rock The Night" - Europe, 1985
Hair Metal, Guitar Tier 8/10
"The Extremist" - Joe Satriani, 1992
Rock, Guitar Tier 8/10
"Needled 24/7" - Children Of Bodom, 2003
Death Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10
*ENCORE* - MEGA-LOU
"As I Am" - Dream Theater, 2003
Prog Metal, Guitar Tier 10/10


After beating Lou, fixing The Future with the power of Rock and generally kicking ass, the God Of Rock allows you to ascend to Rock Paradise to play over the credits.


14. ROCK PARADISE
Great Gig In The Sky

"He-Man Woman Hater" - Extreme, 1990
Hair Metal, Guitar Tier 10/10


So that's that. The setlist and Career Mode...OR IS IT?!?! After playing every song and completing all the challenges, you unlock a bonus venue and challenge. You play these 4 songs in one continuous go (with the pause button disabled) against the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.


15. EDGE OF FOREVER
The Final Encore

"Spirit In Black" - Slayer, 1990
Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10
"Tornado Of Souls" - Megadeth, 1990
Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10
"A.I.R." - Anthrax, 1985
Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10
"The Four Horsemen" - Metallica, 1983
Metal, Guitar Tier 9/10

And THAT'S the setlist and Career Mode story! Congratulations if you kept on reading, but this post isn't over yet. Nope, I've still got features and gameplay changes to discuss. If you want to take a break, now's a good time to do it. If you choose to come back, I thank you for your time. A detailed list of the gameplay features and innovations can be seen in this blog post but, for people who couldn't be arsed to check that out, here's a summary of what I'd be adding to the game along with the above.

• Get rid of Quest Mode but keep Quickplay+ and Star Challenges, increasing 3 per instrument to 4 or 5.
• On the Music Store, you can watch a 10-15 second preview of the chart for all songs on any instrument you choose.
• Improved character & instrument creator.
• Improved playlist/filtering options on Quickplay+, i.e. you can go through the entire soundtrack and number them 1-90 in any order.
  
• Ability to calibrate lag & change Hyperspeed from the pause menu, although it'll have to restart the song you're playing.
• When you post something on Facebook/Twitter, you can post a picture of your score as well as just a comment.
  
• Add Rhythm & Lead Guitar whilst keeping 'Guitar' as an instrument, that way most songs have 3 different charts. This is so players who are bored of playing bass but aren't good enough to play some songs on guitar have another stepping stone.
• The Jukebox. This is a dropdown menu that has the entire soundtrack of the game. Instead of the 6 songs that normally play on menus, you can order around and listen to every song in the game whenever you're doing something such as Character Creation or Concept Art.
• Genre alteration. On Quickplay+, you might not agree with the genres picked for certain songs so you have about 3-4 options of genres to pick from and assign to that song. If you want to add your own, you can but it'll appear differently to songs with programmed genres.
• Rockipedia (or whatever you want to call it). A collection of facts about songs, bands, genres and all different forms of trivia relating to this game & the Guitar Hero series, ranging from bonus instruments to real life rock star stage moves. This is to educate people about Rock music whilst giving them something to read/look into when they're tired of playing. Again, this is where the Jukebox comes in handy.
• GHTunes+. Instead of just being able to make MIDI songs with GH charts, you can alter existing charts for any on-disc song. You can't alter the sound of the song, so whammying or missed note sound effects won't occur, but you can completely edit the chart to your taste and save it as a new song to play in Quickplay+.
• 8-Track Mode. The biggie. Plug in your guitar/bass with the USB tech 'Rocksmith' uses and record actual music. You can edit it, mix it, save it and chart it to play in GH. Not sure about sharing it, as there are probably copyright issues, but if they can share songs with GHTunes, I reckon they should be able to share actual songs people have created. After all, it's not like they're making a profit from sharing material that may not be theirs over GH.

Right, I think that's it. My idea for a Guitar Hero game that's taken me about 2 years to fully (you know what I mean) sort out in my head. The last thing to mention is DLC. I'm currently sorting out a fake DLC schedule for 2 years (with a band centric game released in between) and I'll post details on those every month. If this were real, the first DLC pack would probably be a GH:WOR Import on the release date. As for the first official track pack, that'll come out in the first week of October as will the blog post about it.
Like I said earlier, if you have any feedback or questions then go for it using the comment section. By 'feedback', I mean constructive feedback. If you have a problem with the game, I'll take it into account but it has to be more than just your personal response to the soundtrack. For example, if you think I picked the wrong Aerosmith song just because they've done songs you'd rather play in GH, that isn't good feedback. It's only good feedback if loads of people say the same thing.
Well it's been a long post but it's finally over. I guess that's me done for the month so I'll be seeing you in October.