Xbox 360 PS3

Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Music

Overview

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is a 2009 rhythm game developed by Underground Development and published by Activision. It is the tenth installment in the Guitar Hero series and the third to focus on the career and songs of one rock band, Van Halen, following Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (2008) and Guitar Hero: Metallica (2009). The game was released in retail for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii systems on December 22, 2009, in North America, and in February 2010 for PAL regions. However, as part of a promotion with Guitar Hero 5 (2009), the game was shipped to Guitar Hero 5 purchasers in North America prior to its retail release. The game features 28 songs from Van Halen along with 19 additional songs from selected artists that have been inspired by the group. The gameplay UI from Guitar Hero: Metallica was carried over.

The game has received mostly mixed reviews from critics, most of which consider the game's quality to be greatly inferior to its predecessor, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and other games of the series. The reviewers criticized the lack of former Van Halen members Michael Anthony, Gary Cherone, and Sammy Hagar; the limited tracks selected from Van Halen's discography; the selection of other tracks included in the game; and the general lack of features introduced in the previous band-centric games and Guitar Hero 5.