In what appears to be a badly hidden secret, rather than a big six-pack celebration like it should be, Activision is given Guitar Hero: Van Halen the super ghetto treatment.
Starting with its nearly hidden appearance at E3 2009, stashed away in a dark corner of Sony’s booth, and then following up with this super budget like garage sale site, Activision appears embarrassed by its own game. It’s true that this is like Guitar Hero number 47, and the company has exploited and spammed the world with an over-abundance of 31 flavors of the same game, three to four times a year, in fact. But they should have hidden Aerosmith, not this one.
Is Van Halen really that embarrassing? Wasn’t it one of the more popular bands in the ’80s? And isn’t it named after one of the greatest virtuoso guitar players in the world–Eddie Van Halen, who is in the band? And, um, aren’t they touring again? The fact that Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony are excluded from the game doesn’t bother me, but it’s sort of rude, don’t you think? Or it that just Eddie being his old self again?
Anyway, here is the song list and addition bands in the game.
Van Halen Songs
“Ain’t Talkin Bout Love”
“And The Cradle Will Rock”
“Atomic Punk”
“Beautiful Girls”
“Cathedral” (solo)
“Dance The Night Away”
“Eruption” (solo)
“Everybody Wants Some”
“Feel Your Love Tonight”
“Hang ‘Em High”
“Hear About It Later”
“Hot For Teacher”
“Ice Cream Man”
“I’m The One”
“Jamie’s Cryin”
“Jump”
“Little Guitars”
“Loss Of Control”
“Mean Street”
“Panama”
“Pretty Woman”
“Romeo Delight”
“Running With The Devil”
“So This Is Love”
“Somebody Get Me A Doctor”
“Spanish Fly” (solo)
“Unchained”
“You Really Got Me”
Other In-Game Tracks
Alter Bridge – “Come To Life”
Billy Idol – “White Wedding”
blink-182 – “First Date”
Deep Purple – “Space Truckin”
Foo Fighters – “Best Of You”
Foreigner – “Double Vision”
Fountains of Wayne – “Stacy’s Mom”
Jimmy Eat World – “Pain”
Judas Priest – “Painkiller”
Killswitch Engage – “The End Of Heartache”
Lenny Kravitz – “Rock And Roll Is Dead”
Queen – “I Want It All”
Queens of the Stone Age – “Sick, Sick, Sick”
Tenacious D – “Master Exploder”
The Clash – “Safe European Home”
The Offspring – “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”
Third Eye Blind – “Semi-Charmed Life”
Weezer – “Dope Nose”
Yellowcard – “The Takedown”
The game ships December 22, 2009 on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.
