Yes! Your favourite Guitar Hero returns! We rocked the world when we came to Wii with our stonking release entitled Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. Sure it was tough but we were a re-formed rocktastic guitar-fuelled band back then and came to show the world a thing or two. We know we missed out on getting friends around the world involved but our first release on Wii was just to set the scene and break your fingers in!

But we didn't stop there! No, we went even bigger with our second release. So big we went on tour - around the entire world! Guitar Hero: World Tour was another hit on Wii with more classic anthems than a night listening to a Michael Jackson tribute show and more ways to play than Hendrix's fingers could ever dream of. And letting you play with your friends and download tracks to your own system was groundbreaking for you Nintendo owners!And so, as rock addicts who just love to keep on rolling in money, we find ourselves back on Wii with our newest release: Guitar Hero 5. Yes. 5!

But why should you care? This Guitar Hero train has already released some of the greatest tunes already and our offshoot cousin/rival Rockband 2 has been storming the charts with a wealth of classic downloadable content mixed amongst a more customisable backbone for eons. (Albeit not on Wii in Europe!) Well, you may just be surprised by the changes we've made to our lineup this year. Just like all bands that become superstars – this Guitar Hero has lost the identity that made it who it was and has embraced a more casual tone. A tone that will sit well with mom and dad but underneath still lies that rock God urging to challenge you, just in ways that you could never have thought imaginable. So strap that plastic guitar to your back and turn the volume up to eleven as you read on for N-E's rocktacular, smashtastic Guitar Hero 5 review!

Ok. So I've stretched that introductory role to the maximum so let me hit the nail on the head for you. Guitar Hero 5 is as initially confusing as it is great. Can we move on now? Ultimately: No, as after extended play GH5 actually ends up shining due to its feeling of pure completion and with this the franchise is single-handedly saved by a wealth of new twists, tweaking of existing formulas and hints at future opportunities. (Like a Coldplay album then).Initially GH5 is disappointing. The graphics don't look much better than GH: World Tour (and certainly don't appeal in the same way that RB2's FMV does) and the career mode isn't as flashy and as well paced as GH: WT. The tracks don't grab you in the same way as GH3 or WT did and everything (menu wise) seems confusing.

But play for a longer amount of time and the fruits of Vicarious Visions labours will start to taste mighty fine. We were sickened when most loading screens slammed DS link-up play (or DS Guitar Hero titles) down our throats but when we realised loading was almost non-existent we were more than happy. We then meekly ventured into the world of DS link up via Roadie Battle expecting 'lite' mechanics yet actually came away enamoured and hooked. Trust us, Roadie Battle is sublime and offers a new dimension to Guitar Hero multiplayer sessions offering more communication, rabble and arguments to a single track than any mono version of the franchise (GH3 factoid) ever could. We actually found ourselves playing Roadie Battle more than any other mode. As this review stands we will explore it more but that would be taking away the surprising pleasure from what is a genius multiplayer component to the game.

The crux of Roadie Battle? The DS wielding gamer is the roadie protecting you from another roadie (2 DS systems is riotous but the CPU can fill in if required) you must then run backstage on the DS and sabotage the other players equipment. For instance: to sabotage the players guitar you must break open the case (tap, tap the locks open) then snap the strings and then re-string the guitar the wrong way – of course the opposing roadie must then fix the broken equipment giving (in this example) the actual guitar player room to play the original, non reversed notation again.

For each battle aspect the DS is used in utterly engaging, fun ways making many full retail DS titles look amateurish in comparison. It's perhaps the best link up moment since Pacman VS. and is a shining Wii-exclusive mode. It's that good with a crowd of people that I found friends and family were ignoring other modes in favour of roadie battles every time.Boring as it may seem in comparison to DS link-up, online GH is as intrinsic to the gameplay as it was in GH: WT. GH5 auto logs you into your Wi-Fi connection upon startup thus online inclusion is flawless. Load times are again practically transparent and switching in and out of single/multiplayer both on and offline is seamless resulting in some games where you may forget your actually playing with others online. Friend codes are also imported from system numbers on your address book therefore individual game-only friend codes don't exist. This (in Wii terms) is groundbreaking.

Another great new feature in GH5 is the way you can just jump in and out of a track. Never again will you have to play cross-legged as you finish a seven minute track as you can now just hang up your instrument and your part will be played out as the original artist intended. It is so simple and such an obvious need in all music titles yet GH5 does it so (again) transparently that it is effortless. And these modes are all available from the actual main menu. As a track booms out on the title screen you can just pick up as few or as many instruments as you want and change details such as difficulty/hand preference/song title all from the main menu and then just jump right into playing.

As good as the ease of play is it's this ease which is both the beauty and the beast of GH5. Activision seem at a loss at times as trying to ease newcomers into the world of Guitar Hero has 'confused' the package somewhat. Too many of the tracks are in the same mould of GH: WT which means there are only a few insanely hard tracks and many of the songs are so weak as guitar tracks that we felt we should re-name the title Band Hero but Activision are already doing that so here's hoping Guitar Hero goes back to guitar-track roots. (Please?)Furthermore the tracklist is unremarkable. Sure there are some classics in there from the likes of Nirvana, Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder (!) and finally all tracks are available from the start but we can't help but note that World Tour had a much stronger setlist. It's a good job then that GH5 supports all DLC from the offshoot GH: Smash Hits and GH World Tour. Nicely the sound quality is upped, the DLC can run from High Capacity SD cards (32Gb) and full album downloads are promised. You can't help but envisage that future GH and Rockband titles will rely on limited disk based tracks with DLC being the battleground.

And so Guitar Hero 5 comes to Wii as a triumph. With more depth than ever before thanks to a great party system, an improved online infrastructure, the ever deep (and mildly improved) GHtunes studio and the enhanced Mii Freeplay mode (which has some nice DS video editing and Wii video sharing functionality thrown in for friends - take that Wii Music!) *Breathe!* And so GH5 ends up shocking us into submission. We really thought we had seen enough of the franchise but credit where credit's due: Vicarious Visions have made a music title which offers more options than most Wii titles could only dream of.And going the extra mile to add DS functionality? (which is as enjoyable as it is unique) alongside HC SD card support and integrated online/system friend code systems?! Astonishing.