Gaming goes through a lot of phases during its constant evolution, and gamers pick and choose their favorite trends along the way. Sometimes platformers reign supreme; other times fighters are all the rage. Music and rhythm games were popular long before Guitar Hero, but the undeniable draw the franchise has garnered reaches far beyond the realms of gaming — a true mark of success. Guitar Hero 5 has finally been released, and many still wonder if the series should hang up the plastic instruments and retire or if it maintains a seriously rocking kick.

Guitar Hero has always been about music exposure and multiplayer even more so. Guitar Hero 5furthers this direction by introducing a number of really awesome ways to make that as smooth as possible. The Party Play feature implemented in Guitar Hero 5 destroys any remaining barriers for any Guitar Hero outsiders. With a push of a button from the title screen, any number of people can jump in on whatever instrument and difficulty they prefer. The songs are random and always keeps going, so you never need to worry about being a game music novice or ruining the fun by failing a song. The Party Play mode is really that simple and brilliant. I know when playing with friends, or large groups, there has always been a trouble of agreeing on songs and people being embarrassed to play. With Party Play, the action will continue in a free-flow dynamic, whether everyone is playing or not.

On top of Party Play, the new lobby system implemented gives you a great hub to launch into any mode of play, with a heavy emphasis on your friends list. You can switch several options on the fly and take your party (whether it be online friends or splitscreen members) to rock out in Career, Quick Play or any competitive mode. The game’s nature of opening up even further to the masses can be seen in its hyper-inviting user interface, and the game offers something different because of it.

The guitar, drums and bass engine have all been tightened a little bit since Smash Hits, but the feel is still very comfortable. The note charts for guitar are very well done but will probably put off long-time players with a lack of difficulty seen in past titles. Bass is still legitimized with a fighting edge due in part to the open note, I believe, and drums have a certain determination of being the hardest but most rewarding of all four peripherals. The kick pedals seemed a bit off on higher difficulties, as has been a problem with Guitar Hero and Rock Band in the past, but it can be fixed rather quickly with a calibration test.

The singing engine has had a major overhaul since the decrepit World Tour setup, but it still begs to be improved. The major change is that the vocal tracks now actually work ... but it’s more of something you try to hum along to rather than sing on any difficulty past easy. The design decision behind this might have been to involve the vocals as hard to master as the other instruments, but it’s a bother enough to find singers as it is without the pressure of using a real-world talent in front of people. The singing engine should be tweaked in the future to be a looser experience, but belting out the tunes in Guitar Hero 5 is still very fun, if not a little confining.

With online and multiplayer so seamlessly integrated, its hard to be a fan of one or the other. You’ll always be able to find people in Quick Play to jam out with on the fly, and Career is a very satisfying global romp of musical domination. You’ll meet a cool cast of celebrities during Career and will get pit up against the new challenge mode, which offers a neat incentive for song replayability. Every song will have a challenge that you or your band must overcome to increase your completion percentage. Challenges include anything from high score, to band unity, and even an oddball here or there, including David Bowie. I really enjoyed the challenges and found I was going back to songs multiple times — even the ones I thought I didn’t like very much, which ended up growing on me.

The matter of content for music games, at the end of the day, is a game’s set list. I’d say Guitar Hero 5 has a vast set of genres in mind, trying very hard to include a wide spectrum of music. The 85 songs and more than 80 artists offer a lot of variety, from blues to metal. I’ve criticized Guitar Hero in the past from moving further away from the rock genre, but I really enjoyed the options Guitar Hero 5 had. Some artists like Jeff Beck I thought I’d never see in a music game, and others like the Arctic Monkeys ended up being great new additions. The Guitar Hero series has a heavy sense of exposing people to music, and I ended up seeing quite a few new artists I really like from the alternative or indie rock scene, despite being more of a metal head.

There will always be naysayers claiming Guitar Hero has jumped the shark or that the set list is terrible with only a few songs. But I say to each his own. Music taste is just that at the end of the day, and the subjective nature of picking or liking songs will differ. I think Guitar Hero 5 has a very sharp edge in selecting quality bands. A lot of attention went toward choosing who’s who and what’s fun to play. Guitar Hero 5 fails to capture my sense of a favorite in-game soundtrack, but it is definitely closer to the top of my list for its included selections. On a side note, I’ve also found that a music game can possess a wealth of musical excellence, yet if the game fails to deliver on one person’s favorite band, that person is immediately turned off. The insufferable way some gamers choose to validate set lists is still odd, when the inclusion of Iggy Pop and Bob Dylan are a “waste” but Def Leppard should have been given a second look.

Beyond the song picks, the content is all there and complemented by some great graphics. Not only does the look of the game feel unique, but the character creator (using your 360 avatar is strangely amusing) is quite in-depth. The mocap is all very official, and even the drummer doesn’t look terrible this time as he has in days past. The venues look kickass, and some are downright farcical, albeit very cool. The scene is really set with the combination of good music and great visuals and is always pleasing to the eye.

Guitar Hero 5 really surprised me as far as quality goes, with World Tour being a disastrous misstep for the series at the worst time. Neversoft has taken awhile to get its bearings again, but the features and functionality in Guitar Hero 5 are far, varied and extremely entertaining. The few complaints I have (not as much end-game difficulty, importing songs not as extensive) are outweighed by all the small touches added (accessible lifetime stats, revamped career mode, end-performance celebrations, set list creation,). Whether Guitar Hero 5 will be able to successfully maintain staying power, especially over dug-in competitors, will be solely dependant on how much emphasis developers put on the game as being a “platform” (ergo, plentiful amounts of excellent downloadable content). Out of the box, Guitar Hero 5 should keep you wailing on your five colored frets for a long time ... or until the next Guitar Hero in three months. How long the game will triumph, only downloadable content will tell.

Afterthought: I think the fanboy divide with Guitar Hero and Rock Band is astounding. Both series are fun. I say enjoy the ones you want and leave the other guys alone. These games are made to be fun at the end of the day, no matter the amount of idiotic comments that come from a CEO’s mouth. Oh, and as for whoring out? If there was a way Harmonix or Neversoft could transmit music downloads into your mind for cash, I’m sure they would do it. Both are based off a business model after all, so spreading their namesakes is what they want. I don’t understand how people can be so spiteful toward other people who have a common goal of making fun games. I also don’t understand how the same morons complain that Guitar Hero has completely forsaken difficulty and boast about getting 100 percent left and right. Meanwhile, I try playing online with the same smattering of people, and I can’t find any decent players? The Internet is filled with hateful irony.