The Guitar Hero video game was a cultural sensation in the late ’00s, so its return under a new guise has been widely welcomed by the guitar and gaming community.
The songs set to be playable on the game have now been released alongside preorders opening, and its developers aren’t messing about with the setlist.
Stage Tour is Guitar Hero’s spiritual successor and has been developed by many of the same people who made the franchise’s previous 25 games a roaring success. Now operating under RedOctane Games, the developers believe its revamp is taking rhythm games to a whole new level, and the project already has Gibson’s backing.
Nuno Bettencourt’s Extreme (Get The Funk Out), Slipknot (Psychosocial), Weezer (Island In The Sun), and Paramore (For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic) will all be returning, having been fan favorites in the past.
A new trailer for the game, meanwhile, name-drops other generation-spanning string slingers, including Muse, Mötley Crüe, Ed Sheeran, Ghost, Radiohead, Castle Rat, and blink-182. The Rolling Stones are set to serve up Foreign Tongues track In The Stars (although the Paul McCartney-propelled Bite My Head Off feels like a missed opportunity).
Prog legends Genesis, Black Eyed Peas, and Metallica – who got their own dedicated game in 2009 – will also feature. That’s a lot of riffs.
Interestingly, there’s no mention of Van Halen yet, but Eddie’s offspring, Wolfgang, is to feature with Mammoth’s The End. It’s a song practically made for a game like this. OG Guitar Hero darlings DragonForce are another big omission (so far), given that the game helped the band explode, while the Beatles are also currently absent.
There’ll be over 90 playable songs in the game, and over 180 collectible items that look set to make the most of its tie-in with Gibson. Plenty of the firm’s classic builds, from Les Pauls to SGs, Firebirds, and what looks to be an Epiphone ES-335, can be spotted in the trailer.
Yet the game comes with a Kramer-branded controller, not a Gibson or Epiphone. Pre-orders start at $129.99 for the game and the wireless Kramer controller, rising to $349.99 with a drum kit controller included. It should have been named the Dave Grohl special.
See Stage Tour for more.
Stage Tour Setlist (confirmed so far)
- The Rolling Stones - In the Stars
- Smash Mouth - All Star
- Muse - Starlight
- BABYMETAL & Electric Callboy – RATATATA
- Extreme - Get The Funk Out
- Ghost - Square Hammer
- Good Kid - Mimi's Delivery Service Good Kid
- Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California
- Static-X - Terminator Oscillator
- Weezer - Island In The Sun
- Avril Lavigne - Bite Me
- Honey Revenge - Airhead
- Paramore - For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic
- The Paradox - Do Me Like That
- The Long Faces - Jane!
- Jfarrari - The Unknowing
- Castle Rat - Siren
- Rise Against - Broken Dreams, Inc.
- Slipknot - Psychosocial
- Mastodon - The Motherload
- Mammoth - The End
- Beast In Black - Blind and Frozen
- The Cure - Just Like Heaven
- Radiohead - Just
- Bad Omens - Just Pretend
