Game Details

ESRB Rating: 

E10+ (Everyone 10+)

Number of Players: 

1-4 (2-8 online)

What's the difference between Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5? The music and graphics. That's pretty much it. But these are some major differences, more than you'd expect. Read on.

As publishers recognize the immense family-friendly market, more and more genres have begun to skew toward a younger or broader audience instead of the traditional hardcore gamers. The music/rhythm game genre is no exception. The Rock Band franchise has recently introduced Rock Band: The Beatles and LEGO Rock Band as family-friendly alternatives, and Band Hero follows Guitar Hero 5 like Tiger Beat to Cosmo.

For the various features of the game, read the Guitar Hero 5 review. All of the features and modes in Guitar Hero 5 also appear in Band Hero, including the DS compatibility on the Wii. In fact, Band Hero for Wii is the only version to actually include new functionality, namely a new mode called "DS Party Play." In this mode, a player can us a DS to set up or change a playlist on the fly, so for instance, while other people or groups wait to play, they can put in their song requests, thus opening up the game to more participants. It's a minor addition but nice nonetheless. Otherwise, this is just Guitar Hero 5 with pink and purple menus and a different song collection. (Read our full review of Guitar Hero 5.)

Band Hero also adds unlockable playable characters, including Taylor Swift and Maroon 5's Adam Levine.

The songs, in keeping with the family-friendly theme, have been edited for content. Any song that contains a remotely offensive word mutes the word and replaces the on-screen lyric with an elipsis, but not always. Still, some songs contain marginally questionable content. Here's the list, but note that some of these songs still didn't make the cut due to the message of the song. Of the 65 included songs, 57 made the cut:

• 3 Doors Down  - “When I'm Gone”
• All American Rejects - “Dirty Little Secret”
• Alphabeat - “Fascination”
• Aly and AJ - “Like Whoa”
• Angels & Airwaves - “The Adventure”
• Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals  - “Steal My Kisses “
• Big Country - “In a Big Country”
• The Bravery - “Believe”
• Carl Douglas - “Kung Fu Fighting” (Comic violence)
  
• Cheap Trick - “I Want You To Want Me (live)”
• Cold War Kids - “Hang Me Up To Dry” (Possible innuendo)
  
• Corinne Bailey Rae - “Put Your Records On”
• Counting Crows - “Angels of the Silences”
• Culture Club - “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me”
• David Bowie - “Let's Dance”
• Devo  - “Whip It”
• Don Mclean - “American Pie”
• Duffy - “Warwick Avenue”
• Duran Duran - “Rio”
• Evanescence - “Bring Me To Life”
• Everclear  - “Santa Monica (Watch The World Die)”
• Finger Eleven - “Paralyzer”
• Go Go's - “Our Lips Are Sealed”
• Hilary Duff - “So Yesterday”
• Hinder - “Lips Of An Angel”
• Jackson 5 - “ABC”
• Janet Jackson - “Black Cat”
• Jesse McCartney - “Beautiful Soul”
• Joss Stone - “You Had Me” (Subtle drug reference)
  
• Katrina and The Waves - “Walking On Sunshine”
• The Kooks - “Naïve”
• KT Tunstall - “Black horse and the Cherry Tree” (Possible innuendo)
  
• The Last Goodnight - “Pictures Of You”
• Lily Allen - “Take What You Take”
• Maroon 5 - “She Will Be Loved” (Innuendo)
  
• Marvin Gaye - “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”
• Mighty Mighty Bosstones - “Impression That I Get”
• Nelly Furtado - “Turn Off The Light” (Strong innuendo: most kids won't catch it, but teens may)
  
• No Doubt - “Just A Girl”
• No Doubt - “Don't Speak”
• OK Go - “A Million Ways” (Innuendo)
  
• Papa Roach - “Lifeline”
• Parachute - “Back Again”
• Pat Benatar - “Love Is A Battlefield”
• Poison - “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (Mild innuendo)
  
• Roy Orbison - “Oh Pretty Woman”
• Santigold - “LES Artistes”
• Snow Patrol - “Take Back the City”
• Spice Girls - “Wannabe” (Innuendo)
  
• Styx  - “Mr Roboto”
• Taylor Swift - “Love Story”
• Taylor Swift - “Picture To Burn”
• Taylor Swift - “You Belong With Me”
• Tonic - “If You Could Only See”
• The Turtles - “Happy Together”
• Village People - “YMCA”
• Yellowcard  - “Ocean Avenue”

The name of the game may confuse players, since "Band Hero" drops the "Guitar Hero" name, yet it so closely resembles its predecessor that it comes off more like a Track Pack than a new franchise. It removes lyrics, but more as a word filter than a true censor. Many of the songs had to be removed from the family-friendly list, so why they didn't keep song meanings in mind when choosing the list for this game is beyond me.

So if you have multiple consoles, which version should you choose? Normally, I recommend the 360 or PS3 versions, since they're HD, unless it has some unique Wii controller usage. In this case, the controls are the same, so that's out, yet I still recommend the Wii version. The extra DS compatibility, if you have a DS, completely trumps the HD video. The only reason someone who owns a Wii and DS should choose the PS3 or 360 would be an extensive pre-existing collection of downloaded music or songs from previous Guitar Hero versions.

Band Hero is a great game. Guitar Hero 5 is a great game, and Band Hero is essentially the same game. But here's the problem: since not all of the songs are family-friendly, this isn't a game you can just let younger kids play unsupervised. If you're looking for that, you'll want LEGO Rock Band instead. If you already have Guitar Hero 5, this collection amounts to a Track Pack that's still significantly cheaper than buying the songs separately. And if you're a fan of artists like Taylor Swift and Hillary Duff (like my daughters), this collection will likely appeal.

For the first time ever, I can't offer a recommendation on this game. There's really nothing bad about this game except the setlist, which is 20 short of Guitar Hero 5's 85 songs at the same price. If you buy it, knowing the setlist, you won't be disappointed. It just has so many factors to consider that you just need to ask yourself what you already have and which game will work best for you and your family. Read the Guitar Hero 5 review and the LEGO Rock Band review, and consider all that information along with this review. While you're at it, leave a comment below, and tell us what you decided and why.